Günther Theodor Netzer – The Playmaker: There are not many players bold enough to undermine the authority of their own coach. Fewer still would dare to substitute themselves into a final. Günter Netzer did exactly that.\n\nOn June 23, 1973, in the DFB Cup final against 1. FC Köln, his last match for Borussia, Netzer decided that he had sat on the bench long enough. “I briefly informed Mr.
Weisweiler that I was going to play now.\n\nAnd then extra time started,” he later recalled. Three minutes after entering the pitch, Netzer scored the decisive 2:1 goal and made Gladbach cup winners. If the superstar had not already attained cult status thanks to his long blond hair and his love of fast cars, his self-substitution made him immortal to Gladbach fans.\n\nIn 297 league matches, the man who embodied the mythical number ten like no other German scored 108 goals, won two German titles and was named German Footballer of the Year twice before becoming the first German to move to Real Madrid in 1973.
