Bayern Munich humiliates Cruyff and Ajax!

It’s 30 years ago that Johan Cruyff was presented with a huge hangover after his farewell match against Bayern Munich. November 7, 1978 and Ajax had lost 0-8 against the Germans.

It was supposed to be a huge party for Jopie in the Olympic Stadium. JC would say bye bye against Bayern Munich. The day after the game, players, management and trainers of Ajax came together to digest this huge uppercut. Chairman Harmsen: “It was a huge blow. This game was supposed to be a celebration for the best player Ajax ever had. It’s a shame it ended like this.”

And as one can expect from the Amsterdam bluf club, it was all Bayern’s fault! Former Oranje team manager Fadrhonc had gone immediately into the Munich dressing room to to point the finger and ask them “why the hell they did this…”

Ajax coach Cor Brom: “Our mentality for that game was different. We wanted it to be a football show. A fiesta. We wanted to give Johan a glorious farewell, but Bayern wasn’t in on the script.”

Two years ago, reporter Hans Janssen wrote an extensive reconstruction of this match, telling the story from the German angle as well. This showed, that no one from Ajax was at the airport to welcome the guests. The agitation grew when they found out they were put in the third-rate hotel somewhere. Ajax appeared to be a bad host.

Paul Breitner: “During our warming up, the fans yelled Nazi Schweinhunden to us and the Ajax players totally ignored us. As if we were extras in the whole thing. Still, Maier, Muller, Oblak and myself decided to allow JC to shine. And we did, but Rummenigge couldn’t be reigned in. And that was also Ajax’ fault. They didn’t stop him, and what do you do when you’re a striker and you end up in the box with a chance? You score! In all honesty, it wasn’t us so much who ruined Johan’s night.”

Way before the end, tens of thousands of fans had left. The match, broadcast in a dozen countries, took 400,000 guilders, which were donated to charity.