THE VITALS:

Team: Bayern Munich

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2011-12 (Used for the 2011-12 & 2012-13 Bundesliga seasons, 2012 DFB-Pokal Final, 2012 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2012 DFL-Supercup Final)

Name/Number: Gomez #33

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

There is much to admire about the condition of this now decade old shirt! The material is almost flawless, meanwhile, the Adidas embroidery, club crest, sponsor decal, name and numbering are also in fine esteem! Only the Bayern Munich print on the back of the shirt shows any sign of blemish or wear.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: 13-14 Yrs

Pit to Pit Measurement: 18 inches

Shirt Length: 26 inches

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaCool’ range which they introduced in 2012; this shirt may even fit an adult size small based on the dimensions of the shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

After the throwback shirt Adidas put together as Bayern’s home shirt in 2010-11; they would ditch the tradition in favour of a modern contemporary design that saw gold introduced for the first time as the club’s secondary colours! The gold would be an omen of the incredible tour de force that was the Jupp Heynckes’ sides two seasons wearing this shirt as they reached 2 DFB-Cup Final’s, 2 UEFA Champions League Final’s and of course, regaining the Bundesliga title from Borussia Dortmund’s grasp in 2012-13! While the 2013-14 shirt was worn for the 2013 DFB-Pokal and Champions League Final’s; the 2011-13 shirt would be remembered for: the Group Stage wins over Manchester City and Napoli, the incredible 7-0 destruction of FC Basle, the dramatic elimination of Real Madrid, and then the agonising Champions League Final defeat at home against Chelsea in 2012, and then in 2013; the dominations of both Juventus and Barcelona in the Champions League, and of course, their record breaking 23^rd Bundesliga title when they scored 98 goals and racked up 91 points!

THE SEASON(S):

The 2010-11 season would be one to forget for Bayern Munich as they failed to defend their Bundesliga title for the 2^nd time in succession. Louis Van Gaal’s stint would end in April 2011, and Jupp Heynckes would be drafted back in for a 3^rd stint in charge of the club. Rafinha, Jerome Boateng and Manuel Neuer would feature amongst the clubs new signings!

Although the 2011-12 Bundesliga season would start with a defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach, they would quickly put that result in the rear-view mirror and the won 7 matches in a row! Their title challenge would represent a pattern of a few wins, followed by a stumble; most notably to the Borussia’s – Dortmund and Monchengladbach; and the 11/04/12 defeat to Dortmund all but ended their hopes of winning back the Bundesliga, and would have to settle for a 2^nd place finish!

In the DFB-Pokal, Bayern would make it all the way to the final after seeing off Borussia Monchengladbach on penalties in the semi-final, however, they would be stopped by the seemingly indomitable Borussia Dortmund in the final.

 In the UEFA Champions League, Bayern would have to navigate a qualifier against FC Zurich before entering a very difficult Group A alongside – Villarreal and newcomers to the competition – Manchester City and Napoli. They would circumvent this challenge by topping the group, before knocking 7 past FC Basel, and getting past Marseille comfortably to set up a first meeting with Real Madrid since the 2006-07 season. With a place in the Final at home riding on this contest, Bayern would ride their luck and then see: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Sergio Ramos all miss penalties in the shootout, to the set up a final versus Chelsea at the Allianz Arena on 19/05/12. Their worst nightmare would manifest as they fell on penalties to the English side to cap off what was a very disappointing 2011-12 season.

In their latest attempt at unseating Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund; the Bayern hierarchy would make Javi Martinez their most expensive ever player when they parted way with €40 million to sign him from Athletic Club! His signing would be supplemented by the purchases of: Xherdan Shaqiri, Dante, Mario Mandzukic and the returning Claudio Pizarro! The new campaign would be a sign of a revival of fortunes for ‘Die Rotten’ as they defeated Dortmund 2-1 on 12/08/12 to capture the 2012 DFL-Supercup!

The 2012-13 Bundesliga campaign began with 8 straight wins; scoring 26 goals and conceding just twice! Bayer Leverkusen would inflict their one and only defeat that season as Bayern went on to win 21 of their next 26 games; including a stunning 14 match winning streak between January 19^th to April 27^th 2013; en route to reclaiming the Bundesliga title by a 25 point margin; claiming 91 points, scoring 98 goals and racking up 29 wins!

After their heartbreak in the final of the Champions League last time out; it was back to square one for Bayern and they would complete an epic revival as they became European Champions for a 5^th time! After navigating the Group Stage, Bayern would see off Arsenal and Juventus to set up a mouth-watering semi-final versus Barcelona. Bayern would complete one of the most impressive 2-legged performances in the history of the competition as they prevailed 7-0 on aggregate over the competition favourites to set up a destiny final versus Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on May 25^th. Bayer would complete the 2^nd leg of their treble dream when they edged Dortmund 2-1 with Arjen Robben scoring the late winner in London!

The DFB Pokal would represent another shift of the domestic balance of power as Bayern wrestled the German Cup back from Borussia Dortmund; avenging their loss in the final in 2012 when they eliminated ‘Der BVB’ in the quarter final before beating Stuttgart in June 1^st Finale to become just the 4^th team to win the league, cup and European Cup treble in history!

These two seasons would be it as far as the latest Jupp Heynckes’ era was concerned, with the club announcing on January 16^th 2013 that Pep Guardiola would be taking over the club from the 2013-14 season onwards! This would also be the last season’s to feature the likes of: Breno, Hans-Jorg Butt, Ivica Olic, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Mario Gomez, Emre Can and Luiz Gustavo.                   

The notable players that season(s) were:

Mario Gomez, Mario Mandzukic, Thomas Muller, Xherdan Shaqiri, Claudio Pizarro, Nils Peterson, Takashi Usami, Ivica Olic, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Daniel Pranjic, Toni Kroos, Luiz Gustavo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Emre Can, Javi Martinez, Diego Contento, Phillip Lahm, David Alaba, Rafinha, Holger Badstuber, Dante, Daniel van Buyten, Hans-Jorg Butt, Manuel Neuer, Tom Starke