Bayern Munich won their fifth European title equaling the feat of Liverpool as they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at Wembley. The German champions were slow off the blocks as Dortmund started bossing the game from the off. The first half ended goalless thanks to saves from Manuel Neuer and Roman Weidenfeller and also due to poor finishing from Arjen Robben.
Neuer was the busier of the two shot stoppers as he tipped over a long range effort from Robert Lewandowski and saved Jakub Blaszczykowski’s near post effort with his outstretched left foot. Bayern gradually came into the game and Robben instead of finding Mario Mandzukic, elected go alone but was denied by Weidenfeller and the Dortmund skipper then saved from Mandzukic. Lewandowski had a shot saved by Neuer who started a swift counter and Robben was again the culprit as he missed a one on one chance, again denied by Weidenfeller, this time with his face.
The first goal came only after one hour and this time Robben did make the most of the chance as he found Mandzukic who had a simple tap in with Franck Ribery being the orchestrator of the move. Dante then conceded a penalty as he miss kicked the ball only to plant his studs in Marco Reus’ midriff. He could have been sent off for a second bookable offense but lady luck was on his side.
Ilkay Gundogan stepped up and made no mistake from the spot sending Neuer the wrong way and it was game on. Bayern almost went ahead soon after when Thomas Muller did well to go past Weidenfeller and steer the ball towards goal but Nevan Subotic cleared the ball off the line with a sliding effort. Robben again was the center of attention as he could have attempted to slide in to guide the ball in. Weidenfeller was called upon again, this time tipping away David Alaba’s effort.
Muller was denied a penalty shout and Bastian Schweinsteiger had a left footed effort saved yet again by Weidenfeller. Extra time loomed but Robben erased his nightmares from last year’s final as he pounced on to a back heel from Ribery and get away from a couple of challenges and guide the ball past Weidenfeller who was flatfooted.
Bayern will look to win the treble as they face Stuttgart in the German DFB Pokal final this Saturday. Many will question what incoming manager Pep Guardiola will be able to bring to the table if Bayern do win the elusive treble.
