Bayern Munich Vs Inter Milan for Cup no. 3.

Finally the wait is over for the biggest match of the season. It is the champions League final between the two giants of Europe. Italian champions Inter Milan who recently completed their double are up against Bayern Munich who also finished with a double at Santaigo Bernebau, home to Spanish power house Real Madrid. It was a tough way to the final for both the teams beating several top teams in their way to Madrid.

Both teams are chasing trebles, having also won their league and domestic cup competitions. Bayern and Inter are both seeking a return to continental glory. The Bavarians are looking for their fifth European title, having last won in
2001 in a penalty shootout over Valencia. It was the club’s first European
Cup in 25 years, but they stumbled a bit after that, failing to advance past the
quarterfinals and once missing out on the top European club
competition entirely. For Inter Milan, this is the thier first European Cup final since they
won at home way, way
back in 1965. For Jose Mourinho the Estadio
Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid, will be having some personal matters where he is widely rumored to be taking over later in the summer. and facing his old mentor further spice up the proceedings. Jose Mourinho said some days ago that the Champions League is a bigger competition than the World
Cup. “This game is the most important in the world,” said 47-year-old Mourinho.

Bayern winger Franck Ribery and Inter midfielder Thiago Motta are suspended but otherwise both coaches largely have full squads to choose. Inter will be exploiting the pace of Sneijderand Samuel Eto’o and Bayern looking to Arjen Robben to wreak havoc as he cuts in from the right.

Its an action packed night. The match will be starting at 2045 Hours CET. Don’t miss it!!!

Defending champions tastes huge defeat while Bayern edges past Lyon.

Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan stalled defending champions Barcelona‘s easy run by beating them 3-1 at San Siro leaving the Spaniards with huge uphill task in the return leg at Nou Camp. While in the other match, German giants Bayern Munich narrowly won against French side Olympique Lyonnais by a sole Arjen Robben goal in the second half. One can say that the long bus journey may have made a huge impact on the visiting team with both the visitors loosing in the two matches.

Barcelona must have been watch the sucess run of their former striker Saumuel Eto’o at Inter and also the tactics of the most popular coach Jose Mourinho. The match started with a full house at San SIro. It was Barcelona who shocked the home crowd when it broke the dead lock in the 19th minute when Maxwell surges away down the left and Inter allow him too much time and space to reach the byline. Then he cuts the ball back to the speeding Pedro Rodríguez, who calmly fires a low finish past Júlio César from 12 metres. But the joy was short lived. Just 10 minutes later Inter equalised through Wesley Sneijder when he got the ball from Diego Milito in space on the left and the Dutch midfielder drives it low past the Barca goalkeeper from 15 metres. The teams went to the break with all square at 1-1.

In the second half, just three minutes after the re-start Inter took the lead for the first time in the match when Diego Milito is again the provider as he charges deep into the area and clips the pass inside to Maicon, who takes a quick touch before carving his finish across the goalkeeper from close range. And just at the hour mark Inter made it 3-1 when Diego Milito nodded past the keeper after Wesley Sneijder‘s header was misguided for the goal. With only one positive that is the sole away goal, Barcelona need to win this by 2-0 or by a minimum margin of 4-1 if they themselves concede a goal.

In the match at thw Allianz Arena, Munich a solo second half goal by Arjen Robben took the home side to a narrow victory in the first leg. He fired in a speculative effort from 25 metres that swerves viciously and wrong-foots Hugo Lloris. All that happened after Franck Ribéry and Jérémy Toulalan had been sent off. As told by the Lyon coach, the match is not over yet as Stade de Gerland has a lot to be seen with players fress from the off the field problems.

Injuries and fatigue factor may spoil the world cup.

Sir Alex Ferguson was fuming over England’ manager Fabio Capello for makingWayne Rooney play for 90 minutes in the friendly over Egypt as a result he was over exerted and could not play the subsequent league match. Recently Franck Ribery was caught in a similar situation when he was reported to aggravated an existing problem by playing with an ankle injury in France’s friendly against Spain. Bayern’s management was reportedly to be furious over the matter and has complained to FIFA over the same.

 

In this ever going was between club and country the players will suffer and in the
end the fatigue may be visible in the World Cup. Nobody wants that but the we
are heading into that direction.

Given an example, in cricket last year when most of the players were playing in the
Indian Premier League (a cricket venture by the Indian Cricket Board) in
different clubs on the lines of football leagues they gave their best and the
tournament went with the same hopes in the T20 World Cup which was to be followed
in june in England. The things went in the wrong direction where defending
champion India bowed out of the tournament in the quarter finals which nobody
expected. The post defeat analysis showed the fatigue factor in the team
and also the carry forward injuries which they suffered during the IPL.
Pakistan on the other hand won the tournament because they were not allowed
to play in the IPL and concentrated fully on the World Cup.

Coming back to football, if more casualties follow the World Cup in South Africa can be a problem which may result to a flop show. Many in Europe thinks the World Cup is now second to club football because all the money and fame is in Champions League and top domestic league were they reside.

In the end I hope that the above is proved wrong and the country’s spirit remains at
the top. A win by a new country, Asian or an African nation will definitely
impact and change the thinking for the future.

The Unforgettable 1999 Champions League Final

It was Wednesday 26th May 1999, the venue was Nou Camp, Barcelona, Spain ( the home of Barcelona football club). The stage was set for the final match of the 1998-99 champions league season. Manchester United was up against a tough German side Bayern Munich. No one was better than the other as both of them had fought their way to this day for over 8 month competing against the bet in Europe. 32 teams started as always but only 2 reaches for the finals…
The match started, both teams were attacking but the shorts were going of the target and saved by the two ace goalkeepers standing on the opposite ends of the field. On one side was Peter Schmeichel of Manchester United and on the other side it was Oliver Kahn for Bayern Munich. The first goal was of the match was scored by Balser for the German side as quickly as in the 6th minute. Bayern 1-United 0. The match progressed but no goals were scored. The first half ended with the same score line. In the second half too, no goals were scored till the end of the normal stipulated time of 90 minutes and it was looking like this score line will stay till the final whistle until something spectacular will happen. AND IT HAPPENDED.
Just when the match went into the injury time (Of 3 minutes), United’s goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel ventured up to Bayern’s penalty area for a last ditched effort to equalise from a corner of David Beckham. At this point the commentator commented “Can Manchester United score? They always score”. It was 90+1, Beckham flighted the corner in just over Schmeichel’s head, Dwight Yorke put the ball back towards the crowded area, and after Thorsten Fink failed to clear sufficiently, the ball arrived at the feet of Ryan Giggs on the edge of the area. His right-footed snap-shot was weak and poorly struck, but it went straight to Sheringham, who swiped at the shot with his right foot, and nestled the ball in the bottom corner of the net. Bayern 1- United -1. And with less than Less than 30 seconds after the subsequent kick-off, United forced another corner, but Schmeichel stayed in his penalty area this time. Beckham again swung the corner in, which was headed downwards by Sheringham. Solskjær shot out a foot and poked the ball into the roof of the Bayern goal for United to take an astonishing lead. It was a fairytale for the red devils, the whole stadium was in traditional red flames for Man Utd’s support. Just as the referee blew the final whistle, the stadium erupted in joy and players had no words to describe their happiness. It was a dream come true for united. 70,000 and more would be able to say “I was there” and the rest is history…
It was Wednesday 26th May 1999, the venue was Nou Camp, Barcelona, Spain ( the home of Barcelona football club). The stage was set for the final match of the 1998-99 champions league season. Manchester United was up against a tough German side Bayern Munich. No one was better than the other as both of them had fought their way to this day for over 8 month competing against the bet in Europe. 32 teams started as always but only 2 reaches for the finals…
The match started, both teams were attacking but the shorts were going of the target and saved by the two ace goalkeepers standing on the opposite ends of the field. On one side was Peter Schmeichel of Manchester United and on the other side it was Oliver Kahn for Bayern Munich. The first goal was of the match was scored by Balser for the German side as quickly as in the 6th minute. Bayern 1-United 0. The match progressed but no goals were scored. The first half ended with the same score line. In the second half too, no goals were scored till the end of the normal stipulated time of 90 minutes and it was looking like this score line will stay till the final whistle until something spectacular will happen. AND IT HAPPENDED.

Just when the match went into the injury time (Of 3 minutes), United’s goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel ventured up to Bayern’s penalty area for a last ditched effort to equalise from a corner of David Beckham. At this point the commentator commented “Can Manchester United score? They always score”. It was 90+1, Beckham flighted the corner in just over Schmeichel’s head, Dwight Yorke put the ball back towards the crowded area, and after Thorsten Fink failed to clear sufficiently, the ball arrived at the feet of Ryan Giggs on the edge of the area. His right-footed snap-shot was weak and poorly struck, but it went straight to Sheringham, who swiped at the shot with his right foot, and nestled the ball in the bottom corner of the net. Bayern 1- United -1. And with less than Less than 30 seconds after the subsequent kick-off, United forced another corner, but Schmeichel stayed in his penalty area this time. Beckham again swung the corner in, which was headed downwards by Sheringham. Solskjær shot out a foot and poked the ball into the roof of the Bayern goal for United to take an astonishing lead. It was a fairytale for the red devils, the whole stadium was in traditional red flames for Man Utd’s support. Just as the referee blew the final whistle, the stadium erupted in joy and players had no words to describe their happiness. It was a dream come true for united. 70,000 and more would be able to say “I was there” and the rest is history…