Jurgen Klinsmann was both a great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals, but he says this was the greatest of the lot.
His bicycle kick for Stuttgart against Bayern Munich, who had Mark Hughes playing for them, stunned the German champs â so much so, Stuttgart went on to thrash them 3-0.
âÂÂFor a striker, a bicycle kick is something special; something you love to do,â says Klinsmann, fondly recalling his favourite strike for FFT. âÂÂYou dream about scoring one, but if you score one in a very big game in front of 70,000 â and Stuttgart against Bayern is like Spurs versus Arsenal â then itâÂÂs even better.âÂÂ
But itâÂÂs not all about the finish: the build-up is outstanding as well. With 18 minutes on the clock, an accurate cross-field ball is casually volleyed into the box for Klinsmann to dispatch in style. Three touches, from the left wing to the right, to the net.
Klinsmann went on to top the Bundesliga scoring charts that season, but none could top this effort, and it was rightly named German Goal of the Year.
It held greater importance â¨for Klinsmann himself, though. âÂÂIt opened the doors to international football for me, because a month later Franz Beckenbauer called me up and shortly after that I got my first cap. ThatâÂÂs why it was my â¨most special goal.âÂÂ
KlinsmannâÂÂs debut for the German national team was â¨a 1-1 draw with Brazil â the first of 108 caps and 47 goals â but âÂÂthe Golden Bomberâ puts this strike ahead of them all.
Words: Chris Hunt and Rik Sharma. Illustration: German Aczel. From the March 2012 issue of FourFourTwo. Subscribe!
