Bayern vs Dortmund Dortmund – 18/03/1998 – Quarter-finals

Bayern vs Dortmund Dortmund – 18/03/1998 – Quarter-finals

"It was wonderful, the whole team felt so much emotion." Stéphane Chapuisat

The first UEFA Champions League tie between domestic rivals may have lacked goals and attacking quality, but there was no shortage of drama and tension.

Tackles flew in and the occasional chance went begging until, after 199 scoreless minutes, Stéphane Chapuisat finally broke through, dispatching a left-footed volley beyond Oliver Kahn's despairing dive. The Westfalenstadion erupted with unbridled relief and joy – even for Bayern, the comeback kings, there was no way back.

The result postponed the Bavarian giants' ambitions of reestablishing themselves at the top of the pile in Germany. Back-to-back Bundesliga titles had brought Dortmund to the fore, and although Bayern had managed to wrest the league crown back, the spotlight at the end of that 1996/97 campaign focused on Die Borussen's UEFA Champions League success.

To make matters worse Dortmund had claimed European club football's biggest prize by beating Juventus in Bayern's own backyard, at the Olympiastadion. So this was more than game, more than a tie to decide who would represent Germany in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals: it was a battle for domestic supremacy.
The first meeting in Munich ended goalless, with nothing to separate the sides as well-drilled defences held sway. Bayern, conducted by Lothar Matthäus and Mehmet Scholl, travelled to Dortmund for the return having lost three of their last four league games but it counted for little, the visitors having the better of a tight game from the off.
Had their finishing matched their approach play Giovanni Trapattoni's side would have long been out of sight. It was not, however, and Chapuisat – one of six survivors from the previous year's final – made them pay dearly when he finally escaped the watch of Markus Babbel.
Surprisingly lasting details of that famous night are hard to come by: there are few video clips, only sparse reports. Perhaps few in Germany – and Dortmund in particular – need reminding.