I’d like to share the story of the other side of one of the famous and dramatic glorious victories in the history of football, that being one man’s heartbreak. That famous triumph was the 1999 Champions League Final. The story is not of Manchester United’s famous comeback win on what would have been Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birthday ; is is the story of Lothar Matthäus.
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THE BACKGROUND
Lothar Matthäus was one of the greatest midfield generals of his generation, arguably of all time. Diego Maradona said in his book “he is the best rival I’ve ever had. I guess that’s enough to define him.” As the 1999 Champions League final was approaching, he had won almost every honour worth winning with only the European Cup eluding him – domestic league triumphs in both Germany with Bayern and in Italy with Internazionale, the German cup/DFB-Pokal and UEFA Cup with Bayern, and in international football winners medals in the 1980 European Championship and the 1990 World Cup at the third attempt following two consecutive final defeats for West Germany to Italy in 1982 and Argentina in 1986.
Former captain of the national side, with a record five appearances in World Cups and standing alone with 25 appearances in matches at World Cups. At 38 he was still playing for Germany and still revered, winning the Fußballer des Jahres in 1999 (even though the wheels did eventually come off in Euro 2000) ; he was a legend in German football.
More importantly, he was a Bayern legend. Closing in on 300 appearances for the club over the course of two spells with the club spanning a total of twelve years, Matthäus may have known this would be his last chance to finally “complete the set” and win the European Cup, having come so close once before. In 1987, Bayern lead for most of the game against Porto, only to concede two late goals and lose 2-1. In the Camp Nou on the 26th of May 1999, it was now or never for Matthäus. Like their opponents, Bayern were chasing a historic treble, but while Man United were two down, one to go, this would have been the second step for Bayern with their domestic cup final on the horizon.
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THE MATCH
In the 80th minute, with Bayern winning 1-0 after a 6th minute Mario Basler goal, in a game they had dominated and had forged chances to extend their lead, Matthäus was substituted for Thorsten Fink. The Bayern players and fans all knew they were going to win this match, and most of the neutrals would have done too. Matthäus was surely about to complete the set.
In the 90th minute with Bayern fans already setting off flares in celebration and Matthäus a powerless onlooker, Man United won a corner which surely represented their best chance to equalize and force extra time, in the first minute of a scheduled three minutes injury time. Clive Tyldsley on ITV commentary wondered aloud, “Can Manchester United score? They ALWAYS score.” Matthäus’ replacement Fink cleared weakly, and a mishit shot from Ryan Giggs was bundled into the net by another substitute, Teddy Sheringham. The goal was timed at 90:36.
Tyldsley mockingly said “Name ON the trophy!” and while they weren’t actually engraving it, Bayern’s ribbons had already been attached to the famous cup. Not thirty seconds after the resultant kick off, United won another corner. Sheringham nodded down for yet another sub, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, to poke into the net. “…..And Solskjær has WON IT!” exclaimed Tyldsley, and he was right. The goal was recorded at 92:17. Tyldsley callously remarked, as the producer cut to a look of shock of despair on Matthäus’ face, “WHAT must Lothar Matthäus be thinking? Well, with the greatest respect, who cares?” The Bayern players could barely be bothered to kick off again, Man United were European Champions again, and Matthäus had been robbed of a final moment of glory.
Matthäus solemnly stepped up to collect his runners-up medal, surely the hollowest of accolades at this level. As he stepped off the podium, he obviously tried not to look at the trophy. He failed. As soon as the dignitaries were out of sight, he couldn’t get his medal off quick enough. It meant nothing to him.
Finally, this photo says more than words ever could. The faces on Oliver Kahn and unused sub Thomas Strunz tell their own stories, but don’t look at them. Look at Matthäus.
THE AFTERMATH
A week and a half later, demoralized by this defeat, Bayern lost the DFB-Pokal final to Werder Bremen on penalties. They would eventually win the European Cup for the fourth time in 2001 and even complete their first treble in 2013.
Matthäus entered the twilight of his career, winning his last caps for the national team in the disastrous Euro 2000 campaign. He would end up receiving his seventh and final Bundesliga winners medal for the 99-2000 season despite leaving in March 2000 for New York/New Jersey MetroStars (now NY Red Bulls) where he retired in September 2001, with a final record of 150 caps and 23 goals for his country and a European Championship and World Cup, a Serie A win in Italy to go with his seven Bundesliga triumphs and three DFB-Pokal medals, one UEFA Cup…. and zero European Cups.
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