What followed is now folklore: “We beat Roda, we beat Trabzon, we beat Brugge anyway, Valencia, Tenerife, Inter – what a show,” Schalke fans would sing. Through those stops, Schalke reached the 1997 UEFA Cup final. “This team will be in the history books,” Olaf Thon said after beating Brugge.\n\nHe was right. They became the Euro Fighters and brought the Parkstadion back to life.
In San Siro, after losing 1–0 after extra time, Stevens handed Jens Lehmann a note before the penalties, based on a file he had built on spot-kicks since his PSV days.\n\nLehmann saved against Zamorano, Aron Winter missed, Schalke won, and 100,000 people welcomed the team home. The cup, naturally, sat in the car with Assauer and Stevens. In 2001 and 2002, the unlikely duo would add the DFB-Pokal as well.\n\n“Schalke meant an incredible amount to him,” Stevens later wrote of his friend Assauer. “And because of Assauer, Schalke meant an incredible amount to me too.”