Ottmar Hitzfeld's team lost the 1999 Champions League final to Manchester United after conceding twice in stoppage time — the defining bad night in the club's history. Two years later, in Milan, Oliver Kahn saved three penalties against Valencia and Bayern were European champions again, days after winning the league with a 90th-minute equaliser at Hamburg.
The infrastructure changed next. Bayern left the Olympiastadion for the Allianz Arena in 2005, financing the stadium so that it was debt-free by 2014. Squad-building shifted to buying the best German players outright, then adding elite wingers: Franck Ribéry in 2007 and Arjen Robben in 2009, two of the club's most profitable signings ever.
The near-miss returned in 2012, when Bayern lost the Champions League final to Chelsea on penalties in their own stadium, having also finished second in the league and lost the cup final. That season is the direct cause of what happened next.