Thursday, May 27, 1999 Published at 14:42 GMT 15:42 UK
Bayern fans distraught
That empty feeling: Bayern fans try to digest the defeat
German football fans are in a state of shock following Manchester United's stunning defeat of Bayern Munich in the final of the European Cup.
Two goals by the English champions in the dying minutes of the game left the German press and public equally stunned.
"Oh No!" was the headline in Germany's mass circulation Bild newspaper. "That was bitter! Just unbelievable!"
The paper quoted one Munich fan, Peter Bond, who appeared to sum up the feelings of many. "It's a catastrophe," he said." I have never seen such stupidity in my whole life."
Huge television audience
According to RTL television, more than 13 million people in Germany watched the game. The station said that it was the second largest television audience ever to watch an event.
Officials in Barcelona had deployed more than 5,000 police in the city to prevent any outbreak of hooliganism at what had been billed as the highest-risk soccer match in Europe in the last decade.
But a police spokeswoman said not one arrest was made during the game, neither among the 90,000 fans in the Nou Camp nor among the thousands who watched the game on television in bars throughout the city.