On April 23, 1994, Bayern’s Thomas Helmer put the ball past the box in the game against Nuremberg. Referee Hans-Joachim Osmers decides on goal – and produces one of the most memorable decisions in Bundesliga history.
The ball goes past, but is counted as a goal and goes down in Bundesliga history as Thomas Helmer’s phantom goal. imago images
Legends are quickly made from events like this. For example, the fact that 1. FC Nürnberg would not have been relegated at the end of the 1993/94 season if it had waived the appeal of the game being scored.
But even if the 1:2 and not the 0:5 in the replay at FC Bayern had ultimately been counted, the club would have had to go into the second division, the goal difference was either way worse than that of SC Freiburg, with the same points.
Linesman Jablonski was blinded
A lot of subjunctive – in which life doesn’t actually take place. But on April 23, 1994 in Munich, it did. Exactly 30 years ago this Tuesday, something was scored that had never happened: After a corner kick from Marcel Witeczek, Thomas Helmer, who would later score a regular goal, poked the ball past Andreas Köpke’s box.
But referee Hans-Joachim Osmers decides on goal! A phantom gate. 1-0 for Bayern because their linesman, as they were called back then, in the opposing stand saw the ball behind the goal line. However, Jörg Jablonski was blinded by the sun…
If Schwabl hadn’t failed with his penalty…
By the way: Today’s referee Harm Osmers is not related to Hans-Joachim, but his colleague Sven Jablonski is the son of the main actor at the time. If Manfred Schwabl hadn’t missed Bayern goalkeeper Raimond Aumann with his penalty when the score was 1:2, Nuremberg would probably never have protested and actually wouldn’t have been relegated with one point more.
But here we are again at the subjunctive. Because Aumann holds. And Bayern become champions. But not because of “Phantomias” Helmer. Because ultimately the goal was never actually scored or counted.
2024-04-23 08:20:44
#Mishap #premiere #Thomas #Phantomias #Helmer
