It has been 30 years since Norwich City became the first English team to defeat Bayern Munich at the Olympiastadion.
On October 19, 1993, Mike Walker’s Canaries entered the second round of the UEFA Cup as underdogs and produced one of European football’s biggest upsets on a famous night in Club history.
City eliminated Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem in two matches in the first round of the tournament; A 3–0 win at Carrow Road, with goals from Efan Ekoku (Norwich City’s first in European competition), Jeremy Goss and John Polston, was followed by a goalless draw at Arnhem, setting Set up a clash with 12-time German champion Bayern.
Domestic and European media suggested that Man City had little or no chance of winning in Munich, despite the Canaries’ impressive form at the start of the 1993/94 domestic season.
With more hope than expectation, nine Norwich City fans’ coaches made the long journey to Bavaria, unaware that they were about to witness such an historic result.
Bayern’s team is brimming with talent and includes the legendary Lothar Matthäus, a World Cup winner with West Germany in 1990, earning him the Ballon d’Or and World Player of the Year that year.
After 12 minutes of play, the German hero’s attempted header sent Jeremy Goss to just outside the box, and the Welshman received the ball accurately with a volley for what was supposed to be the winning goal. Norwich City’s most famous of all time.
After half an hour, City doubled their lead when Mark Bowen raced in at the far post to deliver a controlled header past Raimon Aumann in the Bayern goal.
Norwich City leads Bayern Munich 2-0. As the late John Motson so eloquently said: “football is almost as good as it gets”.
Eleven minutes later, Bayern were back in the game as Christian Nerlinger reduced City’s lead and sent a harsh reminder to any who had dared to dream too early.
It would however be the end of the scoring in the Olympiastadion, thanks in no small part to Bryan Gunn’s 75th-minute save from Adolfo Valencia’s powerful header.
The whistle went, and the men in yellow celebrated with the travelling fans who could scarcely believe what they had seen play out in front of them.
There was another leg to come of course, but the performance on that October night perhaps stood alone as the pinnacle of the club’s long history.
Norwich City had felled one of European football’s superpowers and those Canary fans in attendance would take a memory back to Norfolk to last a lifetime.
Norwich City:
Bryan Gunn, Ian Culverhouse, Spencer Prior, Ian Butterworth (C), Rob Newman, Ruel Fox, Ian Crook, Jeremy Goss, Mark Bowen, Mark Robins (Daryl Sutch 15), Chris Sutton
Tàu ngầm chưa được sử dụng:
Scott Howie, Gary Megson, Darren Eadie, Andy Johnson
Buts :
Goss (12), Bowen (30)
Bayern Munich :
Raimond Aumann (C), Lothar Matthäus, Oliver Kreuzer, Thomas Helmer, Jorginho , Christian Dê (Michael Sternkopf 60), Christian Nerlinger, Jan Wouters, Mehmet Scholl (Bruno Labbadia), Marcel Witeczek, Adolfo Valencia.