By way of crowning a scintillating second-half cameo, Franck Ribéry rounded off a rousing European evening for Bayern in Anderlecht with a glorious 20-metre free-kick brilliantly curled into the corner formed by post and bar, a flash of footballing precision and genius which had even the Belgian fans on their feet and applauding.
After coming on as a half-time sub, Ribery initiated many of Bayern’s flowing counter-attacks and provided the assists for Podolski and Klose, before opening his UEFA Cup account with the 86th-minute set-piece. Quite apart from being a thing of beauty, the sublime curler also proved a nice little earner for the France superstar.
“Before he took the free-kick, I said to Franck: 100 Euro for you if you score – 100 Euro to me if you don’t. I thought it would be easy money,” revealed Mark van Bommel, settling his lost wager aboard the team bus on the way to Brussels airport. “Franck’s recent efforts in training have all gone over the fence. I’d have taken on the bet in the circumstances,” joked Oliver Kahn the following day.
Ribéry was visibly delighted by his goal, dashing to the bench and embracing coach Hitzfeld and manager Uli Hoeneß with outstretched arms. “He was completely euphoric and said something about winning a bet,” a grinning Hitzfeld related on Friday.