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.

Overview of other football leagues elsewhere.

Spanish La Liga 

 

Real Madrid are at the top of the table with goal difference over last year’s champions Barcelona. Both of them are at 65 points after 26 matches. After going some distance form the top two Valencia is at third position with 47 points and Seville completes the top four with 44 points. And with just a point gap between them and the fouth places Seville, Mallorca and Deportivo la Coruna follows at fifth and sixth places respectively. Real Madrid after bowing out of the chamions league will be putting all the efforts in La liga to get the silverware.

Bundesliga

 

After 26 matches, Bayern Munich with 56 points is leading with a narrow lead of two points over rivals FC Schale 04. 2002-03 champions league finalist Bayer Leverkusen is third with 53 points which enable them in the one and only champions league qualifying position. Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV completes the last two spots for the final entry into Europe as of now. Stefan Kiebling of Leverkusen is the top scorer with 16 goals this season. Bayer‘s coach is reliverd after their recent 4-2 victory over Hamburger SV. He states “I think the team improved a lot in the second half. They were more calm and precise and deserved to win the game. We showed the right reaction and the players deserve credit for that.”

Italian Serie A

 

 

After  28 games, Inter Milan is leading with only a point in front of AC Milan who are currently second with 58 points. AS Roma is third five points below and Palermo is fourth with a distant 7 points gap. Juventus and Sampdoria are trailing at fifth and sixth with a point seperating them. Serie A title is wide open after Inter Milan suffered a shock 1-3 defeat in the hands of Catania in the last match. More trouble for AC Milan is the injury to  David Beckham which will take around 4 months to heal making him unavailable for the rest of the season and probably the World Cup later in June.