If history is anything to go by, the Reds are in for a special year of football, because whenever the year has ended in a six, it’s always produced great drama and triumphs. A journey through six decades.
1966 – the Big Bang
Looking back, you wonder whether the players were aware that they were making history; that they were laying the foundation for a dynasty; that they were about to become legends. In their first Bundesliga season, the golden trio of goalkeeper Sepp Maier, libero Franz Beckenbauer and centre-forward Gerd Müller took the league by storm. And this despite the fact that coach Zlatko ‘Tschik’ Čajkovski had complained before the start of the season: "The president didn't buy me any finished players." However, this meant he was able to mould the young team according to his own vision – using disciplinary methods that, in hindsight, were rather questionable. "Go clean your boots!" was a common refrain when the Croatian doubted his players' attitude and will to win.
The goal before the start of the season was to avoid relegation. In their first league match, FCB conceded a goal to TSV 1860 after just 30 seconds. At the end of the campaign, the young Bayern team finished third as a newly promoted side – and showed their potential in the DFB Cup with a 4-2 win in the final against Meidericher SV. A year later, they achieved their first triumph at European level, beating Glasgow Rangers in the Cup Winners' Cup. And that was just the beginning.
Well put: "Without football, I'd be a dead man," replied Bayern coach Čajkovski when asked about the importance of his sport.
1976 – the European double
If you want to conquer the highest peaks, you mustn't let yourself be waylaid by the foothills. After FCB's commanding 5-1 win over Benfica in the quarter-finals, FCB coach Dettmar Cramer was "so taciturn," noted the Süddeutsche Zeitung, as if the game had "gone completely wrong for his team." Cramer praised the Portuguese – and then, at the very end, his own team: "We’re performing better than a year ago."
In 1976, FC Bayern were battling to win their third consecutive European Cup. FCB had only finished third in the league and been knocked out of the DFB Cup in the semi-finals by Hamburg. Beckenbauer's Bayern, who had lifted so many glittering trophies in the preceding years, were only able to show their full might on the European stage and on prime time TV, when president Wilhelm Neudecker would once again light four candles in a faraway cathedral and the football world would hold its breath.
Real Madrid awaited Bayern in the semi-finals, and it was the game of all games: according to press reports, FCB managing director Walter Fembeck was close to having a heart attack due to the rush for tickets, while Real player Günter Netzer complained about "a terrible draw". After a hard-fought 1-1 draw, striker Gerd Müller was punched by a Real hooligan. "I have trouble biting down," he said, "but we'll take care of Madrid in the second leg." And he went on to score his 50th and 51st European goals in a 2-0 home win.
In the final, a cool-headed performance and a goal from cup final veteran striker ‘Bulle’ Roth were enough to secure victory. The Times wrote a malicious yet admiring piece on Beckenbauer: "Like a boulevard flâneur, waiting for his morning aperitif. He hardly broke a sweat, but was the lynchpin of the team."
In autumn, Bayern won the Intercontinental Cup for the first time. In the first leg, FCB beat Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte 2–0 on an icy pitch – Brazilian centre-back Piazza is said to have asked: "Is this the end of the world?" In the return leg in Brazil, Udo Horsmann, who was still playing amateur football for Beckumer SV a year earlier, marvelled at the crowd of more than 100,000 spectators and winger Jairzinho, a "master dribbler" with a magnificent Afro. Horsmann's conclusion: "A tough night." FCB battled to a 0-0 draw and became the rulers of Europe and the football world for the first time – a summit the club would not scale again until a quarter of a century later.
Good man: Gerd Müller was, of course, FC Bayern's top scorer of that European Cup campaign with five goals. But who still remembers that a certain Ludwig Schuster came second with four goals? He had joined from FC Bayern Hof and scored a hat-trick against Jeunesse Esch in the first round.
1986 – All good things come in threes
At just 40 years of age, Franz Beckenbauer was the youngest team boss in DFB history – and had put together the oldest squad: after suffering two torn muscles, captain Karl-Heinz Rummenigge battled through the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The players stayed at the luxurious Hacienda Galindo near Querétaro – right next door to the journalists. It was an explosive combination.
There was a strong Munich contingent in the squad: defensive boss Klaus Augenthaler, midfield motor Lothar Matthäus, defender Norbert Eder and striker Dieter Hoeneß. A few days before the round of 16, Auge, Hoeneß and other players went on a night out, which later led to Uli Stein being kicked out of the team. And then the unexpected happened: the disunited group came together. Matthäus' direct free-kick secured a 1-0 win over Morocco, hosts Mexico were defeated on penalties in the quarter-final, and in the semi-final, favourites France were also disposed of with a comfortable 2-0 victory. Suddenly, the team were in the final – against Argentina, against Maradona.
On 29 June 1986 at the Estadio Azteca, in front of 114,000 spectators, Argentina were leading 2–0 when Beckenbauer brought on Dieter Hoeneß for Felix Magath. Germany pulled level in just six minutes. Rummenigge! Völler! 2–2! An upset was in the offing. But then Maradona played one of those passes that only he could play at the time: Burruchaga, 3–2. It was all over.
Germany had lost their second consecutive World Cup final. But Beckenbauer had moulded a team from the chaos. Four years later, in Rome, he would get the job done.
Things was also drama at home in the Bundesliga. On the penultimate matchday, Bremen could have wrapped things up against Bayern – but Michael Kutzop missed a penalty in the 88th minute. And FCB won one of the closest title races in league history. But that's another story.
Well put: For weeks there will be quarrels, trouble and frustration, among themselves, with him and in general. A World Cup like this is just "an absolute pain," said Beckenbauer in the run-up to the tournament. But also fun.
1996 – the winners' cup
At the start of the season, the FCB management put together a dream team: seasoned World Cup winners such as Lothar Matthäus played alongside crowd favourite Mehmet Scholl and new star striker Jürgen Klinsmann. Perhaps no other team in Europe was as good as Bayern at that time. But a collection of very good footballers is far from being a unified team on the pitch.
A record start in the Bundesliga with seven wins from seven games was followed by defeats, egos, headlines. "We didn't deserve to be called a team back then," recalls Didi Hamann. But in Europe? On autopilot. As if they were trying to escape the turmoil at home, FCB were relaxed as they travelled across the continent: Moscow, Lisbon, Kirkcaldy, Nottingham – long distances, commanding victories. In the semi-finals, they faced Barcelona with Pep Guardiola and a young Luis Figo. Bayern sensationally won 2-1 at Camp Nou. 11 days later, Otto Rehhagel was sacked after a 1-0 defeat to Rostock.
Franz Beckenbauer took over the reins, and der Kaiser led Bayern to their first European trophy in 20 years. Against Bordeaux – with Zinedine Zidane and Bixente Lizarazu in the squad – FCB won the two-legged final 5-1 on aggregate. Bayern was only the third club after Juventus and Ajax to have won all three classic European trophies. And it would be only the first of three major finals in five years.
Good man: Klinsmann was the top scorer in the UEFA Cup with 15 goals. In the league, he finished joint third with 16 goals.
2006 – a magical duo
Absolute dominance in domestic competition: for the second time in a row, FC Bayern won the double in the 2005/2006 season. It was an experienced team built around international stars such as Oliver Kahn, Lúcio, Michael Ballack, Roy Makaay and Willy Sagnol, coached by Felix Magath with a firm but calm hand. In the spring of 2006, the press wrote of a “cosy, homely world”. FCB were on a roll – but in Europe, the mood was more sober: in the Champions League round of 16, the team suffered an early exit at the hands of Pippo Inzaghi and AC Milan. "We need leaders again," summarised Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, also with one eye on Michael Ballack, who was keen to leave.
Fortunately, there was another opportunity that summer to achieve something on the biggest possible stage: the World Cup in their own country. Barely six minutes into the opening match against Costa Rica at the Allianz Arena, 22-year-old Philipp Lahm hammered the ball into the top corner from the left edge of the box to make it 1-0 – and enchanted an entire country with one strike.
Lahm's club teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger also impressed with his dribbling and passing on the left wing. “The young rascals are fun to watch,” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung with amusement. From game to game, the critics became more effusive, talking about players who understood the game and played with energy. The leaders that Rummenigge had so sorely missed grew up during this fairytale summer. In their own backyard.
Well put: "Bremen can stay at the top until Christmas. But Santa Claus has never been the Easter Bunny" – general manager Uli Hoeneß on a merely temporary change at the top of the table.
2016 – furious footballing god
Diego Simeone would be the ideal choice to play the baddie in a Spaghetti Western. Piercing eyes, a black suit and a dangerous-sounding nickname: ‘El Cholo’. When a veteran like him starts raving, something special must have happened. "I've never played against such good opponents in my entire career," said Simeone after the Champions League semi-final second leg in Munich. Relief played a part in that, as his team had reached the final. But it was also true.
In 2016, the last season under head coach Guardiola, FC Bayern reached ‘Peak Pep’: Philipp Lahm and David Alaba as passing machines on the wings, conductor Xabi Alonso in the centre and Thomas Müller popping up everywhere the opposition didn't expect him to be. FCB crashed like ocean waves against the Atleti defence, fluid, relentless, powerful.
73 per cent possession. A 556:145 pass completion rate. 23:2 crosses. But in the first half, only Alonso scored from a free kick. And Müller missed a penalty. After Atlético's deadly counter-attack, Robert Lewandowski's winner came too late. A team who played more beautiful football than almost any other before them were knocked out in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third time in a row. They didn't manage to take that final step. But still, no one who was there in Munich will ever forget that night.
Good to know: Bayern had 53 shots on target in the two matches against Atlético, three times as many as their opponents.
This article appears in the current issue of members’ magazine ‘51’.
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