Having smashed a plethora of records and steam-rollered the likes of Barcelona and Juventus, all-conquering Bayern Munich can crown their season by becoming the first side to win the Bundesliga, Cup and Champions League treble today (8pm).
Tonight’s Cup final opponents Stuttgart, who finished in the lower half of the Bundesliga after their familiar winter slump, are all that stand between Bayern and what chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge described as “immortality”.
The match at Berlin’s Olympic stadium will be the last for Bayern’s 68-year-old Jupp Heynckes before he makes way for Pep Guardiola, who could not have a more difficult act to follow.
The numbers speak for themselves. Bayern won the Bundesliga with a record 91 points from 34 games, including only one defeat.
They clinched the title with an unprecedented six matches to spare and finished 25 points clear of Borussia Dortmund, another best.
They also set records for the number of wins (29), number of away wins (13), fewest goals conceded (18) and best goal difference (an astonishing plus 80).
In the Champions League, they won 10 out of 13 games and lost two, beating Juventus 4-0 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, Barcelona 7-0 in the semis and Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in Saturday’s final at Wembley.
Their cup form has been equally emphatic with five wins in as many games, 17 goals scored and only one conceded, conquering last season’s double winners and great rivals Dortmund along the way.
Stuttgart, on the other hand, finished 12th in the Bundesliga, with 43 points, and faced one Bundesliga side in their cup run.
Labbadia hopeful
Stuttgart were one of six teams to concede six goals or more in a game against Bayern, alongside Werder Bremen, Lille, Wolfsburg, Hanover 96 and Hamburg.
Coach Bruno Labbadia admitted the gulf was enormous but still held out hope.
“Anything is possible in a single game,” he was quoted as saying int he media yesterday.
“There are days when a team can win a match despite not having the quality of their opponents. We’re hoping for one of those days.”
Bayern, however, see the game as far more than an epilogue to their season.
“This team has already entered the history books, but they can make themselves immortal,” Rummenigge said.
“Even the most successful Bayern team of all time, the generation including Franz Beckenbauer, Gerhard Mueller and Sepp Meier in the 1970s, never managed to win the lot.
“The only mistake we could make, and it’s doing the rounds in the media at the moment, is to think we’re approaching the easiest part and we’ll easily beat Stuttgart.”
Bayern would become the seventh European team to complete a league, Champions League and cup treble following Inter (2010), Barcelona (2009), Manchester United (1999), PSV (1988), Ajax (1972) and Celtic (1967).
The Bundesliga and Cup double has been won 11 times before, eight by Bayern and one each by Cologne, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund last season.