Seeing is believing: Fortuna Duesseldorf handed FC Bayern their heaviest-ever away defeat on 9 December 1978
Seeing is believing: Fortuna Duesseldorf handed FC Bayern their heaviest-ever away defeat on 9 December 1978

THE DAY FORTUNA SANK BAYERN'S BATTLESHIP

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Munich - Record after record has fallen by the wayside since the Bundesliga's 1963 inception, with FC Bayern Munich typically the side taking the accolade for 'best this' and 'most that'.

Remember the date

However, with the current focus on Bayern's forthcoming attempt to make it a record-breaking season opening run of eight wins on the trot, it's easy to forget a curious little subplot to Saturday's Matchday 8 encounter at Fortuna Düsseldorf's ESPRIT Arena.

Hidden away amongst the piles of superlatives is the date 9 December 1978: the day Fortuna gave big old Bayern an absolute hammering.

As with most fixtures at the old Rheinstadion, 26,000 fans took their places in the stands, the majority of which to roar on Hans-Dieter Tippenhauer's home favourites. Naturally, the visit of Bayern attracted a little more attention than usual, with the likes of Sepp Maier, Martin Jol, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge just a selection of the big-name visitors that cold winter's afternoon.

Allofs arrives


Scarcely one minute into the contest, the Fortuna faithful were on their feet, not applauding a piece of Bavarian artistry, but instead celebrating Klaus Allofs' emphatic 18-yard opening strike. Maier was at fault in the Bayern goal, although it took the visitors just 21 minutes to restore parity through Klaus Augenthaler.

Allofs doubled his tally two minutes later to put the home side back in the driving seat, but not even the most optimistic of Fortuna fans would have dared even to imagine what was to come after the break.

Glory days


Fortuna were unrelenting and Bayern mere bystanders as Wolfgang Seel added goals three and four within 13 minutes of the restart. These were the glory days for the Fortuna faithful, a time when the men in red put together a run of 18 back-to-back wins in the German Cup - a record still untouched to this day - but this was FC Bayern Munich they were playing.

Further strikes from Gerd Zimmermann and Emanuel Günther (2) sent Tippenhauer's troops into seventh heaven, inflicting the heaviest-ever away defeat on the record Bundesliga champions - something, especially on Saturday, the new breed of Fortuna supporters, as well as those who were there on 9 December 1978, won't let the visiting Bayern clan ever forget.

Christopher Mayer-Lodge