Champions League 2012-13: Before the final, Part IV

The Champions League has already seen all-Spanish (2000), all-Italian (2003) and all-English (2008) finals, and now it’s Germany’s turn. The second leg of the semifinals confirmed the Wembley-places for the two German clubs Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. But the scenarios were different in these semifinals. Borussia was getting closer and closer to eventual elimination, but the final whistle caught Real still looking for the crucial goal. Bayern had absolutely no problems in Barcelona, as the team devastated Tito Vilanova’s boys one more time.

First Germany took the
fourth Champions league place away from the Italian Serie A two years ago, and now they eliminate the English and even the Spanish clubs on their road to the English capital. Despite Spain being represented by 4 clubs, all of which were through to the Play-offs and two of them were even represented in the semifinals, German clubs will have earned the same amount of points as the Spanish ones, if the final match doesn’t require extra time. If there is a draw at Wembley, Germany will earn 68 total points - a point less than Spain. However, the biggest winner of this Champions League will surely remain Germany.

	League	Pts.
1 (-)	Spain (0)	69
2 (-)	Germany (2)	66
3 (-)	England (0)	39
4 (-)	Italy (0)	29
5 (-)	Portugal (0)	27
6 (-)	France (0)	26
7 (-)	Turkey (0)	17
8 (-)	Ukraine (0)	16
9 (-)	Romania (0)	10
10 (-)	Scotland (0)	10
11 (-)	Russia (0)	10
12 (-)	Greece (0)	9
13 (-)	Belarus (0)	6
14 (-)	Belgium (0)	5
15 (-)	Netherlands (0)	4
16 (-)	Croatia (0)	1
17 (-)	Denmark (0)	1

As Chelsea won the Champions League in Bayern’s home soil, the Munich fans are hoping to receive the return favor from Chelsea’s home city and take the trophy home. Jupp Heynckes’s team lost three finals last year. They are already at least one step forward this season, as they have returned the Bundesliga title back to Munich. They are also going to be the hot favorites to win the German Cup, the final of which against Stuttgart is scheduled on the 1^st of June. These two final matches are going to be already legendary Jupp Heynckes’s last matches in charge of Bayern.

The way Heynckes’s Bayern played this season has been remarkable. They were especially good in the deciding matches. They lost only one match in Bundesliga, conceding only 18 goals in 34 matches. The Champions League saw two Bayern-defeats: first the shocking match in Minsk, when Bayern lost to BATE in the beginning of the tournament, and then the home match against Arsenal, where the team had already earned a comfortable margin to qualify to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal and semifinal were the rounds, where Bayern showed its class. First they eliminated the solid Italian champions Juventus, scoring four in aggregate, and then humiliated Barcelona with an aggregate score of 7-0, officially ending the Blaugrana Era of European football. There was not a single minute in these four matches, where the spectators could be in doubt of the eventual winner.

Commanded by the great goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from behind, Bayern has obtained a very strong defense, including the season’s newcomer Dante and captain Lahm. David Alaba has been the opening of the season, demonstrating mature football for both Bayern and Austrian national team. Bastian Schweinsteiger has received a huge helping hand after Javi Martinez’s arrival, while Thomas Mueller, Frank Ribery, Toni Kroos, and Arjen Robben have all demonstrated their world class level. The third newcomer Mario Mandzukic, as Dante and Martinez, has also become a part of the team right away. In fact, the Croatian has been so good, that Mario Gomez’s and Claudio Pizarro’s incredible hat-tricks in short periods have not been able to persuade Heynckes to send Mandzukic back on the bench.

The biggest philosophy of Jupp Heynckes’s football has been the physical form. The team has been pressing and running for 90 minutes. They have been flexible in their tactics, but no matter how they changed it, they were good at what they were doing. The newly crowned German champions used pressing and dominant play against Juventus, but counterattacked against Barcelona, letting those possess the ball as much as they wanted.

Borussia is another story. Juergen Klopp had the Champions League as the main target this season. They lost the title already in the first months of the season, meanwhile beating their strong opponents in the Champions League group stage. In result, Borussia won the “group of death” without losing a single match. The first defeat came in the second leg of the semifinal stage, but it happened only after they had beaten Shakhtar, delivered a miraculous comeback against Malaga, and almost secured the place in the final winning 4-1 in the first leg of that semifinal.  

Borussia’s goalkeeper is Roman Weidenfeller, who has also made lots of great saves throughout this Champions League fairy tale. The defense has been damaged by Hummels’s injury, but Subotic and Felipe Santana have confidently covered the position of Germany’s best center back. As in Bayern’s formation, there are two wingbacks willing to attack: Piszczek and Schmelzer. Sebastian Kehl, Sven Bender and Ilkay Gundogan have been playing as defensive midfielders, delivering balls to the super four in front in face of Mario Goetze, soon a Bayern-man, Marco Reus, Kuba Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski. The latter will still need to score three times, to become the topscorer of this Champions League, but the four goals scored against Cristiano Ronaldo’s team in the first semifinal match were already a decent answer to the Portuguese.

Dortmund has played the most attractive football in this Champions League. They have been the quickest to organize counterattacks and score various types of goals. The team has been feeling comfortable in all the matches they were considered to be underdogs. They are in the same role for this final match. 

The formations look close to each other, but there is a huge difference in experience, psychology, transfer amounts of players and many other aspects. I never try to predict finals, as those are one-stand matches, where teams normally don’t look like themselves. Remember the last one between the same Bayern and Chelsea! The nervousness and the focus on the result change the philosophy of the teams concerned. Recognizing the fact that Bayern has been a much stronger side up until now, there is absolutely no way to figure out which one of the remaining two is better prepared for the last fight.

The encounter between Europe’s two best teams anno 2012-13 will close the European season. Let the strongest win, and let it be a fair play!  

Thanks for the great season,

Yours sincerely,

Arthur