European Cup 1975/76: In March 1976, Borussia were eliminated by Real Madrid under highly dubious circumstances. The villain was referee Leonardus van der Kroft and his all-Dutch crew. Gladbach had drawn 2:2 in the first leg in Düsseldorf and traveled to Madrid as clear outsiders.\n\nYet in the Bernabéu they took the lead through Jupp Heynckes and dominated large stretches of the match.
Then came the scandal: after a questionable free kick, Santillana headed Madrid level. Later Henning Jensen scored what should have been Gladbach’s 2:1, only for van der Kroft to overrule his own linesman and disallow it for offside.\n\nNear the end, Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp scored another legitimate goal, and again the Dutch officials wiped it out. The match ended 1:1 and Real went through.
Van der Kroft would later admit he remembered very little, only that there had been two disallowed goals.