Rudi Völler had plenty to do in the hectic days before May 18, 1996: PR appointments here, TV interviews there. After 19 professional years at Offenbach, 1860, Bremen, Roma, Marseille and Leverkusen, the 36-year-old was preparing to retire. It was only natural that football celebrities would come for the great farewell match a few days later.
But before then, Völler and Bayer still had a small problem to solve: they had to avoid relegation. “A farewell with relegation — that simply could not happen,” he later summed up.
