Whether you wear red or yellow, are a neutral football purist or the occasional viewer, anticipation for this year’s UEFA Champions League final is at a fever pitch. London’s Wembley Stadium is the stage for Saturday’s all-German affair for European supremacy.
Bayern Munich have dominated the head-to-head battle with Borussia Dortmund this season, en-route to being crowned Bundesliga champions –winning two cup matches (Super Cup & German Cup) and drawing both league fixtures, most recently 1-1 at the Westfalenstadion three weeks ago. The most telling statistic is the 25-point gap in the domestic table. In the previous two campaigns, Bayern dropped five consecutive matches, and was forced to watch their rivals lift back-to-back domestic titles, and a league double last season.
Here’s how the German rivals match up.
Saturday programming alert: Watch Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich in the final of the UEFA Champions League live on all four main Sportsnet channels on May 25. Coverage begins with our pre-game show at 2:00pm ET/11:00am PT. And take part in SPORTSNET.CA’s live game chat as the action unfolds from Wembley Stadium.
Goalkeeper
Success sometimes works against you. Manuel Neuer can attest to that to a degree. Some question his focus and concentration; others point the finger at the limited number of shots faced and low save ratio. The German international has many detractors, but the statistics also prove an incredible rate of consistency, especially this season. Neuer has produced 26 clean sheets in 47 total appearances, and was only beaten 28 times. A portion of that credit deservedly goes to his back-line for limiting opportunities, but Neuer’s command from his goalmouth is equally impressive. Bayern’s dominating offensive prowess has also played an important part in the club setting a Bundesliga record for most clean sheets in a season. However, when the game is on the line, Neuer can be counted on to produce heroics.
Advantage: Bayern Munich
Defence
The biggest problem defensively for Bayern has derived from their style of proactive possession, which at times left them susceptible to the quick transition game. A more cautious approach has been incorporated this season, without compromising a ruthless attack strategy. The quartet of Phillip Lahm, Dante, David Alaba and Jerome Boateng have provided an almost impenetrable force-field inside Bayern’s defensive zone. All the praise heaped on Dortmund’s stable of Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek is well deserved, though Bayern conceded 24 less goals in the Bundesliga alone. Despite having failed to beat Bayern this season, Dortmund were only held off the score -sheet once, and capable of luring their opponents out of position.
Advantage: Bayern Munich
European Football Weekly: Sportsnet 590 The FAN’s Dan Riccio, Derrick Brandao and Gord Brunt take an in-depth look at the beautiful game on the European Football Weekly podcast. For more details and to listen to past shows, CLICK HERE
Midfield
The collective of talented midfielders at Dortmund is frightening. It’s a position of strength that will be tested, especially with Mario Götze’s ruled out for Saturday’s final through injury. Step up Ilkay Gundogan, or maybe even Marco Reus, placing Kevin Grosskreutz on the wing to support Marcel Schmelzer’s containment of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. Dotmund manager Jurgen Klopp has plenty of options, giving him the ability to tailor his line-up in the event of injury or to expose weak points in the opposition. Ideally, Dortmund set-up in a 4-2-3-1, though Bayern’s possession play and superiority down the flanks could force a more conservative and cautious 4-3-3 to be deployed. Either system poses a serious threat.
What makes Dortmund so intimidating is their versatile nature, and proven perseverance through adversity. Sven Bender and captain Sebastian Kehl do a great job absorbing pressure and breaking up play, while Jakub Blaszczykowski chips in with blistering pace down the wing to stretch defenders and pinpoint precision crosses into the box. The most significant factor is that every player tracks back and has a presence in both ends. Bayern is a team of specialists: the defensive workhorses (Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger, the playmaker (Toni Kroos), and dynamic wide-men (Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben).
Advantage: Borussia Dortmund
Forward
This is where it gets tricky. Both managers are spoiled with an immense amount of quality up front. The margins are slim. Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski (24 goals) and Marco Reus (13 goals) match up against Bayern’s Mario Mandzukic (15 goals) and Thomas Muller (13 goals). All four are in form, and finished top 10 in the Bundesliga scoring chart. More impressively, Lewandowski is averaging just shy of a goal-a-game in the Champions League (10 goals), helped by his four-goal destruction of Real Madrid in their semifinal first leg. The Pole’s exploits haven’t gone unnoticed, as successive 30 goal seasons have led to a host of suitors set to battle it out for his signature this summer. Similarly, Muller has been just as lethal in Europe, finding the target eight times in 11 starts.
You’d have to look at the bench to find separation. Bayern Manager Jupp Heynckes has super-sub Mario Gomez (17 goals), a German international with 23 goals in over 50 call-ups. Dortmund might expect big things from Julian Schieber (five goals), but the gulf in class could be the difference in the later stages.
Advantage: Bayern Munich
Manager
Having already been on the wining end of a Champions League final with Real Madrid in 1998, Heynckes knows what it takes to be successful on the biggest stage. Through his guidance, Bayern smashed an assortment of Bundesliga records this season, most notably total points (91), surpassing their opponent’s previous mark by 10. Others records that fell were most wins (29), away points (47), biggest title winning margin (25 points), goal-difference (80), clean sheets (21), fewest defeats (one) and lowest number of games played to clinch the title (28). The class of 2012-13 virtually re-wrote the history books, and Heynckes deserves much of the credit. What better way for the 68 year-old to walk away from the game than with an impressive treble, needing also to beat Stuttgart on June 1 for the German Cup.
What Klopp lacks in experience, he makes up for in man-management and tactical awareness. The quarter-final second-leg against Malaga is a great recent point of reference to his genius. Forced to watch his best stars sold to the highest bidder every season, Klopp continues to replenish his ranks and get the very best out of his players. For that reason, he’s being touted as Joachim Low’s successor as manager of Germany’s national team, and is always mentioned as a contender for managerial vacancies at Europe’s biggest clubs. For five seasons, Klopp defied the odds and re-established Dortmund as a credible contender before achieving domestic supremacy, all on a modest budget.
Advantage: Borussia Dortmund
Sportsnet World Online: Now you can watch all the best international soccer from wherever you are live on your computer. Sportsnet World Online is a new online only service that you can subscribe to, and there are many different subscription options. For more details and to subscribe, CLICK HERE