FCBARCELONA.CAT

08.04.2008 13:57

Good record against the Germans

Jesús Carrillo

Schalke will be the ninth Bundesliga club to have played a European Cup match at the Camp Nou. Previous guests have been Hamburg, Hansa Rostock, Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen.

The balance is firmly tipped in Barça’s favour over the eleven games that have been played against Germans at the Camp Nou.

Nine wins and one loss

In the ten of the most meetings, Barcelona have got the better of their Central European rivals. The first was in 1961, when Hamburg lost 1-0 in the European Cup semi finals, a game that meant that to decide who went to the final in Berne against Benfica a tie-breaker had to be held in Brussels.

Two Germans in a season

It would be 31 years before another German side was in town for a European Cup match, in 91/92, when just after the country had been reunified, former GDR club Hansa Rostock and then Kaiserslautern, from the west, met Barcelona, and Cruyff’s outfit beat the former 3-0 and the latter 2-0.

Loss to Bayern

The only defeat at the Camp Nou came in 1999 to Bayern, the Bavarians winning 2-1 against Louis van Van Gaal's side in the group stages in a year when the Camp Nou was due to hold the final, which was eventually won by Manchester United, beating the side from Munich.

Wins in the new millennium

Since the Champions League was extended, there have been far more visits from German clubs, especially in the group stages. In 2000, Hertha Berlín were easily beaten 3-1 in the second round of groups, which was the result that qualified Barcelona for a game with Chelsea in the knockout stages. Two years later, Bayer Leverkusen also fell, this time 2-1, with Rexach on the bench, and the same side returned the season after, and once again lost, on that occasion 2-0. In 2006 and 2007, Werder Bremen played two games and lost both at the Camp Nou, 3-1 and 2-0 respectively, and this season it was the turn of Stuttgart, who also lost, 3-1.