Jupp Heynckes Within Touching Distance of Greatness with Bayern Munich

After guiding Bayern Munich to their fifth European Cup with a victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium, Jupp Heynckes is now within one step of a record-breaking campaign with the Bavarian side.

Heynckes, who became the second-oldest coach to win Europe’s premier club competition at 68 years and 16 days, will bring down the curtain on his two-year reign as head coach of the German giants against Stuttgart in the German Cup final next Saturday.

If Bayern were to win that contest, Heynckes will have created history by becoming the first coach in the club’s long and distinguished history to have won the Treble of European and German Cups, plus the Bundesliga—and don't forget that the latter was a record-breaking league campaign in which the team were beaten just three times in 53 contests.

And when it really came to it on Saturday night, with the match in the balance going into half-time all level, the veteran trainer really showed his experience by making a key tactical switch that saw man-of-the-match Arjen Robben play a more central—and decisive—role in the second half.

This, remember, is the same manager who was heavily criticised in the aftermath of last year’s Champions League final loss to outsiders Chelsea, on Bayern’s own ground, after substituting goalscorer Thomas Muller late on for Daniel Van Buyten.

Now, with Heynckes pushing the in-form Netherlands international winger into more threatening positions, Bayern were able to compete and then start to boss proceedings after the break, with their attacking impetus being rewarded with two goals. In result, Heynckes joins an elite list of three other coaches to win the European Cup with two different clubs.

What is more, this is just the German’s third-ever campaign coaching in the Champions League, and he has made it to the final on every single occasion, starting with Real Madrid in 1998, before back-to-back appearances with Bayern in 2012 and 2013—quite a remarkable record when you think about it.

And he and the team deserve their triumph, as they have without doubt been the stand-out performers on the Continent this season, and by some distance, too. It was also the case last year as well, when they had to endure the agony of having the trophy stolen from their grasp at the Allianz Arena.

Meanwhile, after having appearing in three of the last four Champions League finals, finished the season 25 points ahead of their opponents at Wembley and remained unbeaten against Dortmund in their four previous meetings this campaign, perhaps Heynckes and Co. deserved the little bits of luck that went their way against their fellow Germans.

And Dortmund certainly made the better start on the night and were in charge of proceedings in the first half, while Bayern were also extremely fortunate that neither Franck Ribery or Dante were sent off.

But in the end, Heynckes managed to mastermind a victory over Dortmund just as he had all those years ago in his very first game in charge of Bayern, during his first spell in Munich back in August 1987.

And now the two-time European Cup-winning manager can hand over the baton to another two-time Champions League-winning coach, with the pressure very much on the Catalan’s shoulders to create history himself next year by making it back-to-back wins in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in the modern era.

That is quite some curve ball that Heynckes has just passed Pep Guardiola, but he will not be thinking about that right now. No, he and his team will rightly celebrate long and hard into the cool London night, happy and just a bit relieved that they have finally made it a case of third-time lucky in the English capital, with a possible record-breaking treble still on the cards.

While for the Bavarian’s old-school trainer, who lamented the modern age of the laptop manager pre-match 36 years to the day he played in the European Cup final for Borussia Monchengladbach against Liverpool, this has been a fitting finale to a glittering 34-year coaching and 50-year playing career at the very highest level.

And although Heynckes has still not confirmed yet whether next Saturday will be his final-ever match in top-level management or not, and surely the likes of Chelsea, AC Milan, Madrid and Manchester City would all be interested were he to be available. Surely there could be no better way to go out than with victory over Stuttgart to cap off what would be the perfect season?

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