Special matches will eventually lead to special memories. In an interview series with DFB.de, contemporary witnesses speak to us about some of the most legendary Bundesliga encounters of all time. Today we shed light on the match between FC Schalke 04 and Hamburger SV on Saturday (15.30 CET, live on Sky) with the help of former German international Wolfgang Rolff, who spoke to journalist Thomas Kilchenstein ahead of this special tie.
Rolff, an assistant coach under Thomas Schaaf at Eintracht Frankfurt at the moment, scored HSV's winner in a 2-1 victory at Schalke more than 31 years ago (4th June 1983), ensuring Hamburg's successful title defense. It was Rolff's first ever Bundesliga season, having arrived as a fairly unknown talent from 2. Bundesliga outfit Fortuna Köln. Less than a year later, he was a German champion and European Cup winner.
DFB.de: Mr. Rolff, when you joined HSV in 1982/83, people didn't know anything about you. Did the many international players at HSV take you seriously?
Wolfgang Rolff: I arrived with a lot of confidence and managed to make my mark immediately. I think coach Ernst Happel realized I was a hard running player. I was always determined and rarely injured. He could count on my completely, but I was also lucky that some of the regular players missed out on pre-season due to injury. That's how I found my way into the team.
DFB.de: But you were still a greenhorn, a player joining the German champions from second league team Fortuna Köln. You were now playing alongside names like Uli Stein, Manfred Kaltz, Dietmar Jacobs, Felix Magath, Thomas von Heesen, Horst Brubesch, Jimmy Hartwig.
Rolff: Sure, then you need to dig deep and don’t let them overwhelm you. That's what I did. I benefitted from the backing which Ernst Happel gave me. As I was putting in so much hard work, the established players had to step it up as well. Perhaps that's why we won the title again.
DFB.de: Were you a regular at the start of the season?
Rolff: Yes, I was immediately in the team. I had 32 appearances, received five yellow cards and scored four goals.
DFB.de: The most important goal came on the last match of the season at Schalke.
Rolff: Yes, it was a must win match. Werder Bremen was level on points with us, but we had the higher goal difference. So we knew that we'd win the title by beating Schalke. We put them under pressure and then came the 66th minute …
DFB.de: … the 52nd minute.
Rolff: Oh, it was that early?
DFB.de: What kind of a goal was it, do you remember it?
Rolff: Of course. We were on the counter-attack and combined quickly to get the ball up front. I am not sure who supplied the pass, Felix Magath or Allen Hansen. Then I ran towards the box and aimed at the far corner. Schalke's keeper Walter Junghans couldn't reach it.
DFB.de: You were a defensive midfielder back then.
Rolff: Yes, exactly.
DFB.de: And for this counter-attack you got involved up front despite being a defensive minded player?
Rolff: Well, as I said, I was quite willing to run a lot.
DFB.de: So you went up 2-1 after 52 minutes. Was it hard to defend that lead, did Schalke put you under pressure afterwards?
Rolff: We controlled the match and had several chances even before that. Horst Hrubesch scored the lead for us, Wolfram Wuttke equalized. But after we made it 2-1, we missed out on the opportunities to go up 3-1 and 4-1. So the result looks close, but really we had everything under control.
DFB.de: How was it to become a German champion as such a young player?
Rolff: It was a superb season in general. Like a dream. I became a Bundesliga regular, won the European Cup and became a German international. All at once. To be honest, I only really grasped these events a bit later.
DFB.de: The title race was very tight then with Werder Bremen. They were runners up only on goal difference.
Rolff: Yes, it was Bremen who put an end on our great run of results. We had been unbeaten for 36 consecutive matches stretching across two seasons. But on matchday 19 we lost 3-2 at Bremen and the run was over. It was a record for a very, very long time until Bayern outdid us last season.
DFB.de: Mr. Rolff, two weeks after winning the Bundesliga at Schalke you also won the European Cup.
Rolff: Yes, that was unbelievable. I also played all the European Cup matches and in the final we were up against Juventus. The team was made up of Italian internationals and they also had Michel Platini and Zbigniew Boniek. Prior to the match everyone thought Juve would win. But then Felix Magath put us ahead after eight minutes. And we even added another goal after around half an hour. I scored it, but the referee disallowed it, even though it was not offsides. Anyway, we had an outstanding keeper, Uli Stein, and as a team we were incredibly compact.
DFB.de: Who did you mark?
Rolff: Platini.
DFB.de: So there was really no way of adding something the following season?
Rolff: Well, we took second place. The first three teams in the table all had 48 points. Stuttgart became champions, we were in second and Mönchengladbach in third. We threw away the title that season. At one point we were six points ahead but then lost to Waldhof Mannheim and also to Eintracht Frankfurt at home in the penultimate match of the season.
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Special matches will eventually lead to special memories. In an interview series with DFB.de, contemporary witnesses speak to us about some of the most legendary Bundesliga encounters of all time. Today we shed light on the match between FC Schalke 04 and Hamburger SV on Saturday (15.30 CET, live on Sky) with the help of former German international Wolfgang Rolff, who spoke to journalist Thomas Kilchenstein ahead of this special tie.
Rolff, an assistant coach under Thomas Schaaf at Eintracht Frankfurt at the moment, scored HSV's winner in a 2-1 victory at Schalke more than 31 years ago (4th June 1983), ensuring Hamburg's successful title defense. It was Rolff's first ever Bundesliga season, having arrived as a fairly unknown talent from 2. Bundesliga outfit Fortuna Köln. Less than a year later, he was a German champion and European Cup winner.
DFB.de: Mr. Rolff, when you joined HSV in 1982/83, people didn't know anything about you. Did the many international players at HSV take you seriously?
Wolfgang Rolff: I arrived with a lot of confidence and managed to make my mark immediately. I think coach Ernst Happel realized I was a hard running player. I was always determined and rarely injured. He could count on my completely, but I was also lucky that some of the regular players missed out on pre-season due to injury. That's how I found my way into the team.
DFB.de: But you were still a greenhorn, a player joining the German champions from second league team Fortuna Köln. You were now playing alongside names like Uli Stein, Manfred Kaltz, Dietmar Jacobs, Felix Magath, Thomas von Heesen, Horst Brubesch, Jimmy Hartwig.
Rolff: Sure, then you need to dig deep and don’t let them overwhelm you. That's what I did. I benefitted from the backing which Ernst Happel gave me. As I was putting in so much hard work, the established players had to step it up as well. Perhaps that's why we won the title again.
DFB.de: Were you a regular at the start of the season?
Rolff: Yes, I was immediately in the team. I had 32 appearances, received five yellow cards and scored four goals.
DFB.de: The most important goal came on the last match of the season at Schalke.
Rolff: Yes, it was a must win match. Werder Bremen was level on points with us, but we had the higher goal difference. So we knew that we'd win the title by beating Schalke. We put them under pressure and then came the 66th minute …
DFB.de: … the 52nd minute.
Rolff: Oh, it was that early?
DFB.de: What kind of a goal was it, do you remember it?
Rolff: Of course. We were on the counter-attack and combined quickly to get the ball up front. I am not sure who supplied the pass, Felix Magath or Allen Hansen. Then I ran towards the box and aimed at the far corner. Schalke's keeper Walter Junghans couldn't reach it.
DFB.de: You were a defensive midfielder back then.
Rolff: Yes, exactly.
DFB.de: And for this counter-attack you got involved up front despite being a defensive minded player?
Rolff: Well, as I said, I was quite willing to run a lot.
DFB.de: So you went up 2-1 after 52 minutes. Was it hard to defend that lead, did Schalke put you under pressure afterwards?
Rolff: We controlled the match and had several chances even before that. Horst Hrubesch scored the lead for us, Wolfram Wuttke equalized. But after we made it 2-1, we missed out on the opportunities to go up 3-1 and 4-1. So the result looks close, but really we had everything under control.
DFB.de: How was it to become a German champion as such a young player?
Rolff: It was a superb season in general. Like a dream. I became a Bundesliga regular, won the European Cup and became a German international. All at once. To be honest, I only really grasped these events a bit later.
DFB.de: The title race was very tight then with Werder Bremen. They were runners up only on goal difference.
Rolff: Yes, it was Bremen who put an end on our great run of results. We had been unbeaten for 36 consecutive matches stretching across two seasons. But on matchday 19 we lost 3-2 at Bremen and the run was over. It was a record for a very, very long time until Bayern outdid us last season.
DFB.de: Mr. Rolff, two weeks after winning the Bundesliga at Schalke you also won the European Cup.
Rolff: Yes, that was unbelievable. I also played all the European Cup matches and in the final we were up against Juventus. The team was made up of Italian internationals and they also had Michel Platini and Zbigniew Boniek. Prior to the match everyone thought Juve would win. But then Felix Magath put us ahead after eight minutes. And we even added another goal after around half an hour. I scored it, but the referee disallowed it, even though it was not offsides. Anyway, we had an outstanding keeper, Uli Stein, and as a team we were incredibly compact.
DFB.de: Who did you mark?
Rolff: Platini.
DFB.de: So there was really no way of adding something the following season?
Rolff: Well, we took second place. The first three teams in the table all had 48 points. Stuttgart became champions, we were in second and Mönchengladbach in third. We threw away the title that season. At one point we were six points ahead but then lost to Waldhof Mannheim and also to Eintracht Frankfurt at home in the penultimate match of the season.
