Bayern Munich’s Champions League dream final turned into a nightmare on Saturday as Chelsea ruined their homecoming party to leave the German giants trophyless for the second season in a row.
Chelsea’s dramatic 4-3 victory on penalties at the Allianz Arena, after the match finished 1-1 following extra time, ended Bayern’s dreams of a fifth European title and their first Champions League crown since 2001.
“It’s like a nightmare,” Bayern’s director of sport Christian Nerlinger said. “When you see how the game played itself out, it’s like a bad film.”
Photo: AFP
“This is frustrating and depressing to digest. This defeat is very difficult to take,” Nerlinger said.
The Bavarian giants have now lost two of their past three Champions League finals following their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Jose Mourinho-coached Inter in Madrid in 2010.
“The disappointment is huge,” goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said after Chelsea’s Didier Drogba scored the winning spot-kick. “The players were all sitting with their heads down in the dressing room, there wasn’t much talking.”
Bayern blew their second final in seven days as Ivica Olic and vice captain Bastian Schweinsteiger missed penalties in the shoot-out, which gave the Blues their first European title.
“That’s football,” said Bayern’s Thomas Mueller, whose second-half header had put Bayern ahead before Drogba equalized two minutes from time as the game eventually went to penalties after extra time. “As we have often seen in the past, it’s not always the deserving winner who is left holding the trophy.”
“It’s hard to put the disappointment into words, but football isn’t everything,” Mueller said.
Having been hammered 5-2 by Dortmund in the German Cup final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium the previous Saturday, Bayern’s stars again collected losers’ medals as their dream final in Munich ended in tatters.
Since it was announced two years ago that Bayern’s Allianz Arena would host this year’s final, the Bavarians have dreamed of lifting the trophy dahoam — meaning at home in the Bavarian dialect.
Having already conceded this season’s German league and cup titles to Borussia Dortmund, defeat to Chelsea means this is the first time since the 1995 to 1996 campaign that Bayern have failed to win any titles in back-to-back seasons.
Bayern’s domination of German soccer looks to be under serious threat by Dortmund as Jurgen Klopp’s team have won the last two Bundesliga campaigns.
They have also beaten Munich on all of their last five meetings dating back to February 2010.
Bayern blew their bid to become both the first team since Inter at San Siro in 1965 to be crowned European champions at home and the first club to lift the Champions League title at home.
The Bavarians had just two days now to pick themselves up before their friendly against World Cup finalists Holland at the Allianz Arena tomorrow in a pre-Euro 2012 warm-up match for the Dutch.
The match was arranged as part of a compensation deal for Bayern after Dutch winger Arjen Robben returned from the 2010 World Cup with a hamstring injury that kept him out of soccer until early last year.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS