The day has come for the 2011-12 Uefa Champions League final with Bayern Munich playing in their home stadium against Chelsea, with both sides desperate to define their season as a success with victory.
Road to the Final
Bayern; 1st in Group A (ahead of Napoli, Manchester City and Villarreal), Defeated FC Basel in the Round of 16, 7-1 on aggregate, Defeated Olympique Marseille in quarter-finals, 4-0 on agg, Defeated Real Madrid in semi-finals, 3-3 on agg, 3-1 on penalties.
Chelsea; 1st in Group E (ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, Valencia and Genk), Defeated Napoli in the Round of 16, 5-4 on aggregate (after extra time), Defeated Benfica in quarter-finals, 3-1 on agg, Defeated Barcelona in semi-finals, 3-2 on agg.
Domestic form
It’s been a disappointing season domestically for Bayern, after finishing runners-up to Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga, although the champions did post a record points tally. Bayern also lost the DFB-Pokal fine last weekend, 5-2 to Dortmund, so this is a key game for them to define if this term is a success or not.
Chelsea’s form in the Premier League this season was disappointing finishing way down in sixth, although they finished the season okay under interim boss Roberto Di Matteo. Last weekend, they ended the campaign with a 2-1 win over relegated Blackburn, while prior to that they lifted the FA Cup with a 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Team news
There’s a host of suspensions for both clubs, with Bayern without the unavailable Holger Badstuber, David Alaba and Luiz Gustavo with so Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Diego Contento and Thomas Muller all likely to step into the starting line-up with a minor reshuffle. Breno and Daniel van Buyten are out due to injury.
Chelsea also have suspension issues with skipper John Terry out after his red card in the semi-final second leg in Barcelona. Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles and Ramires are all out too with suspensions, but the Blues will be boosted by the availability of defenders David Luiz and Gary Cahill. Florent Malouda is also in doubt due to a hamstring problem.
Managers
Bayern boss Jupp Heynckes said: “We’ll do our best to focus the team. “For my players and the whole club, it’s important I radiate tranquility, as I have done all season. Before the matches against Real Madrid, I told the players we had to be cool and patient and that also applies here. We’ll have to deliver the same performance to win.”
Chelsea boss Di Matteo said: “Many of our players have been here before and know how it feels not to bring home the trophy. They’ve done tremendously well to get back to this stage and the whole club would deserve to win. Chelsea have always done very well in the Champions League, and you always need a bit of luck in a cup competition, but you make your own destiny.”
Star players
Bayern skipper Philipp Lahm said: “It was our dream to make it to the final and here we are. We haven’t quite finished yet, we want to win this cup and we have a tough job ahead of us but it’s great to be here on home turf. I was born in Munich, I grew up in Munich and I joined Bayern at the age of 11, so this is definitely my home. When you look round the city everybody is happy; there’s great anticipation.”
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard said: “The experience in Moscow isn’t something which is traumatic every day. As a footballer you learn you can’t win everything but you have to learn to take positives from defeat. In Moscow we went through a feeling of real disappointment and we have to use that to inspire us to win this year. You saw the way we celebrated in Barcelona – that was because we are so pleased to have another opportunity to win this tournament.”
The verdict
Sports Pundit predicts; Bayern Munich 3-1 Chelsea