1975 European Cup final

Bayern Munich were appearing in what would be their second of three consecutive European Cup finals, all of which they would win. The Bavarian side contained many great players such as Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Uli Hoeneß, who had featured heavily in West Germany's 1974 World Cup victory the previous season, and as such were heavy favourites. In the 1974–75 Bundesliga season, Bayern had a serious slump after winning the previous three German championships. This was said to be caused by motivational deficits, especially as six of the Bayern players also won the 1972 European Championship and the 1974 World Cup. To boot, at the start of the season Paul Breitner moved to Real Madrid. Bayern became the domestically worst-performing winner of the European Champions Cup up to then, finishing only 10th in the Bundesliga with a negative goal difference. Only Aston Villa would do domestically worse in the year of their European title win. In 1982, when they defeated Bayern 1–0 in the final, the team from Birmingham finished 11th in the First Division but a positive goal difference. For Bayern coach Dettmar Cramer, who took over from Udo Lattek early in the season, this was the first of three international club titles. He remained without domestic silverware. Franz Roth scored for the second time in a European final, after the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1967, putting Bayern ahead 1–0 in this final, and drew level with Sandro Mazzola from Italy's Inter Milan, who achieved this in the champions' finals 1964 and 1967. For Leeds United – only the second English club to reach the final after Manchester United in 1968, and the second team in history to reach the finals of all three European cup competitions after FC Barcelona – the game was the climax of the "glory years" of the team built by former manager Don Revie. Among the stars of the team were the Scottish internationals Billy Bremner and Peter Lorimer. This would be the club's last appearance in a major cup final until they reached the 1996 League Cup final. Like Bayern Munich, Leeds also had a rather poor season domestically; the experienced, but now aging side had finished only 9th in the First Division. Thus, only the winner of the final between Bayern and Leeds would be entitled to participate in the European Cup competition the following season. ==Route to the final==

Summary Leeds United dominated most of the match and had a number of near misses, while Bayern created few chances. The match became controversial for several hotly contested refereeing decisions. After three minutes, Bayern's Swedish international defender Björn Andersson had his leg broken by Terry Yorath while the ball was not in play, which was described by German international Uli Hoeneß as the "most brutal foul I think I have ever seen". Yorath was not sent off. Andersson was replaced by Sepp Weiß, and only played a handful more matches for Bayern. In the 23rd minute, Bayern captain Franz Beckenbauer was in his own penalty box on the ground and rested on his left arm which subsequently came into contact with the ball. The Leeds players appealed for a penalty, which the French referee Michel Kitabdjian denied. More controversial, however, was when the referee denied Leeds a penalty in the 34th minute after Beckenbauer tripped Allan Clarke, who was attacking the Bayern goal from the left wing and seemed ready to round Bayern goalkeeper Sepp Maier. The first half also saw Uli Hoeneß suffer a serious knee injury in the 37th minute after turning awkwardly on the pitch, which would ultimately bring his career to a premature end in 1979 at the age of 27, at which time he began his career in club management; he went on to become president of Bayern. He was replaced in this match by one-time German international Klaus Wunder. In the 62nd minute, Billy Bremner was denied from five metres by a close reflex save of Sepp Maier in the Bayern goal. Less than a minute later a goal by Peter Lorimer was disallowed, due to Bremner being in a tight passive offside position in front of the goal at the six-yard box. and referee Michel Kitabdjian pointed to the centre circle (indicating a goal and the restart of play from a kick off) before Beckenbauer convinced the referee to discuss the possibility of offside with the linesman. After a match interruption Roth finished off a counter-attack in the 71st minute by taking the lead for Bayern after a short pass from Conny Torstensson. 10 minutes later another counter led to a second goal for Bayern through Gerd Müller after a cross from the right side by Jupp Kapellmann. Violence after match, which included "skirmishes in the city and damage to private property" according to journalist Geoffrey Green, as well as damage to a £50,000 camera and a lost eye and a broken arm to German media workers, caused UEFA to consider abandonment of European competition altogether. Details ==Legacy==

The controversy surrounding the final is still manifested in the chant "We are the Champions, Champions of Europe" – amid a feeling that their club was cheated of victory in this match – by fans of Leeds United. Bayern remained one of Europe's top clubs and would go on to victory in the 1976 final, completing a hat-trick of wins – but would have to wait until 2001 for their fourth title. Leeds were eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual runners-up Valencia CF in the same season, Leeds' best performance in the competition since 1974–75. As of 2025–26, they have not appeared in the competition since. The appearance of an English club in the final for only the second time preceded a period of dominance by English clubs, with wins for Liverpool (1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984), Nottingham Forest (1979 and 1980) and Aston Villa (1982) in subsequent finals. ==See also==