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.