It was around midnight when Raimond Aumann carried the gold trophy out of the Süwag Energie Arena in Frankfurt. Proud, satisfied, exhausted. His team had delivered what the renowned line-up had promised: four games, four wins, 17 goals scored, five conceded, including a few tidy back heels. The bottom line was they had won the tournament at the Matthäi Cup in Frankfurt on Friday.
The FC Bayern Legends gave their VfB Stuttgart counterparts no chance in the final. The Munich side won 4-1 with goals from Ivica Olic (two), Sebastian Rudy and Mario Mandzukic. Christian Gentner scored the consolation for VfB. “It was great fun. We played a good tournament. And now we want to celebrate,” said a happy Ze Roberto, who was voted Player of the Tournament. FCB captain Olic was honoured as top scorer (eight goals) and said: “It's just nice to see so many players again, even from other teams. I haven't seen some of them for 10 years.”
Autograph hunters got their money's worth in Frankfurt. Ailton, Naldo, Nelson Valdez, Alex Meier, Uwe Bindewald, Cacau, Michael Thurk... The six participating teams from Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen, Mainz, Stuttgart, Bochum and Bayern arrived with some illustrious names. In addition to Olic and Ze Roberto, Mandzukic, Roy Makaay and Thomas Linke also lined up for FCB. Rudy made his debut in the Bayern Legends jersey.
Before the magic happened on the pitch, there was silence in the hall. A minute's silence held in memory of Franz Beckenbauer, who had recently passed away. All teams wore black armbands, while the Munich team also wore training jackets with Beckenbauer's No.5 and the words ‘Danke Franz’ printed on them. Driven by the tireless Olić, Bayern then provided the best football entertainment. “We played some great games,” said Paulo Sergio at the end, “it was a really nice tournament, also with the fans.”
Group games:
FC Bayern 5-1 Mainz
FC Bayern 3-2 VfB Stuttgart
Semi-final:
FC Bayern 5-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Final:
FC Bayern 4-1 VfB Stuttgart
Bayern goalscorers:
Ivica Olic (8), Mario Mandzukic (3), Ze Roberto (2), Sebastian Rudy (2), Paulo Sergio (1), Thomas Linke (1)
Bayern squad:
Ivica Olic, Mario Mandzukic, Roy Makaay, Ze Roberto, Paulo Sergio, Diego Contento, Sebastian Rudy, Thomas Linke, Michael Tarnat, Tom Starke, Maximilian Riedmüller, Vladimir Rankovic, Raimond Aumann (coach)
