Taking a leaf out of Norwich City's history - 19 October 1993: Bayern Munich 1 Norwich City 2

20 years ago, a club called Norwich City created history by traveling all the way to Munich and beating Bayern Munich 2-1 in their own backyard.

The match was described as “an apparent mismatch” and came as a huge shock as it was the only defeat ever inflicted by a British club on Bayern Munich in their Olympic stadium.

It was the first leg of the Champions League between the two and it gave something to the Norwich fans that they’ll remember forever. John Motson’s famous commentary line: “This is almost fantasy football” is one statement that will be lodged firmly in minds of a generation of football fans who probably wish that era never ended.

This was Norwich’s only European campaign, while Bayern were regular competitors – having already won by that time four European trophies, 12 German titles and a host of domestic cups.

Jeremy Goss, Norwich City’s midfielder, was the star player that night. A sublime volley gave the Canaries the lead en route to a 2-1 first-leg victory in Germany.

“I can still feel the ball hitting my foot now,” Goss says of his goal. “It was such a sweet strike.

“Luckily for me, I am remembered as the man who scored that goal against that team in that cup game. I had a couple of minutes in the big time of mass media exposure and I revelled in it, for the simple reason that it took so many years of hard work and disappointment to get to that level.”

And it wasn’t as if Norwich had defeated a young, inexperienced Bavarian side. Jan Wouters and Lothar Matthäus had returned fresh from their respective World Cup games and having ousted England, were on an expected high.

As Norwich made their way to the Olympic stadium, there was a growing feeling that Bayern would crush them – an arrogance that probably cost them the game.

Lothar Matthäus, who everyone in Munich was banking upon to perform, failed miserably.

Some 12 minutes into the match, Rob Newman’s floated cross was headed away weakly by a back-pedalling Matthaus, towards the edge of the Bayern Munich penalty area. It fell straight into the path of Jeremy Goss.

“I didn’t have to adjust my stride, I just hit it on the volley with my right foot. It was as sweet as anything”, said Goss. The result was “a screaming 20-yard volley” into the top left hand corner of the net.

In the days leading up to the match, Norwich City manager, Mike Walker, had found out Matthäus’s gullibility and he wasn’t wrong.

The Independent assessed Norwich’s tactics as follows: “Walker has introduced a sweeper system and given it a positive face. Three defenders patrol the spaces in front of Ian Culverhouse while Mark Bowen advances to add his control and passing ability to the forward momentum”.

At the final whistle, Norwich were confirmed as the first club to defeat Munich in the Munich Olympic Stadium in European competition. In 2006, Bayern moved to the Allianz Arena, thus sealing this record.

Post-match, Goss said “As soon as I hit it I knew I only had to worry about how I was going to celebrate,’ he said. ‘We would have been gutted to have finished with a draw after leading 2-0, which seems ridiculous when you consider the size and tradition of Bayern.

“Afterwards Mike Walker gave me the biggest hug I’ve ever had. He was hugging everyone but we know we have a tough game still to come at Carrow Road.”

20 years forward, to the present day, imagining both these teams facing each other and expecting a similar kind of result would be quite the flight of fancy.

To sum up what went down that night, Jeremy Goss puts it across brilliantly – “To think that is where Franz Beckenbauer stood to collect the World Cup in 1974. To think we have beaten Bayern Munich on their own ground. It’s marvellous, isn’t it?’

Relive the match here -