There was a key figure behind the biggest success in the club's history: Ottmar Hitzfeld. The former maths and P.E. teacher was both an outstanding coach – the second most successful in German football history after Udo Lattek – and a gifted diplomat with the ability to manage stars, who often had injuries to contend with, and to transform them into a team.

What are your memories of the path to the final in Munich?
That Champions League season went very well for us, but it was a mammoth task. We didn't have the strength in depth that a lot of the big clubs have nowadays with their squads of 18 players of equal ability. Our title challenge suffered as a result and we experienced setback after setback during our Bundesliga campaign.

Just how important was 28 May 1997 in your life?
It was one of the absolute highlights of my sporting career to win the UEFA Champions League and to beat the favourites Juventus in the final. They had a very strong team brimming with talented individuals.

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The initial pressure by the Italians was followed by two goals from Kalle Riedle in the space of five minutes to put you 2-0 up...
When you're playing against one of the favourites, it's always pivotal to take the lead. It strengthens your self-belief and the opponent gets a little nervous. We didn't have the same level of experience as that Juventus team, which had won the Champions League the previous year. Going 2-0 down was initially a shock to the system for Juve.

How important was it that Lars Ricken made it 3-1 and re-established your two-goal cushion just five minutes after Del Piero had pulled one back?
Lars was a real super sub who scored a lot of important goals for us en route to the title, and he dealt Juve the knockout blow in that final too. He had already told us what he was going to do, because he had noticed that Peruzzi kept drifting a long way off his line and was playing in a kind of sweeper role behind the back four. His long-range lob was an intuitive effort – and it was absolutely world-class.

You just mentioned Juve's back four, which at the time was a tactical variation that had not really taken hold in Germany, where the use of man marking and a libero still held sway. You faced criticism at the time for that. Today, 20 years later, the 3-5-2 system that you employed as Borussia became Bundesliga champions in 1995 and 1996 and Champions League winners in 1997 is experiencing a revival.
It's not always possible to reinvent football. As a coach, you're constantly searching for the correct system for your own team and thinking: how can I get the best out of the strengths of my players in the different positions? For us, it was important that either Sammer or Feiersinger always sat in front of the defence.

Wolfgang Feiersinger didn't make the squad for the final. Was that one of the most difficult decisions of your career?
Leaving Feiersinger out of the squad for the final was the most difficult decision I have ever made. It was obvious that Feiersinger would not make the starting XI because Sammer was fit again. I was only allowed to name 14 outfield players in my squad, so I had to decide between Tretschok and Feiersinger. It would have been a luxury to have a libero on the bench, but I really needed another super sub and Tretschok had scored several goals for us in the Champions League that year.

That was your last match as Borussia Dortmund boss. Why did you decide to leave after a success like that?
Spending six years coaching one club is an unbelievably long time. You expend a lot of energy when you constantly have to push yourself to the limit and work in a high-pressure environment. It was the right decision. I was pretty much burnt out. It was something I really noticed once the pressure had subsided. Then an offer came through from Real Madrid. So the question I faced was whether to stay at Borussia Dortmund or to move to Real Madrid – or, perhaps, to stop altogether and take a break. Michael Meier then said to me: "There's another option: you can help me look after the club's sporting affairs." That was the right decision.

You've remained in close contact with Michael Meier...
We have a close friendship, we speak on the phone regularly and occasionally we play golf or go skiing together.
Interview: Boris Rupert