The last few days have been hell to me and in truth
I’m not so sure I’ve completely recovered yet. No, I haven’t been sick or
unwell health-wise. If you’re still lost, I’m referring to Saturday’s UEFA
Champions League final at the Fussball Arena, Munich. Good guess, I’m not a
Chelsea fan. The events that transpired on the night left me sick, drained,
dejected, disgusted, I could go on and on.
How Bayern Munich lost that match and the chance to
become European champions for the fifth time still beats me. Seriously, how did
that happen? You may be wondering why I’m getting this personal or to put it
bluntly, why am I ‘catching feelings?’ Simple! I’ve been a Bayern fan for as
long as I can remember and so in a way, I felt hard done by. I still do.
Back to the football itself, Bayern dominated
possession, pressed and pressed, got the breakthrough goal in the 83rd
minute then totally lost the plot. Five minutes later, Chelsea clawed
themselves back to take the match to extra time, where Arjen Robben contrived
to fluff a penalty (and he’s perfected that art) and almost half an hour later,
Chelsea were lifting the trophy, as I squirmed and winced on the couch in utter
disbelief. I’m not going to begrudge the winners of the night, so
congratulations to Chelsea Football Club, 2012 European Champions. I’ve been
trying to figure out what went wrong, hoping that in future the same won’t
befall any of my teams and I came up with this:
1.
Arjen
Robben
Undoubtedly the villain of the
match (and by extension, the season). The fact that Bayern Munich finished the
season as the ‘almost’ champion in all the competitions they took part in is largely
down to this Dutch attacker. Now, Robben when fit is one of the best players in
the world. He has this ability to turn on the style with individual brilliance
and change the course of a game at any point. Obviously he was expected to
deliver and if he delivered in that final, this post would have been different.
Somehow after wasting so many chances, he managed to throw away the penalty
they had been awarded in extra time when the easiest and logical thing to do
would be to bury it. That was the turning point and really, Bayern were never
going to win after that. You would think that miss will forever haunt him, but
no, he’s got plenty more, like when Bayern faced Dortmund away in the
Bundesliga a few weeks ago. With Dortmund leading 1-0, Bayern were awarded a
penalty in the 84th minute and up stepped Robben and the outcome was
obvious. He missed, and effectively ended any hopes they had of piping the
champions to the title. I doubt whether Bert van Marwijk will let him take a
penalty for the Dutch in the Euros even in a match they are running riot 6-0.
2.
Jupp
Heynckes
When Jupp was named Bayern manager
sometime back I wondered why they did that. Digging up a bit, I learned that he
had won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 1998 so I thought, well, he
must have been a decent coach. At this point though, I have to emphasize the
fact that I’ve never really liked him. The final just further vindicated my
dislike of him. With David Alaba and Holger Badstuber suspended, Heynckes opted
to replace them with Contento at left back and Anatoliy Tymoschuk at center
back. When I saw the line-up I had no problem with Contento but felt Tymoschuk
shouldn’t have been deployed out of position in a match of this magnitude. I
know he did well regardless, but just after Bayern had taken the lead, the
manager made a substitute that did not bemuse me one bit, Daniel Van Buyten for
Thomas Mueller. Really?
Surely if you have Van Buyten, a
central defender and a potential goal threat, available for selection, why not
start with him? In the match Bayern had like 20 corners or so without actually
threatening. With Van Buyten a proven aerial threat, I can’t help but wonder
‘what if…?’ Still on the said substitution, you’re leading by a goal in a final
with roughly only 10 minutes to go. You then take off your goal scorer and your
most effective goal threat and replace him with a defender? Fine, maybe you
want to protect your lead. Is that necessary though, when your opponents have
been playing in their own half all along? At the moment I thought that having
broken Chelsea’s resistance, Bayern would even pile more pressure as opposed to
stepping off the gas and allowing Chelsea to up the tempo. And it was evident
during extra time when the Bavarians had overloaded their defense and ran out
of options and ideas due to the absence of Mueller.
By midway in the second half, Mario
Gomez was evidently jaded and subdued, but rather than take the bold step and
replace him with Ivica Olic, Jupp let him prolong his profligacy in front of
goal. Yes, fine, Olic did eventually come on, but it was late and he was played
on the left, where he was always going to be less than effective. Had he been
the center forward, the Croat would have been more a nuisance to the Chelsea
rear-guard than Gomez was, and who knows?
Jupp Heynckes is a respected
manager and maybe rightly so. Do I think he’s right for Bayern Munich? Hardly.
The fact that you’re in charge of the biggest club in Germany yet you’re
outsmarted thrice by a rival manager in the same season shows you don’t quite
cut it. Bayern were beaten 1-0 home and away in the Bundesliga then humiliated
5-2 in the DFB Pokal (German Cup) final by one team, Borussia Dortmund. Being
on the receiving end of all that sure doesn’t make you a great coach, and I’m sorry
but at Bayern Munich, that’s unacceptable!
I would have gone on but enough of spitting
brimstone. People say that it had been written that Chelsea were going to win
the Champions League, and they are probably right. What
I’m not sure about is where this was written and who wrote it. Finals are won
and lost, but also what you do during the game actually decides whether or not
you win. I choose to think Bayern Munich bottled this one.
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