Germany’s top two football sides Bayern Munich and
Borussia Dortmund are set to play a masterpiece final of the UEFA Champions
League at Wembley this Saturday, May 25.
The two giants who have taken control of the Bundesliga
League over the last couple of years will square off in the first ever
all-German Champions League final after cruising past opponents in the earlier stages before sweeping past Barcelona and Real Madrid
in the semi-finals.
The odds may be against Dortmund and slightly in favour
of the Bavarians who are entering their second final in as many years but the Die
Schwarzgelben will be anything but an easy prey. Indeed, Bayern have been
simply sensational this season and are in line for an exceptional treble should
they win the Champions League and the DFB Pokal (German Cup) which they will play against VfB Stuttgart exactly a week
later.
Dortmund on the other hand have lost only once in this
year’s competition, a 2-0 reversal against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the
semifinals second leg. Jurgen Klopp’s men have been inarguably the best team in
the competition, results only serving to reflect their delectable football. The
two teams have met 5 times since May last year with Bayern coming out tops
twice, Dortmund once while the other two matches ended in draws.
Their most recent meeting was just three weeks ago on
May 4 in a Bundesliga match that ended 1-1 after Mario Gomez cancelled out
Kevin Grosskreutz’s opener for Dortmund. Before that, Bayern beat the Westfalenstadion club 1-0 in the DFB Pokal quarter final matchup. Although preparations for the match is dogged by news that Bayern-bound Mario Gotze will miss out the epic encounter due to a harm string injury and also speculations about whether Dortmund's top-dog Robert Lewandowski will switch to their rivals next season, such news should not overshadow what promises to be a larger-than-life, mother-of-all-battles matchup come Saturday.
ROAD
TO THE FINALS – GROUP STAGES
No one would dare argue that the Bundesliga duo haven’t
deserved a place in the final of Europe’s top club competition. Dortmund were
especially imperious in their group of death, Group D, matches that had 9-time champions
Real Madrid, 4-time Dutch winners Ajax and then Premier League reigning champions
Manchester City. Bayern were drawn in Group F with Valencia, BATE Borisov and
Lille.
Dortmund started off with a 1-0 win against the Dutch, Robert
Lewandowski breaching their stubborn rearguard in the 87th minute to
give the Germans a vital win in front of their home crowd.
The second match was away to Manchester City on October
3. The match ended on a 1-1 stalemate after Mario Balotelli’s penalty in injury
time put the teams level following Marco Reus’ opener for the Bundesliga side.
Next in line, they welcomed Real Madrid to the Signal Iduna Park. Lewandowski
fired them ahead in the 36th minute only for Cristiano Ronaldo to
draw level two minutes later. Dortmund would not be denied though as
25-year-old German leftback Marcel Schmeizer scored the winning goal four
minutes after the hour mark.
The return leg in Madrid a fortnight later ended in a
2-2 draw, Pepe and Ozil on the mark for Madrid while Reus and an Alvaro Arbeloa
own goal ensured the visitors left Spain with a point.
On November 21st, Dortmund made the trip to
Holland for their second leg match against Ajax. They powered past the Dutch
side with a 4-1 win that guaranteed them qualification to the last 16. Roberto
Lewandowski struck twice while Reus and Gotze were also on target. Danny Hoesen
scored the consolation goal for Ajax late in the second half. Dortmund won
their last group stage fixture 1-0 against Manchester City, a result that
knocked out the English side and gave Klopp’s side top spot.
Bayern’s group looked slightly easier by their
standards. They won their first, and perhaps most difficult match on paper, 2-1
against Valencia with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos on target. They
then suffered a shocking 3-1 loss to BATE Borisov but bounced back with a 1-0
win away to Lille in their third match before destroying the French side 6-1 in
the return leg in Munich with Claudio Pizzaro grabbing a 16-minute hat-trick.
The Bavarian’s 1-1 draw to Valencia in the next match made their 4-1 win over
BATE a mere formality having booked their tickets to the knockout stages.
LAST
16
With both teams topping their groups, Bayern were drawn
against Group B runners-up Arsenal while Dortmund landed an encounter against
Group E’s second placed Shakhtar Donetsk in the knockout phases.
Dortmund travelled to Ukraine for their first leg match
and left with two valuable away goals in a 2-2 draw while Bayern travelled to
London and battered the Gunners 3-1, putting both teams in a perfect position
to advance to the quarterfinals.
However, while Dortmund had easy time beating Shakhtar
3-0 in the return leg, Bayern just about squeezed through after they collapsed
2-0 against Arsenal but still advanced on away goals.
Quarter-finals
The first
legs were played on 2 and 3 April, and the second legs were played on 9 and 10
April 2013. Dortmund drew Spanish side Malaga who hosted the first leg that
ended on a barren draw while Bayern Munich scored through David Alaba and
Thomas Muller to take a first leg win of 2-0 to Turin a week later. Lewandowski,
Reus and Santana scored for Dortmund as they edged out Malaga 3-2 in the return
leg. Bayern finished the Italian job with yet another 2-0 win over Juventus to
advance 4-0.Semi-finals
There was a possibility the two German teams could clash in the semi finals but they got separated and instead they both landed Spanish opposition. Dortmund were paired against group opponents Real Madrid while Bayern landed Barcelona.
Bayern were the first to play their match and blew the Blaugrana aside with a 4-0 win, Muller (twice), Gomez and Robben all on target. Dortmund almost replicated the same scoreline, only that they conceded a Cristiano Ronaldo goal but Lewandowski netted all the four goals putting the German teams in the driver seat.
The second leg saw Bayern finish Barca with a 3-0 humbling while Dortmund fended off late pressure from Real Madrid and advanced 4-3 on aggregate after losing the second leg 2-0.
Final
And so comes the final which will be played on 25 May
2013 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. May the better team win.
And That's thesteifmastertake!!
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