Tears, joy, and Brehme: How the DFB Pokal final will bring back memories of 1996
Leverkusen and Kaiserslautern will face each other in the DFB Pokal final in May. It is a fixture that brings back memories of Völler, Brehme and the spirit of 1996.
When I think about Bayer Leverkusen against Kaiserslautern, a picture comes to mind. It has made the rounds a few times in recent weeks following the death of 1990 World Cup winner Andreas Brehme. The image is of Brehme arm-in-arm in tears with Rudi Völler following Lautern’s first-ever relegation from the Bundesliga in 1996.
At the end of the 1995/96 season, both teams played one another on matchday 34, with one final chance for each team to avoid relegation. While Kaiserslautern needed to win the match, Leverkusen needed just one point to stay safe.
At the time, Kaiserslautern were just one of four founding members of the Bundesliga, never to have been relegated. The other teams were Köln, Hamburger SV, and Eintracht Frankfurt. The latter was already confirmed as one of the three relegated sides.
Kaiserslautern, in the meantime, were still very much in the relegation fight. Indeed, it was a strange season for the club. On paper, the Red Devils had a strong Bundesliga team with World Cup winners Andi Brehme, midfielder Claus-Dieter Wollitz and striker Olaf Marschall. The squad included Pavel Kuka and Miroslav Kadlec, who would be big stars for a Czech side that would go on to reach the final of Euro 1996, where they lost to Germany.
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