A feeling that the German side was arrogantly expecting victory was picked up on and utilised by the Norwich team. Bryan Gunn recalls:

It was disappointing that the Bayern management didn’t show us any respect, there was an air of arrogance about them. We used that as a stimulus.

Some 12 minutes into the match Rob Newman’s floated cross was headed away weakly by a back-pedalling Matthäus, towards the edge of the Bayern Munich penalty area. It fell straight into the path of Jeremy Goss. “I didn’t have to adjust my stride, I just hit it on the volley with my right foot. It was as sweet as anything”, said Goss.[16] The result was “a screaming 20-yard volley” into the top left hand corner of the net.

After 15 minutes, a serious injury forced striker Mark Robins off. He was replaced by Daryl Sutch, but just three minutes later, Ian Crook knocked a free kick from the half way line towards the back post. Chris Sutton and Oliver Kreuzer jumped for the ball, which floated over their heads. Stealing in behind both of them, Mark Bowen met the ball with a stooping header, which flew past a stranded Raimond Aumann, giving Norwich a two-goal lead. A shocked John Motson commented, “And Norwich are two up. This is almost fantasy football!”.

In the 40th minute, Munich pressure told when a cross from Jorginho was converted by Christian Nerlinger. Nerlinger beat Spencer Prior to the ball and successfully steered his header inside Bryan Gunn’s left hand post.

After the interval, most of the game was contested in the Norwich half, with Matthäus in particular proving to be instrumental in orchestrating many of the Bayern Munich attacks. After 70 minutes, Matthäus forced Gunn to save, low to his right with an effort that took a deflection. The subsequent corner ended with Jorginho curling a low cross into a crowded penalty area, where Adolfo Valencia’s header from just six yards out was saved by Gunn. The resulting rebound from Kreuzer came to nothing as he fired over the crossbar.