The week of their lives – Part 6: Getting ready for final replay

Fifty years ago, Bayern became the first German team to win a hat-trick of Bundesliga titles and the European Cup – all within the space of eight days. Members magazine ‘51’ has taken a look back at four unforgettable games and forgotten moments off the pitch in May 1974. In part 6, players and fans recall how the team got ready for the final replay against Atletico Madrid, just two days after the original final ended in a draw.

Thursday, 16 May

Franz Beckenbauer was known at the club as a late riser, but he was the first to arrive in the breakfast room that morning because he could no longer sleep. Gerd Müller also only got a few hours of rest: “I was exhausted and had to think about our game the whole time.”

Udo Lattek sat in the morning sun on the terrace of the Le Grand Veneur hotel and thought back over things. He clearly identified the mistakes: “1) We didn't disrupt the opposition in time. 2) We didn't play at pace. 3) We held onto the ball too long.” Nevertheless, he refrained from tactical drills, so the players could recover mentally and physically.

Lattek used the time until the replay mainly for walks in the forest, massages and light training. In the afternoon, the team did actually put on their football boots, formed a circle in the park in front of the hotel and, as Paul Breitner recalls, “did some keepy-uppies, shook the tiredness out of our bones”. Breitner said: “We knew that we wouldn't play that badly again and were sure of ourselves.” As always before big games, Beckenbauer asked Rainer Zobel to shave the back of his neck. The world was watching Brussels. The Kaiser wanted to look good.

Bayern fans travel from one final to the next

Meanwhile, thousands of tired and excited Bayern fans were arriving at Munich's main railway station and airport. “We're just going home quickly - bathing, shaving and getting new money - then it's straight back to Belgium for the replay,” 27-year-old nurse Josef Gartner told a newspaper. Many Bayern fans were queuing up in travel agencies to secure tickets for bus and air travel or one of the quickly organised special trains.

A ticket for the game cost around 25 Deutschmark. The official Bavarian travel agency offered a chartered flight with overnight stay for 320 Deutschmark, while a bus ticket with departure at 5.30am on Friday and return after the end of the game cost 60 Deutschmark. According to the German embassy, thousands of Bayern fans stayed in Brussels “to be there again on Friday”.

UEFA decided that Atletico’s Javier Irureta was suspended after his yellow card in the first final because he had already received a caution in the semi-final. Furious protests from the Madrid club come to nothing. That wasn’t the only reason Bayern were confident. Müller said: “I think we can cope better with two matches in two days than the Spaniards, because we're used to playing one match after another.” At this point, the champions of Germany had already played 95 games this season, while their Spanish counterparts had only played 45.

Read part 5 of our series here: