The biggest-ever win in the Bundesliga came in a curious battle between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund in 1978 - one in which those involved have never forgotten. bundesliga.com explains just how the historic hammering came about ahead of what is expected to be a closer meeting between the pair on Matchday 13...

As one of the great powers in German football in the 1970s, Borussia Mönchengladbach were used to racking up relentless wins. By the time of the 1977/78 season, they were also a title-winning machine, having lifted the previous three Bundesliga crowns.

It therefore was no great surprise that when going into the final day of the campaign in April 1978 in second place, Gladbach would do everything in their power to still be crowned champions for a record fourth consecutive season - even if that required overturning a superior goal difference of ten strikes by league leaders Cologne, who began the day level with the defending champions on 46 points. 

The electronic scoreboard just about had enough space for all of Gladbach's strikes. - via www.imago-images.de

The highlights of the match at the Rheinstadion in Dusseldorf are a good demonstration of just how unstoppable Udo Lattek's side were when they found their groove. The front three of Jupp Heynckes, Allan Simonsen and Karl Del'Haye were a dazzling triumvirate capable of cutting some of the sturdiest defences to pieces.

With Dortmund going into the match with effectively nothing to play for in 11th, having recently secured top-flight survival, they offered scant resistance to a Gladbach outfit who streamed forward at every opportunity.

After just a minute of play, Simonsen, who was the reigning Ballon d'Or winner for his part in Gladbach's title heroics and run to the European Cup Final the previous season - turned the ball over to fellow Dane Carsten Nielsen on the left flank, and supplied captain Herbert Wimmer as he sprinted past a defender before lofting a cross for Heynckes to dispatch with a header brimming with purpose from around the penalty spot.  

Jupp Heynckes scored 220 Bundesliga goals in 369 appearances for Gladbach and Hannover. - imago sportfotodienst via www.imago-images.de

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The trend in the first goal - of Gladbach's swift passing and movement being too strong for lethargic Dortmund defending - would soon become an established pattern. Heynckes played a delightful one-two with Christian Kulik before drilling in stylishly for a second goal in the 12th minute. 

By the time half-time had come around, Gladbach were six to the good, with Heynckes hitting a first-half hat-trick. While nobody in the Black and Yellow of Dortmund could be said to be having a good afternoon, goalkeeper Peter Endrulat - a reserve shot stoppper who was depuitising for the injured Horst Bertram, was looking particularly disorientated and dispirited. 

Endrulat later told football magazine 11 Freunde that Dortmund coach Otto Rehhagel asked him at half-time if he wanted to come off the field. He said: "I was thinking 'You've already let six in - that isn't going to happen in the second half. Time to go out and make a few saves'. That proved to be the wrong decision, unfortunately."

Peter Endrulat made 60 appearances for Tennis Berlin before retiring three years later in 1981. - imago sportfotodienst

Gladbach had good reason to keep the relentless attacking and deluge of goals flowing in the second half - the seemingly improbable chance of overturning Cologne's goal difference and winning the title was now within their grasp. The Billy Goats were leading 1-0 at St. Pauli at the break, and with score updates not available instantly in those days, Lattek could be seen gesturing from the bench once the Foals had gone 9-0 up in the 66th minute to urge them to score three more goals in the hope that would be enough to snatch a dramatic title win.

The strike that took the lead into double figures in the 77th minute was the fifth goal in the match for Heynckes and his final strike in the Bundesliga - as he would retire after the game to become an assistant to Lattek and start a distinguished coaching career that would see him guide Bayern Munich to four Bundesliga crowns and the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League.

It was also perhaps the sorriest strike of the 12 from the perspective of poor Endrulat, who saved a shot from Heynckes only to allow his effort on the rebound between his legs before bundling it into the goalpost and over his own line in a failed attempt to clear it. 

Jupp Heynckes won four league titles as both a player and coach and lifted two UEFA Champions Leagues in the dugout. - imago sportfotodienst

Kulik tucked in the 12th goal in the second minute of stoppage time, with Gladbach therefore getting all the goals Lattek had demanded midway through the second half. News had reached the stadium by this stage, however, that Cologne had been in fine scoring form themselves - beating St. Pauli 5-0 and therefore sealing their second Bundesliga title, and to this day their last, with a goal difference that was three goals better than Gladbach.

While some could accuse Dortmund of indifference in their performance that day, the players involved have insisted that is not the way they felt. Amand Theis said: "I stayed at home for two days after the match and couldn't look anyone else in the face."

Fellow defender Lothar Huber said: "I wouldn't want anyone to be on the end of a result like that. In the end, the referee had to fetch the balls out of the net as we were too ashamed to do it."

Otto Rehhagel's title win with newly promoted Kaiserslautern in 1997/98 is perhaps the best remembered moment in a prestigious coaching career. - imago sportfotodienst

Rehhagel was dismissed as Dortmund coach the following day - although he would enjoy a glittering career in the dugout in which he led both Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern to Bundesliga titles before winning EURO 2004 with Greece. Endrulat, who had been hopeful of a new contract, left the club that summer after his seventh and final Bundesliga appearance to join Tennis Berlin.

Dortmund seized an early chance at redemption with a trip to Mönchengladbach early in the subsequent 1978/79 season ending in a 2-2 draw. The popular football saying that you are only as good as your last match may be partially true, but those involved in the 12-0 drubbing would also never quite shake it off. 

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