Ahead of Saturday night’s Inter-Bayern Champions League final, JOE takes a look at three Italian-German European finals of the past.
By Robert Carry
There have been surprisingly few final clashes between Italian and German sides in European club football.
However, on the rare occasions when they do face off, you can normally expect a cracker. To help tide you over until the next Germany v Italy club game, Saturday’s Champions League final between Inter and Bayern Munich, we’ve dug out three of the best.
Borrussia Dortmund v Juventus, Champions League final, 1996/97
The last time the Champions League final was stocked by German and Italian clubs was the showpiece of the 1996-97 season between Borussia Dortmund and the much fancied Juventus. However, things didn’t quite go according to plan for the Italian giants that night in the Olympic stadium in Munich.
The teams, playing in front of 59,000 fans, looked nervous in the early stages. However, the deadlock was broken when Karl-Heinz Riedle put Dortmund ahead, finishing from a Paul Lambert cross.
The glittering Juventus side began to pile on the pressure and it looked to be a matter of time before they equalised. Zinedine Zidane hit the post from range before Christian Vieri had what looked to be an acceptable goal disallowed. Vieri was denied again when he tried to lob Dortmund keeper Stefan Klos who managed to palm the effort onto the post, and the Italians were sickened when Riedle made it 2-0 with a bullet header from a corner.
Juventus finally got the reward for their efforts when Alessandro Del Piero, who came off the bench, made it 2-1 with a sweet back-heel finish. It was game on again but Juve were stunned just five minutes later when 20-year-old substitute Lars Ricken found himself in space and finished spectacularly from distance with what was his first touch of the game.
Hamburg v Juventus, European Cup final, 1982/83
Juventus competed for Europe’s top honour against a German side on another occasion – the 1982/83 European Cup final against Hamburg at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.
Uli Stein, the Hamburg keeper, had to be in fine form early on and was forced into two spectacular saves within the first five minutes. The first goal came not much later as the Italians struggled to settle. Felix Magath picked up the ball just inside the Juve half and dummied a long range shot which his Italian marker fell for in almost comical fashion. He released his shot from the corner of the box and it flew past the keeper in the top corner.
Hamburg had another effort cleared off the line shortly before the break, with the Italians looking a bit of a mess at the back. They steadied themselves for the start of the second half and had one of the first meaningful chances of the second 45 when Platini got onto the end of a long ball into the Hamburg box. The keeper did well to save his header and the Frenchman was unlucky not to equalise – although not as unlucky as he was with 20 minutes left to play and he was barged off the ball inside the Hamburg box. A seemingly stonewall penalty was denied, and Hamburg managed to hold onto their lead until the final whistle.
Stuttgart v Napoli, Uefa Cup final, 1988/89
Clubs from the two nations have also on occasion made their way to the Uefa Cup final – most memorably in 1989 when Diego Maradona’s Napoli faced off against Jurgen Klinsmann’s Stuttgart. Unfortunately, Klinsmann picked up a ban for the first leg and had to watch it from the stands. It was the first European final for both clubs and in those unfashionable days the winner was decided over two legs.
Football got the chance to throw up one of its bittersweet ironies when Maurizio Gaudino, born and raised in Naples but playing for Stuttgart, scored the opener. It fell to Maradona to rescue the situation for his adopted city which he did – when some curious hand-work (where have we seen that before?) on his behalf won a penalty for Napoli. He coolly converted to bring the two sides level. For his next trick, the Argentinean set up Careca on 87 minutes and he gave the Italians a one-goal lead to carry into the second leg in Germany.
Napoli, inspired by their, erm, inspirational captain, came out swinging at the start of the second leg and scored the first goal of the match when Alemão netted on 18 minutes. Klinsmann threw his side a lifeline with an equaliser but defender Ciro Ferrara put one away on 39 minutes.  It started to look like being one-way traffic in the second half when Brazilian great Careca left Stuttgart with a mountain to climb when he put one away just after the hour mark.
An own goal from Fernando De Napoli with 20 minutes to play took the game to 3-2 on the night and 5-3 on aggregate and when Nils Schmäler netted for Stuttgart on 89 minutes to give the Italians a hairy final few minutes, but they held on for a 5-4 aggregate win.
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