Football Thread No. 9

chelsea are missing the more important players through suspension. bayern to win 3/1.

I hope it is a high scoring game but i fear it won't be. According to a BBC article from a described "German football expert" if Bayern don't score early and Chelsea can keep it 0-0 till the 2nd half, Robben, Ribery and Gomez start having hissy fits on the field and start rushing things - so that may be a Chelsea strategy. We do know Chelsea are a team of extreme discipline so it could happen.

Eughh i can't wait for this!

Bayern will have lots and lots of possession but will make little out of it if Chelsea sit deep and double on Ribéry and Robben. Gomez is rubbish if he is forced to play with the back to the goal. Much like Barcelona, Bayern don't really have a plan B. Ever since the van Gaal days, keeping possession is their primary way of defending. And ever since the van Gaal days they're very vulnerable to counter attacks once they lose the ball. Over the past two years, these features were exploited on countless occassions even by vastly inferior sides. With the right game plan, Chelsea have every chance to win this match as I expect them to be more cohesive defensively than Bayern. They just shouldn't try to make it an open match. I'm hoping for a Bayern victory nonetheless.

Shoot, I'm gonna miss the final. Which is live on TV. Which never happens over here!

Congratulations to West Ham on returning to the Premier League.

Chelsea win the Champions League. No idea how the hell they did that.

Got home just in time to see Drogba with the winner. Gratz to Chelsea.

Well, every few years a team in blue and white in an adidas kit has to go all the way with these... tactics to maintain some balance in the universe I guess. It had been 8 years since last time.

It's also in line with Bayern's history in this competition. They always win the finals where they were poor and outplayed (Leeds, Saint Etienne, perhaps Valencia too) and lose the ones where they were the better team (Aston Villa, Man Utd, and now Chelsea).

Holy crap, that trophy is gigantic!

Hehe, always good to see Bayern lose, even if it means that we Swiss will have to start 2 weeks earlier in the Europa League Qualifications games. Oh, and condolences to Newcastle as well who now will not play Champions League, correct?

Great final. Actually contrary to my pessimism above the referee had one of the best displays I've seen in a while in one of these games, though he did miss the Torres penalty.

Bayern played really well (not seeing German football that often, you forget how good guys like Robben and Ribéry are) and would have deserved to win, but Drogba is a great. It's good that he finally got to win it. Chelsea were a bit negative for much of the match, but you can't really criticize them since it worked for them against Barcelona as well as Bayern.

Well, a monument to anti-football was erected tonight.

Bayern won a non-treble, and it's largely due to Robben. Not just the penalty but all the chances missed because he wanted to score the goal himself or not at all.
Drogba crying after he scored was a really emotional moment though. One of the few Chelsea players I like… why the f*ck was Terry allowed to lift the trophy if he was banned from playing?

Mr. not-calgacus, if we have to complain about the ref, Bosingwa could've (should've?) been sent off in the first half. Ribéry got the hell kicked out of him the entire game. A lot of free-kicks but very few cards.

Lambert's not posting, he's probably in an Edinburgh pub drinking himself silly.

So, Lambie, how come your team win the Cup, and somehow have Romanov wanting to sell it and the coach possibly sacked/resigning?

I completely agree with Pangur, the ref had an brilliant game except for missing Torre's penalty.

I'm surprised Bayern seemed to dominate it so much, I thought it would be more even. For a few moments I thought Chelsea were playing Barca! Anyway Bayerns lack of urgency and indecisiveness in the final quarter of the pitch cost them, they didn't have the composure/balls/determination to hit the back of the net and when they did score a goal it was a scrappy, lucky goal, a really poor header. Yes, your meant to head the ball downwards but not as hard as you can a yard in front of you. In contrast Chelsea had few chances but Kalou's shot a few moments before half time (near post) was a proper attempt and a lesser keeper probably would of conceded a corner and a keeper in bad form could of conceded.
In contrast to the scrappy goal of Bayern, Drogba's goal was a masterclass in technical ability. He defied the space-time continium to find that space and reach far above the other players to head the ball and then to get so much power to it that Neur, who got a glance of it, couldn't keep it out.

Oh and Czech did brilliantly to save the penalty, despite it being quite a weak one :S

I just can't believe the German's lost at a penalty shoot-out

Quackers said:

I just can't believe the German's lost at a penalty shoot-out

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German clubs quite often (i.e. as much as everyone else) lose penalty shootouts. It's only the national side that has been doing well. Bayern in particular have missed many penalties in the past few years. Ribéry, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Gomez and Lahm were all tried as penalty takers and all have missed on way too many occassions.

It's hard to believe that a a team can lose such a one-sided match and concede a goal after the first and only corner for Chelsea. Apart from that, Robben and Gomez bottled it for Bayern today. Müller's and Ribéry's departures made Bayern a lot less threatening.

mitsho said:

Hehe, always good to see Bayern lose, even if it means that we Swiss will have to start 2 weeks earlier in the Europa League Qualifications games. Oh, and condolences to Newcastle as well who now will not play Champions League, correct?

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It is Tottenham that miss out.

Takhisis said:

Mr. not-calgacus, if we have to complain about the ref, Bosingwa could've (should've?) been sent off in the first half. Ribéry got the hell kicked out of him the entire game. A lot of free-kicks but very few cards.

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It deserved a yellow, but a red would've been completely absurd.

kronic said:

German clubs quite often (i.e. as much as everyone else) lose penalty shootouts. It's only the national side that has been doing well. Bayern in particular have missed many penalties in the past few years. Ribéry, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Gomez and Lahm were all tried as penalty takers and all have missed on way too many occassions.

It's hard to believe that a a team can lose such a one-sided match and concede a goal after the first and only corner for Chelsea. Apart from that, Robben and Gomez bottled it for Bayern today. Müller's and Ribéry's departures made Bayern a lot less threatening.

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According to the BBC site that was Bayern's 1st defeat in a penalty shoot out in there past five. So even ignoring the stereotype of ruthless efficient germanic finishing in a penalty shoot-out Bayern had a good record.

I actually watched it with a few friends and we got talking to a few Germans so we had a laugh during the game. They were estatic when Muller scored but when Chelsea came back and won it they were upset gracious in defeat tho

azzaman333 said:

Chelsea win the Champions League. No idea how the hell they did that.

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Roberto Di Matteo gives rousing speeches

Seriously though, we've been very unmotivated as a team lately, not to mention lacked discipline and belief. He was somehow able to come in and give us some of that back. I think it has to do with the fact that Villa Boas didn't have any experience as a player - and Di Matteo did.. not only that, he was a CHELSEA player.. he went into the locker room and understood the mindest of the players - and was able to lift them up and give them self-confidence.

Not only that, he seems to have a solid understanding of tactics, formations, and such.

I don't know why someone wouldn't want him as a coach for next year. Sure, he hasn't proved himself to be someone capable of transitioning the team away from our elders (Lampard, Terry, Drogba, etc.) to a younger team.. but.. I say we keep him no and we'll see if he's capable of it. He's proved himself to be more than capable of everything else.

Oh yeah, and I still can't believe we won!

I watched the game with my friend Steve, a couple Germans (St. Pauli fans, were cheering for Bayern), and a swiss girl I convinced to cheer for Chelsea

It really does seem like it was destiny.. and I'm not a religious person at all, but I'm with Drogba on this one