Kuffour won’t forget 1999 Champions League final

Former Bayern Munich defender Sammy Kuffour will forever be haunted by Manchester United’s dramatic win over the German club in the final of the 1999 UEFA Champions League.

Kuffour marshaled the Bayern defence for 90 minutes as his side led on a 7th minute Mario Basler goal until the English Premier League club struck twice in injury time to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.

He will make amends two years later and win club football’s most coveted prize but Kuffour, who famously made the headlines across the globe for his tears and expression of grief at the final whistle, insists May 26, 1999 at Camp Nou will forever remained etched on his mind. “No I won’t forget that game because Manchester United had a lot of good players like Schmeichel here but we were far better than them. We hit the bar, we hit the post, we had a lot of chances to finish them but they were so lucky. At the end of the day, we had to congratulate them that they won,” Kuffour recounted in the presence of Schmeichel last Thursday in Accra during the launch of the Glo-Man United alliance.

Kuffour remains adamant that Bayern deserved to have won the 1999 final: “Even if you ask Sir Ferguson himself, he will tell you we were better than them but they were lucky to win.

“In 2001, we beat them in the quarter finals. We beat them at Old Trafford and when they came to Germany too we beat them so we had our revenge but Manchester United are one of the greatest clubs and I was privileged to play against them.

“When you get you get to Old Trafford, it is very intimidating. The way they shout, the way they sing. For me it was a great opportunity to play there. It was once in a lifetime opportunity.”Credit: