In 1997, Borussia Dortmund won the Champions League against Juventus Turin. There are some parallels to the biggest triumph in the club’s history ahead of Saturday’s final against Real Madrid.
Borussia Dortmund won the Champions League for the only time in 1997: Andreas Möller (front, 2nd from left) pulled the strings in midfield.
Shaun Botterill / Getty
Back then, eleven years ago, former Dortmund professional Lars Ricken was wearing armour as he stood on the pitch at London’s Wembley Stadium. The man opposite him was wearing armour too. It was Paul Breitner, legendary FC Bayern professional, who presented Ricken with a challenge.
The strange meeting of the club legends was part of a production to get the audience in the mood for the only all-German final in the Champions League to date. In these days, as Borussia looks forward to the final, the 2-1 defeat in 2013 is being remembered everywhere. Two veterans from that time are still there today: the attacker Marco Reus in what may be his last game for Dortmund and the central defender Mats Hummels.
On Saturday, starting at 9 p.m., Dortmund will face Real Madrid, the series winners and favorites, again at Wembley, a team with the unshakable certainty of being able to turn any game around in a hopeless situation. This is not the only reason why Dortmund are aware of their role as outsiders; the luxurious squad of the Madrid team also underlines their position as favorites. However, Borussia have always been able to surprise, especially in the role of underdog.
After All They Say…#UCL #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/pGOONBwxMr
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) May 30, 2024
Dortmund and Real have no experience in common
When Edin Terzic, the coach, talks about the unique opportunity presented by such a game, he sounds no different to Dortmund’s then coach Jürgen Klopp in 2013 before the duel against Bayern. And yet things are different. Back then, Bayern dominated the Bundesliga in a record-breaking season, while BVB, as defending champions, were completely outclassed. Today, however, Dortmund are facing a Spanish champion with whom they have no experience whatsoever.
So is this the biggest game in the club’s history, as everyone is saying? This match has the potential; with a win, Dortmund could underline their claim to be a top club. Especially at a time when Borussia is undergoing a restructuring: club boss Hans-Joachim Watzke will soon retire, and BVB will reorganize. But as long as the final is not won, Dortmund’s only Champions League victory to date, in 1997, will remain the only reference. The title from back then shaped BVB’s self-image – as one of the big European clubs.
Back then, Dortmund faced Juventus Turin in the final in Munich. The team was coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld and had won the championship in the previous two seasons. In 1997, however, things were going wrong. Dortmund were lagging behind in the Bundesliga and the Champions League was their big chance – and that is still the case this year.
There are parallels to 1997
“If you want to discover parallels to the present, you will find them,” says Andreas Möller, who directed BVB’s offensive game in 1997. A brilliant playmaker, highly valued by experts, but not necessarily popular with fans outside of Dortmund. “Why Germany’s football soul tends to hate Andreas Möller,” a chronicler once noted about the delicate technician, whose sometimes tearful facial expression led some football fans to the erroneous assumption that he lacked competitive toughness.
The playmaker’s memories of the evening in Munich are detailed: “We went into the game as outsiders, just like BVB today. And we knew then that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” However, the underdog status is not the only parallel to the present.
The coach’s future was also discussed back then, but on a different level. Ottmar Hitzfeld had made BVB a great team, and his achievements were undisputed. That is what sets him apart from the current coach Terzic, whose success in the Champions League glosses over his miserable performance in the championship.
The most difficult decision in Hitzfeld’s career
Hitzfeld had the authority to prepare the team for this match. He resorted to unpopular measures. Matthias Sammer, Dortmund’s strategist, had been injured for much of the season. Hitzfeld took the risk of fielding him – and instead put the Austrian Wolfgang Feiersinger, who had represented Sammer brilliantly, in the stands. It was, says Hitzfeld, “the most difficult decision of my coaching career.”
The quality of the opponent, however, left no room for any compromises: Juventus Turin set the standards back then – just like Real Madrid does today. The nonchalance with which the Italians dominated the competition was striking. No competitor was better equipped: Didier Deschamps, Zinédine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero and Christian Vieri – these were just the biggest names. The Serbian Vladimir Jugovic, on whose discreet services many top European teams relied, and the Croatian Alen Boksic were also on the field. It was no ordinary team, but rather an ensemble, directed by Marcello Lippi. No matter who played against them, he was one thing: not the favorite.
The exceptional position of the Italian record champions was somewhat deceptive as to Dortmund’s form. They had not only eliminated the English champions Manchester United in the semi-finals, but the events in the Ruhr region had also given them a boost: a week earlier, Schalke 04 had beaten Inter Milan in the final of the UEFA Cup. European football was already dominated, at least in part, by the Ruhr region.
The class of the Dortmund players was also impressive. Not just as a collective, which included the tireless Stéphane Chapuisat, but also individually: with the central defender Jürgen Kohler, the Portuguese Paulo Sousa, the striker Karl-Heinz Riedle and the goalkeeper Stefan Klos. Then there was the miraculously recovered Sammer, Europe’s “Footballer of the Year” the year before. And of course the brilliant Möller, who had played for Juventus two years previously.
They were certainly underdogs, but at the highest possible level. And the game actually started brilliantly for BVB. Karl-Heinz Riedle scored the 1-0 and the 2-0 by converting a sharp cross from Andreas Möller after a corner. The Italians were perplexed, but still dangerous enough to turn the game around.
When substitute Alessandro Del Piero scored the 1:2, Dortmund were shaky. Andreas Möller remembers: “They were on the offensive after the goal, and if they had equalized, I wouldn’t bet that we would have won the game.”
It was Hitzfeld’s last game as Dortmund coach
But then Ottmar Hitzfeld brought on the young Lars Ricken, and he was just in the game when Andreas Möller sent him towards the opponent’s goal with a centimeter-perfect pass. “I may have even closed my eyes, I don’t remember, but we were so well-rehearsed, Lars and I, that I simply sent him on his way.”
Lars Ricken raises the Champions League trophy after Dortmund beat Juventus 3-1 in the 1997 final.
Thomas Kienzle / AP / Keystone
Ricken saw that Juventus goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi was standing far in front of his goal. And he lobbed the ball over him from 25 meters into the net. It was the deciding factor – and undoubtedly BVB’s most famous and important goal in the most important game in the club’s history.
“It was a dream to win the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund. It was a sensation,” says Ottmar Hitzfeld, looking back a quarter of a century. It was his last game as BVB coach. He became sporting director for a year, then moved to rivals Bayern Munich.
“I may have even had my eyes closed,” says Andreas Möller about the pass to Lars Ricken.
The team was at its peak back then. It remains BVB’s greatest team to this day, despite the spectacular years under Klopp when they won the league title twice in a row and faced Bayern at Wembley eleven years ago.
Defender Hummels, who sees the 2013 defeat as the most painful of his career, is aware of BVB’s role. And yet BVB must not “play smaller than it is”. For him and his colleagues, these are not bad conditions for success at Wembley. BVB has always performed well as an underdog.
