Fc bayern documentary: a lot of pathos on the road to wembley

With all the hype surrounding new starting coach pep guardiola, it’s almost been forgotten a bit: in spring 2013, FC bayern made soccer history – and became the first german club to win the triple. This is the fubball trinity.

The most difficult part of this success is described in a documentary that will premiere in munich on monday and will then be available on DVD. The film "mia san champions" by rene hiepen accompanies the team on the road to success, the "road to wembley". And it does so with a lot of pathos.

It all starts with a low point: the painful loss of the "finale dahoam" against chelsea FC in 2012. In black-and-white images, the film revives the drama of the past, when the bavarians had to concede defeat to the actually much weaker englishmen in a final penalty shootout. Heavy music plays in the background; the bavarian captains philipp lahm and bastian schweinsteiger remember the perhaps most painful jolt of their soccer careers in front of a deep black background.

"There are teams that break up because of a defeat like this," says lahm. Others become stronger. And this is how both lahm and schweinsteiger see the foundation stone for success at wembley 2013 laid in the lost final at munich’s allianz arena in 2012.

The following is a fast-paced, emotional montage of the strongest bayern scenes from the preliminary round and the quarterfinals. And finally, the already almost historic semifinal against FC barcelona, which – combined return match – ended 7:0 for the munich team. In the end, the rough final against bundesliga heart rival borussia dortmund in london.

The film shows interview scenes after and before the game and lets lahm and schweinsteiger comment on what happened again and again. "Somehow you felt that today was the day," schweinsteiger recalls of the morning before the final, when he walked into the breakfast room of the hotel and saw his teammates there. "Everyone was heib."Even today he still vividly remembers the 2:1 win against dortmund. "I know exactly how every second was on the pitch."

The film shows the gross bavarian enthusiasm all over the world, shows fans in front of the tv in a hut in nairobi, smoking shisha in ramallah, drinking beer in mabkrugen in new york. And the munich philharmonic orchestra, lorin maazel and their motivational song are still causing goose bumps a quarter of a year after the final: "bring the henkel pot to munich, star of the south, mia san mia."

The documentation deliberately omits the fact that dortmund fans were actually clearly outnumbered in london, that only a fraction of the expected number of supporters came to the rainy triple celebration, and that club president uli hoeneb is hardly mentioned either. Tax affaires, was there something? Not in this film.

The documentation remains on the surface. Those who expect insights à la sonke wortmann’s "sommermarchen" from the 2006 world championship will be disappointed. There are a few party scenes after the final – and schweinsteiger at least reveals that franck ribery took the cup to bed with him at night and that he himself picked it up in the morning to take it for breakfast. But that’s it with intimate insights into the structures of FC bayern.

Nevertheless, the film is an emotional look back at the most successful season in the history of the bayern club. It pays homage to coach jupp heynckes and, above all, to schweinsteiger and lahm, who, after losing two finals this year, have achieved their rough goal. Fans will really enjoy this film, which is enriched on the DVD with the most powerful scenes from the champions league year of the bavarians and the final in full length. Lahm sums it up: "it was my best year ever."