Background
This was Norwich City's only European campaign, achieved by virtue of finishing in third place in the inaugural Premier League season, their highest-ever league placing. The European campaign capped Norwich City's "great success in the early Nineties".
By contrast, Bayern were regular competitors in European competitions. The club had, at the time of the tie, won four European trophies, as well as 12 German titles, and a host of domestic cups. Moreover, Munich were to go on to win the Bundesliga once again that season. Norwich's victory was, by the time that Bayern Munich moved to a new stadium, the only win at the Olympic Stadium by any visiting team in UEFA club football.
Norwich striker Chris Sutton's father, Mike, recalls that pundits had predicted an overwhelming win for Bayern Munich: "I remember Alan McInally predicting that Bayern were going to win by about ten." The apparent mismatch between the sides led to an expectation of an overwhelming Munich victory. In The Times, columnist Martin Samuel summarised the situation: "The Germans had never lost at home to an English side and Norwich's expedition was regarded as little more than an exotic day out with a football match attached". This perception couldn't help but reach the players, which was to be significant. According to Norwich player, Jeremy Goss, before the match, "everyone around us was saying we would do well to keep it down to three or four nil". Both camps were to respond to this feeling, in a manner that has subsequently been viewed as contributory to the eventual result.
In the days leading up to the match, Norwich manager, Mike Walker, remained resolutely optimistic: "Clearly nobody had alerted Walker to the doomed nature of his mission ... the day before the game he was telling anybody who would listen that he fancied it". Walker had focused his attention on an unlikely weak link in Munich's team: Lothar Matthäus was the captain of Germany, a player with a distinguished pedigree in European football. He had won most of the major honours available to him, including the most recent World Cup, the Ballon d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year. Yet by now Matthäus was 32 years old, perhaps past his best. He was no longer playing in the position of midfield in which he had enjoyed so much success for club and country, he was operating for Munich as a sweeper. "With the bravado of a European novice it was Walker's opinion that ... wasn't good enough. Delightfully, he was right".
The Independent assessed Norwich's tactics as follows: "Walker has introduced a sweeper system and given it a positive face. Three defenders patrol the spaces in front of Ian Culverhouse while Mark Bowen advances to add his control and passing ability to the forward momentum".
Read more about this topic: Bayern Munich V Norwich City
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