THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
The most prestigious continental
across the border football tourney as far as club football in Europe is concerned,
the UEFA Champions League provided club football with the biggest twists and
turns.
UEFA, the annual convener
of the best of the best 32 football clubs in Europe had among the best, regular
partakers; Real Madrid, Arsenal, Lyon, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Barcelona,
Manchester United, Internazionale and of course Chelsea in the showdown as it,
from kick off promised to radiate a torch of excitement at an unprecedented pace
and level beyond the continent of Europe.
With
the tourney underway, a host of pundits and lovers of the games expected it to
be Barcelona’s 4th Champions League final appearance in 7years.
On
the flip side, La Liga rival, Real Madrid was the team expected to battle
Barcelona in the Allianz Arena final, a final expected to bring back the
memories of the 2010/11 semi finals when Barcelona came out top 3 – 1 on aggregate.
On
this note, among these great enthusiasts
of the Champions League is UEFA President, Michel Platini. According to soccernews.com,
Michel Platini said ....“I do not know who will play in it but a match between Real
Madrid and Barcelona could be a great final. The aforementioned expectation by
the UEFA president was widespread and sang by many around me too.
Interestingly,
if the group stage performance of the 2011/12 Champions League was anything to
go by, of all the table toppers, Barcelona (Group H) and Real Madrid Group D) with
16 and 18 points respectively garnered the highest points in the group stage of
the competition. Asides these 2 Spanish giants, other group leaders reaped
lesser points . On this note, Bayern Munich (13 points at the summit of Group
A); Internazionale (Group B, 10 points); Benfica (Group C, 12 points); Chelsea
(Group E, 11 points); Arsenal (Group F, 11 points) and lastly; Apoel Nicosia (Group
G, 9 points).
But,
asides these table toppers, added to the table runners - up that made it
through to the 2nd round 2-legged knock out stage, Manchester United
and their Champions League debutant neighbour, Manchester City failed to make
it through but got relegated to the second tier UEFA Inter –Club tourney, the
UEFA Europa League. With all due respect to Benfica, FC Basel and Otelul
Galati, the non qualification of Manchester United indeed was a shocker, because
by merely looking at Group C prior to the commencement of the tourney, Man U had
themselves the choice by many to top the group but the bombshell that makes football
beautiful, manifested itself further making the UEFA Champions League more
spellbinding.
In
addition, the exit of FC Porto, the 2003/2004 UEFA Champions League winners and
2010/2011 UEFA Europa Cup winners was a big twist as the competition advanced due
to these teams being UEFA Champions League heavy weights and as thus, expected
to make it through the group stage.
However,
sequel to the earlier discussed exit, it was high time the boys got separated
from the men as Bayern Munich, Napoli, Internazionale, CSKA Moscow, Benfica, FC
Basel, Real Madrid, Lyon, Chelsea, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Marseille, Apoel
Nicosia, Zenit St Peterburg, Barcelona and AC Milan ushered in the second round
with very tough fixtures that added more glamour to the competition. Among
these thrilling fixtures were the AC Milan VS Arsenal and Chelsea VS Napoli
matches.
In
the former, Arsenal having had a 4-0 score line away loss to AC Milan in the San
Siro, were in the reverse fixture very close to establishing a dramatic
comeback via a 3-0 victory, which was a goal shy of them scaling through to the
quarter final stage.
Though
Arsenal did not scale through, Chelsea did theirs in grand-style. Having lost
the first leg by 3 - 1 to Napoli followed by the sack of manager,
Andres Villas Boas (AVB) in March, the blues were widely ruled out of advancing
to the quarter finals stage due to their lackluster display evident in the drop
of their Premier league performance and the first leg Napoli loss.
But newly appointed interim
boss, Roberto Di Matteo brought forth a breath of fresh air that slowly rejuvenated
Chelsea, seeing them through the second leg, then to the semi finals where they
face Barcelona. In both legged matches against Barcelona, Chelsea displayed the
best defensive approach to football I have watched in a very long time, coming
out tops with a 3- 2 aggregate scoreline.
On the flip side,
Bayern Munich, which had the advantage of being the host of the Champions League
final had this somewhat as an added momentum to get through to the finals. This
drive no doubt contributed to their tenacious display against Real Madrid in
both semi final as the scores was all squared with 3-3 scores on aggregate.
May 19 is a day to remember in the world of football as Bayern Munich and Chelsea had a classy final. one to be forever remembered by Chelsea but oops, forgotten by Bayern munich, This is due to the dramatic end to the match on full time in which Bayern Munich through Thomas Muller, having scored what seemed like the only and winning goal on the 83rd minute, got heartbroken by Didier Drogba's leveler on the 88th minute.
This got both sides unable to break the deadlock in the 30 minutes extra time, taking Munich 2012 to penalty shoot- outs that was eventually won by Chelsea, a final that made the twists and turns of the UEFA Champions League one to get much more people following and unprecedentedly addicted to.
Below is a picture of the very excited Chelsea players.
Image Source: Google Image
And noteworthy, sequel
to the final penalty taken by Didier Drogba, the G8 Summit meeting in Camp
David had the German Chancellor showing the Spirit of Sportsmanship to Prime
Minister David Cameron which had a multiplier effect of adding spice to the May
19, 2012 finals.
Image
Source: The Guardian
David Cameron,
Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, José Manuel Barroso, François Hollande (seated)
and advisers watch the penalty shootout that determined the Bayern Munich v
Chelsea Champions League final in the Laurel Cabin conference room during the
G8 summit at Camp David
And noteworthy, sequel
to the final penalty taken by Didier Drogba, the G8 Summit had the German
Chancellor showing the Spirit of Sportsmanship to Prime Minister David Cameron
which had a multiplier effect of adding spice to the May 19, 2012 finals.
That said, there is no
better definition to the spirit of sportsmanship and love for the beautiful
game but the embrace between both leaders, a hug that in no small measure
showed what it means to accept defeat.
Image
Source: The Guardian
José Manuel Barroso looks on as David Cameron hugs Angela Merkel after
the penalty shootout that gave Chelsea victory over Bayern Munich in the
Champions League final, in the Laurel Cabin conference room during the G8
Summit at Camp David.
REFERENCES
UEFA Champions League” ESPNsoccernet
26 May 2012 <m.espn.go.com/soccer/standings?leagueTag=uefa.champions&lang=EN>
“Platini dreaming of
all - Spanish final” Soccernews 4 June 2012 <www.soccernews.com/platini-dreaming-of-all-spanish-final/90039/>
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