This weekend’s UEFA Champions League final is the first all-German one in the tournament’s storied history. Rick Sargent offers a quick preview.
Tomorrow for the first time in the history of the tournament two German football clubs will come head to head in the final match of the Champions League.
Traditionally English, Italian and Spanish teams reign supreme in the highest flight of European club competition. Since the first time the Champions League Tournament was held in the 1955-56 season, German teams have only been champions six times. This is compared to English clubs winning 12 times, Spanish clubs 11 times, and Italian teams matching their English counterparts with 12 championship winning teams.
But this year symbolizes the beginning of a new era in European football. Not only is it an all German final, but, in the tournament’s semi-finals, the two teams playing this weekend beat out the two teams that were previously considered the best in the world. Bayern Munich absolutely slaughtered Barcelona in their two matches—by a combined score of 7-0—and Borussia Dortmund was able to hold a well earned lead after a miracle 4-1 first leg win over Real Madrid. It is the Bundesliga’s game now, and everyone else is just playing in it.
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So tomorrow German heavyweights Bayern and Borussia go head to head in the 57th year of the European Champions League. Bayern have already won the German Cup and league title this year, with Dortmund taking second place in the league after having been league champs last year.
It is easy to look at the recent results between these two German giants and say that Bayern is going to win, especially considering that in head to head competition Dortmund has fallen to Bayern in 7 straight matches.
This match cannot be sold so simply though. Consider the fact that Dortmund, a team with a couple of rising stars on the roster in Marcos Rues and Mario Gotze, has, on its path to the Champions League final, already beaten out the likes of Malaga, who went on an impressive run this year, Ajax who consistently rate at the top of the Dutch league, Manchester City, and most impressively Real Madrid in class fashion.
Also, though Bayern has taken the last 7 matches, in the 19 matches the two clubs played prior, Dortmund beat Bayern 9 times, and Bayern beat Dortmund only 4, with 6 draws between them. This is a rivalry that’s developing to be on par with the Real Madrid and Barcelona competition on the other end of the continent.
So the overriding question is: Will Bayern Munich continue to show the dominance it’s displayed this year on the European stage, or will we see the flashes of brilliance that Borussia Dortmund has used to so often get the better of their national rivals in the past?
We will have our answer tomorrow.
Photo: Kerstin Joensson/AP