The European Cup clash between Kaiserslautern and Barcelona in 1991 is legendary to this day, and not just from a Palatinate perspective. The match and its course also have a special significance for the victorious Catalans.
It happened in the 2009 semi-final second leg between Chelsea FC and FC Barcelona. It was about a place in the final of the Champions League, in the first leg the Blues and the Blaugrana had parted 0-0. Then there was the second leg, in which Chelsea – then with Michael Ballack in the starting eleven – had taken an early lead and from the 66th minute onwards also played with an extra man. The Englishmen had one foot in the final again, but then Barça’s Iniesta struck in the third minute of injury time. The 1-1 draw took Barcelona into the final.
Iniesta scores against Chelsea, then the commentator shouts: “Kaiserslautern “
What stuck with us from the legendary scandalous game at Stamford Brigde was not only an angry Ballack, who stormed the Norwegian referee Tom Henning Övrebö in the final sequences. It was also a sequence from Spanish radio, swiftly circulated on the internet, in which the commentator incessantly shouted “Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern” after Iniesta’s goal.
While many football fans wondered what the then second-division club had to do with the game on the island, supporters of the Red Devils should have known quickly: a reference to Barça’s José Bakero’s late goal at the Fritz Walter Stadium in 1991, which averted the eventual title winners’ early exit against that very FCK (2-0, 1-3).
Guardiola and German teams: “I was in Kaiserslautern “
In fact, for FC Barcelona, “Kaiserslautern” is still synonymous with a late lucky punch after a seemingly hopeless situation. So it was no surprise that after the incredible last 16 against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 (6:1 after 0:4), Barça defender Piqué immediately recalled 1991: “I haven’t experienced anything like that since Bakero against Kaiserslautern.”
By the way, Lautern’s furious game also left an impression on someone who was on the pitch at the Fritz Walter Stadium at the time: Pep Guardiola. When he was later coach of the Catalans and had initially humiliated the chanceless Bavarians 4:0 in the quarter-finals of the 2008/09 season, he warned about the return match. In this situation, anything is possible for German teams: “I know that. I was in Kaiserslautern. “
