1975/76: Roth completes Bayern hat-trick

FC Bayern München 1-0 AS Saint-Étienne
(Roth 57)
Hampden Park, Glasgow

The European Champion Clubs' Cup provided some striking results in 1975/76. Yet the end product was the same as in the two previous seasons, with FC Bayern München completing a hat-trick of wins in the competition.

Újpesti TE had set the tone when beating FC Zürich on away goals in the first round: the Hungarian side controlled the first leg 4-0 but lost the return 5-1. Next Real Madrid CF took up the erratic baton, overcoming a 4-1 away defeat to knock out Derby County FC 6-5 in the second round. Madrid then edged past VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach - drawing 1-1 and 3-3 with the German champions - before running into a Bayern side fresh from arguably their best performance of the period, their 5-1 thumping of SL Benfica at the Olympiastadion which included two goals from Gerd Müller. The German international scored three more in the semi-finals as Bayern held Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu then picked them off 2-0 in Bavaria.

The only question now was which of the other last-four pairing would make it to the final at Glasgow's Hampden Park. There were no doubts as to the character of either - AS Saint-Étienne and PSV Eindhoven had recovered 2-0 first-leg deficits against FC Dynamo Kyiv and HNK Hajduk Split respectively in the quarter-finals. But Les Verts had the quality of Dominiques Bathenay and Rocheteau, and won through 1-0 to become the first French finalists since Stade de Reims Champagne in 1959. The final was a similar story, though this time the only goal came from Bayern's free-kick specialist Franz Roth. And not even a late St-Étienne cavalry charge could deny Beckenbauer and Co their famous treble.