Lady Luck smiles on Bayern ahead of Champions League
Lady Luck smiles on Bayern ahead of Champions League
BERLIN (Agencies): Bayern Munich was the most famous last- minute loser in recent soccer history until Lady Luck smiled on it in the dying moments of a crazy game on Saturday to give it its third straight Bundesliga title and a timely morale boost.
After snatching a 1-1 draw at Hamburg SV in a dramatic finale for its 17th German crown, Bayern immediately turned its mind to Wednesday's Champions League final against Valencia in Milan which could see it lift European soccer's most coveted trophy for the first time in 25 years.
"Not until Thursday will we really celebrate," said Bayern's Brazilian striker Elber, hoping the Munich club will win the league and the European Cup in the same year for the second time since 1974.
However, Bayern's dream suffered a serious blow Sunday when it was revealed its outstanding midfielder Jens Jeremies would miss the match.
The 27-year-old, who scored one of the goals in the 2-1 semi- final second leg win over Real Madrid just three weeks after undergoing knee surgery, has an inflamed thigh muscle and coach Ottmar Hitzfeld claimed there was no way he would make the showdown with Spanish side Valencia.
Jeremies, who will also miss the international friendly with Slovakia at the end of May, said it was just a case of his body reacting to too much soccer.
"I am really bitter about missing the final but sometimes one's body says enough is enough," he said.
The ghost of Barcelona, where it conceded two goals in injury time to lose 2-1 to Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final, came back to haunt Bayern when Hamburg's Sergej Barbarez headed home on 90 minutes to put the defending champion 1-0 down in its final Bundesliga match.
Virtually at the same time, Schalke 04 sealed a spectacular 5- 3 win over SpVgg Unterhaching and started celebrating its first German title in 43 years.
But in the fourth minute of injury time in Hamburg, Bayern earned an indirect free kick inside the penalty area and captain Stefan Effenberg rolled the ball for Swedish defender Patrik Andersson to hammer in.
In it went for a draw which put Bayern one point ahead of Schalke in the final standings.
"It was enough to give you the creeps," said Bayern commercial manager Uli Hoeness. "I've seen a lot of things but never anything like this."
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, who rarely shows any emotion, jumped off his bench and let out a joyful yell after the improbable scenario unfolded.
"It could have been a trauma all over again to lose a decisive game in the final minute," he said. "The disappointment would have been inhumane. There would have been comparisons in the media to Barcelona."
The real drama was in Gelsenkirchen, where the "royal blues" had come back from two goals down for a hard-fought victory which they thought was enough to secure Schalke's first German title since 1958.
The fans invaded the pitch after the final whistle and nobody really bothered looking at the stadium's giant screen.
It showed the Hamburg match but, after all, it was already extra time there and all felt there was no way Bayern would recover from that late Barbarez goal.
After Andersson scored, silence and despair fell on the shell- shocked 65,000 Gelsenkirchen crowd.
"It really hurts me for the boys," Schalke coach Huub Stevens said, fighting back tears. "They came so close. Football can be so cruel."
It was the second time in as many seasons that Bayern had clinched the Bundesliga title in nail-biting fashion.