'This is almost fantasy football!' John Motson's excitable commentary as Norwich City's second goal went in against Bayern Munich summed up a never-to-be-forgotten night for everyone connected with club.
This Uefa Cup, second round clash was viewed as a mismatch by many – and the general expectation outside Norfolk was that the tie would be done and dusted after the first leg in the Olympic Stadium.
The German giants had never lost to English opponents at their famous ground – and you would have got long odds on that changing as they prepared to host Mike Walker's European novices, even though City had done superbly to see off Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem 3-0 on aggregate in the first round. The opportunity to be involved in a big game at such an iconic venue – and against such iconic opponents – was always going make this a memorable occasion for the Canaries and their supporters, but no one was there just to make up the numbers.
Right from the word go the visitors looked as if they belonged in one of European's top stadiums and in the 12th minute they deservedly took the lead with a surefire contender for the most memorable goal in the club's long and proud history. Time appeared to stand still as Rob Newman's floated cross was headed weakly away by German captain Lothar Matthaus and seconds later City fans lucky enough to be there, and fans watching on television back at home, were rubbing their eyes in disbelief as a magnificent volley from Jeremy Goss flashed into the back of net from well outside the box.
Fantasy became reality 18 minutes later when Walker's men made it 2-0 as Mark Bowen stooped to head home Ian Crook's free-kick after it had eluded Chris Sutton.
Norwich were in dreamland – and Christian Nerlinger's 40th-minute header for Bayern, which halved the deficit, took little gloss off what had been an outstanding opening period.
The second half was all about consolidation and with Bryan Gunn playing out of his skin City did just that before following up surely their best ever away win by drawing the home leg 1-1 to go through 3-2 on aggregate.
Norwich's reward was another thrilling draw and they went on to give an excellent account of themselves against Inter Milan too before losng both games 1-0.
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