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.