On Saturday, London will finally be
invaded by the Germans.
Borussia
Dortmund take on Bayern Munich at Wembley. Both teams have been thoroughly
impressive in the Champions League this season and are worthy finalists.
You would
have to say that Bayern are favourites for Saturday. They absolutely steamrollered
the Bundesliga this season, finishing an incredible 25 points ahead of
Saturday’s opponents. This feat is even more impressive considering that only
34 matches are played in a Bundesliga season, compared to 38 games in the
Premier League and La Liga. They also managed to score 98 goals, while only
conceding 18, giving them a gigantic goal difference of +80.
Astonishing
stuff. And with Pep Guardiola and Mario Götze joining the club in the summer, FC Hollywood have a real chance of repeating
the glory achieved by the Beckenbauer inspired team that lifted the European
Cup in 1974, 1975 and 1976.
But with
football, you can never tell what will happen. I falsely predicted that Bayern would comfortably beat Chelsea in last season’s final.
Bayern also have a tendency to lose European Cup/Champions League finals; they
lost in 1982, 1987, 1999 and 2010. If this list was to grow on Saturday, and
with last season’s defeat still fresh in the memory, it would have massive
psychological implications. There is a strong possibility of this happening, as
Dortmund are an excellent side.
But Mario
Götze has a hamstring injury and is ruled out of the final. But I believe that even a fully fit Götze shouldn’t
play. In a Champions League final, you need eleven players that are 100%
committed. This simply cannot be ensured if Götze plays. He obviously wouldn’t play
badly deliberately, but by agreeing to join Bayern, he has made it abundantly clear
that he does not want to play for Dortmund. Imagine what would happen if he had
to take a penalty in a shootout?
I believe
Bayern will win on Saturday. They have a good record over Dortmund this season with two wins and two draws. However, I would like Dortmund to win. The humorous
Jürgen Klopp has assembled a young but outstanding
team on a small budget and the club, from a neutral point of view at least, seem to be more likeable than their Bavarian rivals. Despite this, I can still see
Bayern winning, albeit by a single goal.
By Kelvin Jones
Follow us on Twitter! @ChapsTalkFBall
No comments:
Post a Comment