Oliver Kahn bids adieu

September 2, 2008

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Former Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn bowed out of the game on Tuesday after 20 years as a professional, his testimonial at Bayern’s Allianz-Arena finishing 1-1 between Bayern and a German select XI.

Kahn, 39, made 557 appearances in the Bundesliga for Dortmund and Bayern and bade farewell, having Monday insisted that “there aren’t many things I miss” about the game.

Kahn played the match for Bayern, with whom he won eight league titles as well as the Champions League in 2001.

He was also voted player of the tournament at the 2002 World Cup, where he helped Die Mannschaft reach the final only for a mistake to give Brazil the opening goal in a 2-0 win for the South Americans.

For his final game he was coached by new Bayern handler Jurgen Klinsmann, who famously dropped him at the 2006 World Cup but the only blot on the evening was a goal he conceded after 33 minutes.

“Tonight was very moving for me, perhaps the most moving moment of my career,” he said.

“I was under pressure my whole career whereas now I just had the joy of being out there in this stadium and before these fans one last time.”

After 75 minutes and having made several top-drawer saves Kahn gave way to Michael Rensing in the Bayern goal before embarking on a lap of honour to cheers from the 50,000 fans at the Allianz-Arena.

“It’s the end of an extraordinary part of my life but also the start of something new,” said Kahn, whose only regret - aside from not capturing the World Cup - was not scoring a league goal.

He will now begin working as a TV consultant on September 10, when Germany meet Finland in a World Cup qualifier.

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