All of the experts predicted this one correctly, 2-1 for
Bayern Munich over Borussia Dortmund.
The game was incredible with so many great chances for both teams. Manuel Neuer and Roman Weidenfeller made huge
saves throughout the entire game, and both keepers had to be on their toes for
the full 90 minutes.
Robben had been struggling to finish his chances, as he
always seems to do in important final matches (last CL, World Cup final, Euro 12 final). He missed three one-on-one’s in the first
half, and looked very upset with himself going into the locker room at half
time. His curse of goalless finals was still haunting him.
The dutch lefty came out in the second half and was looking
to be involved in every attack, playing with more urgency and purpose. Actually all of the Bayern squad came out
after half-time with something to prove.
Schweinsteiger also improved significantly from his first half
performance, where he just seemed to sit in front of the back four and ball
watch most of the time.
The first goal for Bayern Munich came in the 59th
minute. The goal was a great effort from
Arjen Robben to touch the ball around the keeper after a through ball was
played to him on the left side of the box.
He was able to cross the ball just before it went over the goal line,
and it teed up perfectly for Mario Mandzukic to tap into a nearly empty net.
Dortmund was later awarded a penalty which Ilkay Gundogen scored in
the 68th minute. The foul was
called for Bayern’s center back, Dante, stepping in the private area of Marco
Reus. I could tell watching the play live
that it was too reckless and should have been a penalty, but watching the replays
made the foul appear more and more intentional.
Dante was very fortunate to not receive his second booking for the
challenge he made, and the game would have been much different if he had been
sent off the field like he deserved.
In the end though, the night was all about Robben. I guess you can only get unlucky so many
times before the hard work proves successful.
In the 89th minute, Robben received a ball at the top of the box
that was bouncing between defenders. He skillfully settled the ball and danced his way through three
defenders putting him in yet another one-on-one with Weidenfeller. He barely passed the ball across his body,
wrong-footing the keeper and leaving him to watch the ball roll slowly over the
line and into the net. The curse is
broken!
Bayern so far have won both the German League and the
Champions League, and until this final game, they really didn’t struggle with
either competition. They play in the
Final on June 1st for the German League Cup (DFB Pokal) against Stuttgart to
hopefully complete the treble. They were
one of the most impressive teams ever, but wait.. they are forcing out their current
manager that has brought them all this success? I really see no logic at all in replacing your
coach after a season that is probably the closest to perfect in club history.
Congrats to Bayern for now though, they definitely were the
best team this year. I hope, just for
the sake of Jupp Heynckes, they can win their third trophy of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment