Gareth Messenger

The 1974 European Cup Final was contested between Bayern Munich of West Germany and Atletico Madrid of Spain. Goals in extra time from Luis Aragones and Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck cancelled each other out, so a replay took place two days later.

Twenty seconds from the final whistle, and trailing 1-0 in the dying embers of extra time, the centre-back Schwarzenbeck, dubbed "the Kaiser's cleaner" by the German media, found himself with the ball and no better idea than to try his luck from 25 metres. Gerd Muller was about to wave his arm, demanding a cross, when the low shot hit the back of the net. It forced a replay.

Two days later, on 17 May 1974, Bayern and their players reached the heights they have never reached before.  Two superbly crafted goals from Muller and Uli Hoeness each destroyed Atletico 4-0.

Such was the level of celebration, Bayern had a league game against Monchengladbach the very next day and was humiliated 5-0, so deep and extravagant was Bayern’s party the night before.

Despite that, the first-ever European Cup win by a Bundesliga team defined the beginning of Bayern's rise to super-power status but in terms of footballing prowess, the side was ironically a little past their best already. That did not stop them surging towards greatness on the continent. The team then went on to win two more European Cups, in 1975 and in 1976.