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Founded in 1900, FC Bayern München has achieved numerous successes over the years. Their success began in the 1970's when they won the World Club Cup in 1976 and the European Club Cup in 1974, 1975, and in 1976. Their most recent international victory came in 1996 with the UEFA Cup Championship. In addition to these international trophies, Bayern have won the DFB Super Cup twice, in 1987 and 1990, the League Cup 9 times and the Bundesliga 16 times, more than any other club. In 1997 Bayern München won both the DFB League Cup and the Bundesliga. GO BAYERN!!!
For the crunch match of the season, Otmar Hitzfeld held faith with the side that steered Bayern to a 3-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld the previous weekend. There were, however, some exceptions: with Giovane Elber serving a one-match ban, Carsten Jancker came in up front, while precocious talent Roque Santa Cruz gave way for Mehmet Scholl. Even before kick-off, Hitzfeld had reason to be happy, having been voted coach of the season by his Bundesliga colleagues. It won't have taken long for his good mood to increase, as Jancker's 2nd-minute opener - a header from a Markus Babbel cross - gave the champions just the kind of early encouragement they were hoping for. There was more to come: Bremen scarcely had time to recover from the shock when Jancker struck again, another header securing the reigning champions a 2-0 advantage. The crowd were still on their feet, when Brazilian ace Paulo Sergio back-heeled the ball over the line, after some fine combination play by Thorsten Fink and Mehmet Scholl. It had taken Bayern just 16 minutes to shore up a commanding 3-0 lead. But it was at 3:50pm CET that the delirium in the Munich stadium really hit breaking point, as the scoreboard brought news of a 1-0 advantage for upstarts Unterhaching. Marco Bodo's left-footed strike for Bremen seven minutes from half-time did little to dampen the mood.
The only disappointing note of the first half came shortly before the interval when Carsten Jancker was forced to leave the pitch injured, to be replaced by Roque Santa Cruz.
Jancker, however, had already contributed sufficiently to the afternoon's proceedings. Indeed, the attacking tone he established so early in the game continued after the break, as Santa Cruz set up Hasan Salihamidzic - whose strike whistled past the right-hand post by an inch. Unbelievably, injury struck again, this time to force Jancker's replacement Santa Cruz out of action. Alexander Zickler, who came on for him, seemed similarly doomed, his comeback also yielding to injury. Thomas Strunz - himself recently recovered from a long spell of inaction - took his place, 10 minutes into the second period.
The bout of sideline activity did little to stem the flow of Bayern's game, however; but the aggression of the first half was now tempered with tactical know-how to confine Bayern's forward movement to the counter-attack. There were early indications that the policy was working, as both Paulo Sergio and Bixente Lizarazu hit the woodwork 20 minutes into the half.
Meanwhile, the crowd became eerily quiet as 63,000 supporters feverishly waited for events to unfold in Unterhaching. It was in the 70th minute that news - and brilliant news, at that - finally arrived that Haching had extended their lead over Leverkusen to 2-0. The silverware - and Bayern's 16th League title - was in sight.
Neither were the crowd slow to show their gratitude as chants of "Haching, Haching" grew in volume, in appreciation of the efforts of the Bundesliga newcomers, battling it out just 10 miles to the east of Munich. Needless to say, the final whistle - which came at 5.20pm CET, for the record - could barely be heard above the roar in the Munich stadium. Bayern had been given little hope by the pundits - but they showed that when it comes to steel and determination they are unsurpassed.
http://www.fcbayern.de Official Report
Bayern München 3 Werder Bremen 1
Haching 2 Leverkusen 0
Perhaps it is ironic that in the final leg of the season, when all hope is lost, it is a team of little hope that brings hope to millions in a city, not of its own, but to a city merely 10 miles from home. Haching will long be remembered by Bayern, long be cherished by a team who one week previous was staring down the long end of a 2nd place barrel in the Championship. They were written off, it would take too much. Leverkusen, who hadn't dropped a single point in weeks of the Championship, would suddenly drop three, and Bayern would steal the silverware from under their mouths. On Saturday, a translation of the chant in the Olympic Stadium was not hard to determine...
"Haching, Haching"
(Thankyou, Thankyou)
The trophy is ours.
PS. If the table isn't up-to-date, it's because I haven't had time. I'm sorry.
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