Throwback Thursday: Bayern Munich vs BVB, 2001

This weekend, Germany’s two biggest clubs meet in a vital match that could decide who wins this year’s Bundesliga. 

One side has lead the way for most of the season, only for the other to peg back in recent weeks. It’s now finely poised and tensions will run high when Bayern Munich host Borussia Dortmund. However, we highly doubt that tensions will be quite as high as they were back in 2001 when faced with a similar scenario – Bayern leading by one point on this occasion – Der Klassiker well and truly kicked-off.

The reverse fixture had ended in a humiliating 6-2 defeat for BVB that year so, along with trying to gain the upper hand in the title race at a late stage, revenge was on the minds of Thomas Rosicky, Christoph Metzelder and company in the yellow and black. Madly, though, this isn’t a game that is remembered for football as much you may have thought. Rather, this is remembered in Germany as the most ill-tempered match in Bundesliga history, as 10 yellow cards and 3 red cards were shown.

The most cards ever brandished in a German league match, Bayern were shown 8 of those yellows on a day when a draw suited them far than their opponent. They had Bixente Lizarazu and Stefan Effenberg sent off while Dortmund’s Evanilson also had an early bath in the 1-1 draw which, as Rosicky hit the inside of the post with a late free-kick, was a result celebrated like a win by Oliver Kahn.

The below video, a chunk of YouTube gold, is all you need to know from the game, complete with American sports reporting.