The 80s- Bayerns unlucky European decade

In retrospect it seems to me that the 1980s are a bit of a 'forgotten' time when it comes to Bayern history. Everyone knows about the gold-laden 1960s and 1970s and the 1990s are also still in fresh memory. Not so the 1980s. Most Bayern fans from today probably only know a handful of names (Breitner, Rummenigge, Matthäus, Augenthaler) but are otherwise generally uninformed about that decade. The Bayern teams of those years were doing exceptionally well domestically (winnig seven out of 10 championships as well as three DFB Cups) but somehow failed to accomplish anything significant in Europe. Or so it seems. It is easily overlooked that Bayern was arguably the most consistently well-performing club in European competitions throughout the decade. While they only managed to reach two European finals, they made it to the semi finals a record eight times between 1979-80 and 1990-91. No other club did as well as Bayern in that respect during that period. In the coming weeks I would like to post some information about Bayern's European campaigns between 1979 and 1991. Not exactly "the 80s", but from a historic point of view, the 80s really started for Bayern in 1979 when the last survivors of the glorious 60s and 70s sides (Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller and Katsche Schwarzenbeck) had left the club, and the 80s really only ended after the 1990-91 season, when Klaus Augenthaler retired.

1979-80: The UEFA Cup

Bayern’s path to the semi final:

Bohemians Prague 0-2 Bayern
Bayern 2-2 Bohemians Prague

AGF Aarhus 1-2 Bayern
Bayern 3-1 AGF Aarhus

Bayern 2-0 Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade 3-2 Bayern
Note: Bayern were down 0-3 in front of a frantic Belgrade crowd of 92,000 after only 50 minutes and things looked bad, but then Dieter Hoeness scored Bayern’s all-important away goal 20 minutes from time and only three minutes later he scored another one.

Kaiserslautern 1-0 Bayern
Bayern 4-1 Kaiserslautern
Note: K’lautern were up 1-0 after only 11 minutes via Swede Benny Wendt. Ten minutes before the break Hoeness managed the equalizer but Bayern faced a tough task having to score at least two further goals in the second half. Kaiserslautern had clearly been the better side in the first half, but after the break Bayern played up and scored even three goals.

In the semi final, Bayern had to face another German side, Eintracht of Frankfurt. For the first and last time in the history of the UEFA Cup, the four semi finalists were all from one country. Of the four Bundesliga sides, Bayern were considered to be the best one, leading the league together with Hamburg SV before the first semi final. Eintracht were 7th in the Bundesliga and Bayern won the first leg 2-0, looking very much like a finalist. In the return leg in Frankfurt’s sold-out Waldstadion Bayern continued to look like a safe bet for the final, playing very defensively they hardly allowed the hosts any opportunities. Frankfurt was up 1-0 since the 31st minute but hardly looked dangerous up front. But then came the 87th minute when Frankfurt’s best player, Austrian center half Bruno Pezzey scored his second goal. Bayern relied too much on their 2-0 lead from the Munich game and should have played more offensively in Frankfurt, for Bayern were on fire in the league, having just beaten Bremen 7-0.

In extra-time, Karger scored the 3-0 for Frankfurt after 13 minutes but Dremmler scored the ‘vital’ away goal three minutes later, which would have put Bayern through, but annoyingly, Frankfurt scored their fourth goal only 60 seconds later. Bayern now had to open up the gates, desperately trying to score their crucial second goal, but with Bayern now being vulnerable to counter-attacks, Eintracht exploited that two minutes before the final whistle. The final score was 5-1 and it must rate as one of Bayern’s darkest hours in international competition. Three days later Bayern beat 1860 Munich 6-1 in the league, they would also hand a heavy defeat to Düsseldorf (6-0) and a magnificent away win at Stuttgart (3-1), making the unexpected break-down at Frankfurt even more regrettable. About a year later, Bayern would take Eintracht apart by a score of 7-2 in a league encounter...

Bayern 2
Attendance: 14,000
Junghans – Dremmler, Weiner, Augenthaler, Horsmann – Kraus (46 Niedermayer), Breitner, Oblak (46 Janzon), Dürnberger – D Hoeness, KH Rummenigge
Eintracht 0
Funk – H Müller, Pezzey, Körbel, Neuberger – Lorant, Hölzenbein, Karger, Nachtweih – Borchers, Cha
Goals: 1-0 D Hoeness 50, 2-0 Breitner 76 pen

Eintracht 5
Attendance: 50,000
Pahl – Ehrmanntraut (83 Karger), Pezzey, Körbel, Neuberger (83 H Müller) – Lorant, Borchers, B Nickel, Nachtweih – Hölzenbein, Cha
Bayern 1
Junghans – Dremmler, Weiner, Augenthaler, Horsmann – Niedermayer, Kraus (40 Oblak), Breitner, Dürnberger (91 Janzon) – D Hoeness, KH Rummenigge
Goals: 1-0 Pezzey 31, 2-0 Pezzey 87, 3-0 Karger 103, 3-1 Dremmler 106, 4-1 Karger 107, 5-1 Lorant 118 pen


1980-81: The European Cup

Bayern’s path to the semi final:

Olympiakos Piraeus 2-4 Bayern
Bayern 3-0 Olympiakos Piraeus

Bayern 5-1 Ajax
Ajax 2-1 Bayern

Bayern 2-0 Banik Ostrava
Banik Ostrava 2-4 Bayern

After five wins in six games, Bayern had managed to reach the semi final in international competition for the second time in two years. Here they were to meet English champions Liverpool, with the first game being staged at Anfield. Just like Bayern, Liverpool had won five of their six UEFA Cup encounters so far and the team looked poised to be winning the European Cup for a third time that year. After their 1978 triumph against Bruges, Liverpool had suffered early eliminations in the European Cup for two seasons in a row, despite winning the English league championship in each season. Thus Liverpool had something to prove internationally and it appears as if they neglected domestic competition, for Liverpool only finished fifth in the English league in 1980-81. Their European form however was remarkable, finishing off Finnish champs Oulu 11-1 on aggregate, then Scottish champs Aberdeen 5-0 (aggr.) and in the quarterfinal CSKA Sofia 6-1 (aggr.). Clearly Liverpool were a force to be reckoned with that season.

Unlike Liverpool, Bayern were still competing for the domestic league title, trailing Hamburg by two points before the game at Anfield. There Bayern started out fairly defensively, but as the game developed, more than held their own against the hosts. With a little bit of luck, Bayern could have scored a crucial away goal at Anfield, they had a number of decent opportunities, most of all Kurt Niedermayer hitting the cross bar with one of his shots, but overall the Bayern camp was very pleased with the 0-0 draw. After the game Paul Breitner made a grave tactical mistake. He talked lowly of English football in general which was interpreted as arrogance by the English media and really motivated Liverpool for the second leg. Liverpool knew that their only chance to win a trophy that season was to survive in the European Cup, thus their motivation was already very high, while Bayern were still involved in a heavy struggle with Hamburg for the Bundesliga championship.

Well, to cut a long story short, Liverpool proved to be a very resilient opponent even far away from Anfield and the game looked like a stalemate waiting for extra-time when Wolfgang Kraus lost the ball to Alan Hansen in midfield seven minutes before the final whistle, Hansen passed to Johnson who served Ray Kennedy at the edge of the penalty box from where he scored Liverpool’s crucial, all-important away goal at the Olympiastadion. Bayern now needed to score twice with six minutes remaining. Everyone in the stadium knew that this was close to impossible. Bayern’s increased pressure on Ray Clemence’s goal then finally paid off when Rummenigge scored the equalizer three minutes from time. Shortly before the end Rummenigge could have scored the vital second goal but Dieter Hoeness didn’t see that Rummenigge was lurking in a better position and took the ball instead of letting it pass to his captain. That was it. For the second time in a row, Bayern were eliminated from international competition in the last game before reaching the final. It wouldn’t be the last time.

Liverpool 0
Attendance: 46,000
Clemence – Neal, Hansen, Thompson, A Kennedy – S.Lee, McDermott (46 Heighway), Case, R Kennedy – Dalglish, Rush
Bayern 0
Junghans – Dremmler, Weiner, Augenthaler, Horsmann – Niedermayer, Kraus, Breitner, Dürnberger – D Hoeness, KH Rummenigge

Bayern 1
Attendance: 78,000
Junghans – Dremmler, Weiner, Augenthaler, Horsmann – Kraus, Breitner, Dürnberger (57 Janzon) – Del’Haye, D Hoeness, KH Rummenigge
Liverpool 1
Clemence – Neal, Hansen, Money, Irwin – S.Lee, Souness, McDermott, R Kennedy – Dalglish, Johnson
Goals: 0-1 R Kennedy 83, 1-1 Rummenigge 87

1981-82: The European Cup

Bayern’s path to the final:

Östers Växjö 0-1 Bayern
Bayern 5-0 Östers Växjö

Benfica 0-0 Bayern
Bayern 4-1 Benfica

Craiova 0-2 Bayern
Bayern 1-1 Craiova

CSKA Sofia 4-3 Bayern
Bayern 4-0 CSKA Sofia
Note: The first leg in Bulgaria was a tremendous thriller. Sofia were up by 3 goals within 18 minutes into the game and it looked as if Bayern were in for a rare thrashing. Sofia were probably still enthused by having eliminated Liverpool in the previous round. Bayern however pulled off a fine comeback and scored two goals themselves within the next 15 minutes, one of them by Dieter Hoeness who had only been a substitute but was brought into the game after 19 minutes. Shortly after the break Sofia scored a fourth goal but eight minutes before the final whistle Breitner scored Bayern’s healthy third goal. In the return leg Bayern finished off Sofia without mercy by scoring four goals. After a break of six years, Bayern had managed to reach a European Cup final once again.

That final was staged in Rotterdam and Bayern’s opponents were English champions Aston Villa. It goes without saying that Bayern were considered the favorites in this game, having two of Europe’s best players in their ranks, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Aston Villa were a strange side, none of their players really stood out that much, with a lack of star power, their main asset was naturally great teamwork and a solid defense. Still, how this basically average side managed to win the English championship is still a bit of a mystery to me. Funnily, they also managed to fight their way into the European Cup final, which must be rated as a near-wonder. And on their way through Europe, they only conceded two goals in six games! Villa’s strongpoint obviously was the defense, contrary to Bayern, who had a lot of problems with their shaky defense that season, having conceded some 56 goals in the Bundesliga that year. But at the same time, Bayern knew how to score goals (77 in the league and 21 in the European Cup). They had three accomplished goalscorers in their ranks (Dieter Hoeness with 21 league goals, Paul Breitner with 18 and Rummenigge with 14). It has to be said though, that with gifted left-winger Morley and center forward Peter Withe, Villa had a dangerous pairing up front. Both teams were not involved in the title race of their domestic leagues that season, Bayern had however managed to win the German Cup two weeks earlier.

With a slow, calm built-up from the back, Bayern started pretty passively, allowing Villa to go attack more than expected. The first 30 minutes Villa were the more active side but then Bayern started to tighten the strings and created a number of decent to excellent chances before half-time. The highlight being a magnificent overhead kick by Rummenigge minutes before the break that just missed the goal. Bayern could have been up by one or two goals at that moment, but everyone in the Bayern camp was confident that they would score in the second half. But they didn’t. Totally against the run of play, Villa scored right at the moment when everyone expected Bayern to finally convert one of their many opportunities. Morley had broken through at the left wing in a counter attack, passing the ball to Peter Withe lurking at the goalmouth. Withe only had to kick the ball opportunistically into the Bayern net. Bayern continued to attack throughout the rest of the game but didn’t create as many chances as they had previously. Villa proved to be quite dangerous on counter attacks and almost scored a second goal in the dying minutes of the game. Just before that Dieter Hoeness had scored the equalizer, but the goal wasn’t given due to alleged off-side. It was a very close decision.

Peter Withe scores:
------------------------

When the referee blew the final whistle, Aston Villa had made sure that for a sixth year in a row, the English champions would also be crowned European champions. Continental football was kind of flabbergasted at that development, for apart from Liverpool, neither Nottingham Forest nor Aston Villa were really considered to be worthy champions, let alone being among the best sides in Europe. In the first 20 years of the European Cup, only one English team had won the trophy (Manchester United in 1968) and only one other side had even managed to reach the final (Leeds United in 1975) and now ‘suddenly’ they were conquering Europe on a regular basis, regardless of how ‘weak’ the team they sent was. It says something about the state of continental club football in that era, which lacked a dominant side like Ajax or Bayern in earlier years, to fend of the English challenge. For Bayern, that loss against Villa must rank as one of the painful in the club’s history, for they were beaten by a clearly less accomplished side, dominated most of the game and could have scored three or four goals easily on any other day. This loss was a terrible blow to the self-confidence of the Bayern team of the Breitner-Rummenigge era ... it would not be the last time Bayern would lose a European Cup final that they should have won.

Bayern 0
Rotterdam, attendance: 45,000
M Müller – Dremmler, Weiner, Augenthaler, Horsmann – Kraus (78 Niedermayer), Breitner, Mathy (51 Güttler), Dürnberger – D Hoeness, KH Rummenigge
Aston Villa 1
Rimmer (9 Spink) – Swain, McNaught, Evans, Williams – Bremner, Shaw, Mortimer, Cowans – Withe, Morley
Goal: 0-1 Withe 67

Dark Savant wrote:1981-82: The European Cup

Bayern’s path to the final:

Östers Växjö 0-1 Bayern
Bayern 5-0 Östers Växjö

Benfica 0-0 Bayern
Bayern 4-1 Benfica

Craiova 0-2 Bayern
Bayern 1-1 Craiova

CSKA Sofia 4-3 Bayern
Bayern 4-0 CSKA Sofia
Note: The first leg in Bulgaria was a tremendous thriller. Sofia were up by 3 goals within 18 minutes into the game and it looked as if Bayern were in for a rare thrashing. Sofia were probably still enthused by having eliminated Liverpool in the previous round. Bayern however pulled off a fine comeback and scored two goals themselves within the next 15 minutes, one of them by Dieter Hoeness who had only been a substitute but was brought into the game after 19 minutes. Shortly after the break Sofia scored a fourth goal but eight minutes before the final whistle Breitner scored Bayern’s healthy third goal. In the return leg Bayern finished off Sofia without mercy by scoring four goals. After a break of six years, Bayern had managed to reach a European Cup final once again.

That final was staged in Rotterdam and Bayern’s opponents were English champions Aston Villa. It goes without saying that Bayern were considered the favorites in this game, having two of Europe’s best players in their ranks, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Aston Villa were a strange side, none of their players really stood out that much, with a lack of star power, their main asset was naturally great teamwork and a solid defense. Still, how this basically average side managed to win the English championship is still a bit of a mystery to me. Funnily, they also managed to fight their way into the European Cup final, which must be rated as a near-wonder. And on their way through Europe, they only conceded two goals in six games! Villa’s strongpoint obviously was the defense, contrary to Bayern, who had a lot of problems with their shaky defense that season, having conceded some 56 goals in the Bundesliga that year. But at the same time, Bayern knew how to score goals (77 in the league and 21 in the European Cup). They had three accomplished goalscorers in their ranks (Dieter Hoeness with 21 league goals, Paul Breitner with 18 and Rummenigge with 14). It has to be said though, that with gifted left-winger Morley and center forward Peter Withe, Villa had a dangerous pairing up front. Both teams were not involved in the title race of their domestic leagues that season, Bayern had however managed to win the German Cup two weeks earlier.

With a slow, calm built-up from the back, Bayern started pretty passively, allowing Villa to go attack more than expected. The first 30 minutes Villa were the more active side but then Bayern started to tighten the strings and created a number of decent to excellent chances before half-time. The highlight being a magnificent overhead kick by Rummenigge minutes before the break that just missed the goal. Bayern could have been up by one or two goals at that moment, but everyone in the Bayern camp was confident that they would score in the second half. But they didn’t. Totally against the run of play, Villa scored right at the moment when everyone expected Bayern to finally convert one of their many opportunities. Morley had broken through at the left wing in a counter attack, passing the ball to Peter Withe lurking at the goalmouth. Withe only had to kick the ball opportunistically into the Bayern net. Bayern continued to attack throughout the rest of the game but didn’t create as many chances as they had previously. Villa proved to be quite dangerous on counter attacks and almost scored a second goal in the dying minutes of the game. Just before that Dieter Hoeness had scored the equalizer, but the goal wasn’t given due to alleged off-side. It was a very close decision.

Peter Withe scores:
------------------------

When the referee blew the final whistle, Aston Villa had made sure that for a sixth year in a row, the English champions would also be crowned European champions. Continental football was kind of flabbergasted at that development, for apart from Liverpool, neither Nottingham Forest nor Aston Villa were really considered to be worthy champions, let alone being among the best sides in Europe. In the first 20 years of the European Cup, only one English team had won the trophy (Manchester United in 1968) and only one other side had even managed to reach the final (Leeds United in 1975) and now ‘suddenly’ they were conquering Europe on a regular basis, regardless of how ‘weak’ the team they sent was. It says something about the state of continental club football in that era, which lacked a dominant side like Ajax or Bayern in earlier years, to fend of the English challenge. For Bayern, that loss against Villa must rank as one of the painful in the club’s history, for they were beaten by a clearly less accomplished side, dominated most of the game and could have scored three or four goals easily on any other day. This loss was a terrible blow to the self-confidence of the Bayern team of the Breitner-Rummenigge era ... it would not be the last time Bayern would lose a European Cup final that they should have won.

Bayern 0
Rotterdam, attendance: 45,000
M Müller – Dremmler, Weiner, Augenthaler, Horsmann – Kraus (78 Niedermayer), Breitner, Mathy (51 Güttler), Dürnberger – D Hoeness, KH Rummenigge
Aston Villa 1
Rimmer (9 Spink) – Swain, McNaught, Evans, Williams – Bremner, Shaw, Mortimer, Cowans – Withe, Morley
Goal: 0-1 Withe 67

great team, that villa