Chelsea stun Bayern Munich on their home ground, win the Champions League final 4-3 on Penalties

By Money Mike


If you're a Tottenham fan, this is the worst thing you want to see because now instead of qualifying for the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League, your team will instead will compete in the Europa League and this is why. Bayern Munich had the home field advantage and the momentum at their side for the final and looked to be the team that would come out on top. That was not the case. 62,500 fans at the Allianz Arena and over 150,000,000 viewers worldwide got to witness first hand Chelsea defeating Bayern Munich 4-3 in a penalty shootout and all those chances Bayern Munich had in this match, they're going to rue not being able to capitalize.

In the 18th minute well, all I can say is how the hell did this guy fan on a golden opportunity. A long throw in to the end line found Thomas Muller who was able to poke the ball to Mario Gomez. This one looked like it was going to be a goal for Bayern Munich, but Gomez scuffed it and the attack broke down.

In the 34th minute, off the free kick Juan Mata looked to curl his effort towards goal but he got under it a little too much and the ball sailed over the bar. That was one of few shot attempts by Chelsea in this match.

Three minutes later, Bayern Munich were on the move again. Diego Contento made an overlapping run and sent in a good looking cross into the middle of the area for a left footed volley by Thomas Muller, but it just whistled wide. In the 43rd minute, Bayern Munich waste another golden opportunity. Mario Gomez turned Gary Cahill inside the box and had just the keeper to beat, but he skied his shot well over the bar. Bayern Munich had 16 shots on goal in the first half, but only two were on target. What a waste.

In the 54th minute, Bayern Munich thought they broke the deadlock. Thomas Muller fed Arjen Robben from 19 yards out for a first time shot. The ball bounced off Ashley Cole right to Franck Ribery for the tap in, but Ribery was in an offside position on the shot so the goal did not count.

The second half looked pretty even in terms of possession. Chelsea came out in the second half and looked a lot better than they did in the first half. Bayern Munich still looked like the better team, but they just didn't play like the better team because all they did was fail to capitalize on their chances. Chance after chance after chance, and for some reason they had problems finishing. Especially Mario Gomez. I think Gomez had a crappy game after failing to capitalize on three or four opportunities that he more than likely would've put away in his sleep. Chelsea did put together some opportunities of their own. Like in the 50th minute when Didier Drogba turned and snapped a shot on goal, but it was always going wide. Arjen Robben also wasted a few opportunities of his own for Bayern. Both Robben and Gomez who were supposed to be the stars of this team had an awful night and this could hurt them in their chances of representing their respective countries in EURO 2012 next month.

With under eight minutes to play, Bayern Munich finally broke the deadlock. Franck Ribery poked the ball back to Toni Kroos just outside the penalty area. Kroos then curls the ball to the far post and finds Thomas Muller for a downward header which bounces on the ground and in off the top of the crossbar to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 lead in the final. First of all that was poor defending from Chelsea. Second of all, how did Petr Cech let that go in. It looked like an easy save, but he didn't jump to try to make the save and the ball snuck in.

Shortly after that goal, Bayern Munich brought on Daniel Van Buyten to try to hold on to the lead. However in this 88th minute, that defensive switch wasn't good enough and Chelsea came through with a late equalizing goal. Juan Mata took the corner from the far hash mark and sent in a driven cross to the near post for Didier Drogba who got well and snapped his header in off the hand of Manuel Neuer for one of the biggest goals of his career at Chelsea. In the last minute of stoppage time, Drogba had an opportunity to come through with a winning goal off the free kick but he got under it a bit too much and the ball sailed over the top and the match went to extra time.

In the third minute of extra time, Drogba gets whistled for clipping Franck Ribery in the box and the referee awards a penalty to Bayern Munich and also books Didier Drogba. Gary Cahill was arguing with the referee after that, thinking it wasn't a penalty. Come on now. Drogba caught his right foot from behind in the penalty area, of course it's a PK. Arjen Robben stepped up to take the penalty. I said he had a awful night, this was one of the reasons. He tried to go for placement and Cech guessed the right way and made the save. At this stage of the game, I would've went for power. I actually would've went for power at any stage of the game. There were no goals in extra time so the game went to a penalty shootout.

In the shootout, Philipp Lahm stepped up first for Bayern Munich and slotted the ball to Petr Cech's left despite Cech getting a hand to it. Juan Mata stepped up first for Chelsea and tried to go to the goalkeepers left hand side, but Neuer read it perfectly and made the save and Bayern led 1-0 after round one. Mario Gomez went second for Bayern and he slid the ball inside the goalkeepers left hand side. David Luiz went next for Chelsea and on a long run up, Luiz made no mistake and he smashed the it home. Bayern Munich still led 2-1 after two rounds. After Manuel Neuer and Frank Lampard converted their penalties in the third round, it was Ivica Olic's turn and he failed to convert as he went to the goalkeepers left and Cech made the save. Ashley Cole stepped up for Chelsea and converted his penalty and it was 3-3 after four rounds. In the fifth round, Bastian Schwiensteiger stepped up for Bayern Munich but his penalty was poor as his effort was tipped on to the post by Petr Cech. So it's come all the way down to Didier Drogba to win the Champions League for Chelsea and he slotted the ball inside the goalkeepers right hand side and Chelsea believe it or not win their first European Cup title.


Observations:

After all the chances Bayern Munich have had, they fail to capitalize and this is what happens. You have to capitalize on your opponents mistakes and Bayern were unable to do that and in the end, they lose. Disappointing night for Bayern Munich and their fans after another rough Bundesliga campaign, they just couldn't get the job done and when you don't get the job done, it'll come back to haunt you. This is one of the reasons why there's no such thing as fluke wins.

Now take a look at this. Please tell me if you have ever seen a stadium that changes colors besides the Allianz Arena? In Seattle, you go to Safeco Field, CenturyLink Field, KeyArena, etc. and the outside is just all bricks, steel and other shit. Not the Allianz Arena, they change the color for any club that plays for home match inside that ground. If it's Bayern Munich, the outside of the stadium is red. If it's TSV 1860 Munich, the outside is blue. If it's the German national team, the outside is white. But, as you see here, they used neither of that. What they used was the color of the game ball. It's pretty cool that the stadium can change colors, you can only see it at night though.

The atmosphere was electric inside the stadium. Overall I think it was a great match and that it was better to have the final played on a Saturday than at midweek like they used to do until 2010, but again a great match despite a poor finishing display form Bayern Munich and I'm pretty sure for the fans, this loss will take a while to sink in. Congratulations to Chelsea for finding a way to come out on top in the Champions League despite a poor Premier League campaign, but they'll have an opportunity to defend their Champions League Crown next season.


Scoring summary:

Bayern Munich - Thomas Muller (Toni Kroos) 83'

Chelsea - Didier Drogba (Juan Mata) 88'


Penalty summary:

Bayern Munich - Philipp Lahm (Goal; 1-0)

Chelsea - Juan Mata (Miss; 1-0)

Bayern Munich - Mario Gomez (Goal; 2-0)

Chelsea - David Luiz (Goal; 2-1)

Bayern Munich - Manuel Neuer (Goal; 3-1)

Chelsea - Frank Lampard (Goal; 3-2)

Bayern Munich - Ivica Olic (Miss; 3-2)

Chelsea - Ashley Cole (Goal; 3-3)

Bayern Munich - Bastian Schweinsteiger (Miss; 3-3)

Chelsea - Didier Drogba (Goal; 3-4)

* Chelsea win the Champions League Final 4-3 on penalties.


Misconduct summary:

Bayern Munich - Bastian Schweinsteiger (caution; handball) 2'

Chelsea - Ashley Cole (caution; foul) 81'

Chelsea - David Luiz (caution; foul) 86'

Chelsea - Didier Drogba (caution; foul) 93'

Chelsea - Fernando Torres (caution; foul) 120'


Lineups:

Chelsea - Petr Cech; Jose Bosingwa, Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Ashley Cole; John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Saloman Kalou (Fernando Torres 84'), Juan Mata, Ryan Bertrand (Florent Malouda 73'); Didier Drogba

Bayern Munich - Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Diego Contento; Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos; Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller (Daniel Van Buyten 87'), Franck Ribery (Ivica Olic 97'); Mario Gomez

The English Premier League kicks off this weekend. Let's travel the Globe and talk about it.

By Money Mike

The English Premier League kicks off its 2011-2012 season this weekend and I know a lot of you are excited to see your teams fight for the title, others are just making a big deal over nothing (Arsenal fans) while the rest of you folks hope your team avoids relegation at the end of the season (Fans of Swansea City, Norwich, Queens Park Rangers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic, etc.), but none of that matters right now. Right now, it's pretty much just a meet and greet kind of thing, every one starts even, new stars coming in and all of that. So I'm gonna go through all of this years Premier League teams and give a info on each of them, maybe give them a key for this season and also talk about the new players on each team because there were some crazy ass moves made during the offseason, especially from Arsenal. So let's go through and preview each team.

Arsenal:

Well let me tell you something if you're gonna spend big money on youngsters, you might as well put them on the pitch. Mark Chamberlain, a former Portsmouth winger, back in June said he was eager for his son to join Arsenal as soon as possible to continue his development. And earlier this week they went big and signed his son. 17-year old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from League One side Southampton for about 12 million pounds. To be honest, I like this move. I know he was only a rookie last season but look at the numbers. 34 matches played and 9 goals scored. For a 17-year old, those are good numbers. Now can he make that transition to the Premier League level? And I think he can. Another big money signing was Gervinho from Lille OSC in France, he's the answer up front, so Robin van Persie won't be the lonely stoner up front. You know what, every time something happens, Arsenal fans just have to be negative about it. Talk about drunk ass people who know nothing about the hard work being put together by the front office. Comeon guys, quit you whining and get ready for a new season.

Key additions: Carl Jenkinson (Charlton Athletic), Gervinho (Lille OSC), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Southampton)

Aston Villa:

Well this team have had their ups and downs, but they are entering their 24th consecutive season of top flight "football". They hired Alex McLeish as their new manager during the offseason and in the process, picked up Goalkeeper Shay Given and Midfielder Charles N'Zogbia. I think Fabian Delph will play a key role in the midfield. Eric Lichaj should get more playing time defensively for the Villains. Of course they'll have Darren Bent up front with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey as well as Stephen Ireland. If Ireland get his head straight, I think Villa will contend for a UEFA Champions League spot for next season.

Key additions: Shay Given (Manchester City), Charles N'Zogbia (Wigan Athletic)

Blackburn Rovers:

Here's a team with a long history, Blackburn Rovers. They are in their 124th year of existence. And they're are one of only four teams that have won a Premier League Title. Blackburn is not gonna come close this year. It'll be mid-table mediocrity for them.

Key additions: David Goodwillie (Dundee United), Radoslav Petrovic (Partazian)

Bolton Wanderers:

Well this will be a record setting year for Bolton. You know what that record will be? The 73rd time they will compete at the top level without winning the title.

Key additions: Nigel Reo-Coker (Aston Villa), Chris Eagles (Burnley), Tyrone Mears (Burnley)

Chelsea:

Here's a team that will contend for sure. Chelsea FC. This team pretty much blew their quest to defend their title last season and they ended up firing their manager Carlo Ancelotti. No real key additions for the summer. The lineup pretty much will look the same with Didier Drogba, Nicholas Alnelka, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ramires, Saloman Kalou, etc.

Key additions: none

Everton:

Now this team will struggle. Everton finished in a bad position last year and didn't make any moves to help with that. They have good players, they're just outcoached.

Key additions: none

Fulham:

Speaking of sluggish teams we're gonna go to Fulham. The only reason they qualified for Europe last season was because England was rewarded a fair play prize. Clint Dempsey might as well pack it up and look for a new team. But seriously, Fulham need to step their game up.

Key additions: John Arne Riise (AS Roma)

Liverpool:

Well this is a sorry ass team here. Liverpool. I mean, you have a team that on paper is supposed to contend for the Premier League title and you don't even qualify for Europe. They're a bunch of pretenders. So many players wasting their life over there. Pack it up people. LIVERPOOL SUCKS!!

Key additions: Charlie Adam (Blackpool), Stewart Downing (Aston Villa)

Manchester City:

Speaking of sorry ass teams. This team just spends too much damn money. I mean really, you got enough big money players to contend for the title with your arch rivals. Why do you need more? Manchester City need to light up. Seriously. You got Zabaleta, you got Julian Lescott, you got Adam Johnson, you got David Silva, you got Dzeko, I mean god damn, you wanna go bankrupt?

Key additions: Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Sergio Aguero (Athletico Madrid)

Manchester United:

Manchester United. The New York Yankees of soccer. This team won their 4th title in 5 years last season and are looking to keep the title run going this season. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, defender Gary Neiville and midfielder Paul Scholes all retired, but Man U never rebuild, they reload. During the offseason, they aquired kepper David de Gea from Athletico Madrid and defender Phil Jones from Blackburn and Ashley Young from Aston Villa. This is a dangerous attacking minded team with Wayne Rooney, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov.

Key additions: David de Gea (Athletico Madrid), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Phil Jones (Blackburn Rovers)

Newcastle United:

Well Newcastle had a pretty good year in their return to top flight football last year. This team is going through a drought themselves. No Major trophies in over 30 years.

Key additions: Yohan Cabaye (Lille OSC), Demba Ba (West Ham United), Gabriel Oberton (Manchester United)

Norwich City:

What a run it has been for Norwich. Two years ago, refresh my memory, I believe this team was in the First Division and now they made a run all the way through the Championship and are now in the Premier League. But I think the Premier League is too much for them, I see them going down this year.

Key additions: James Vaughan (Everton), Ritchie De Laet (Manchester United; loan), Kyle Naughton (Tottenham Hotspur; loan)

Queens Park Rangers:

Queens Park Rangers, another newly promoted team. I don't think it will be that great of a season for them, but I don't think they will finish in the bottom three at the end of the season.

Key additions: Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff City), Kieron Dyer (West Ham United), Danny Gabbidon (West Ham United), D.J. Campbell (Blackpool), Bruno Perone (Tombense)

Stoke City:

Stoke City, the FA Cup runners up, getting ready for another challenging season. Just escaping relegation last year.

Key additions: Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur), Matthew Upson (West Ham United).

Sunderland:

The Black Cats had a busy offseason bringing in players, getting rid of players. Let's see if it pays off for them this season.

Key additions: Ahmed Elmohamady (ENPPI), Ji Dong-Won (Chunnam Dragons), Craig Gardner (Birmingham City), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City), Wes Brown (Manchester United), John O'Shea (Manchester United), David Vaughan (Blackpool)

Swansea City:

This is Swansea's third year of top flight football and they'll end up suffering a drop to the Championship. I they'll be relegated this year.

Key additions: Michel Vorm (Utrecht), Wayne Routledge (Newcastle United), Leroy Lita (Middlesbrough)

Tottenham Hotspur:

Do you think I'm gonna waste my time talking about them? I'm an Arsenal fan. TOTTENHAM SUCKS!!

Key additions: none

West Bromwich Albion:

West Brom had a shaky preseason. I don't know, I think they'll be fighting for Safety this season.

Key additions: Ben Foster (Birmingham City; loan), Zoltan Gera (Fulham), Marton Fulop (Ipswich Town)

Wigan Athletic:

I don't like their chances of Safety. They just barely made it last year but this season? ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh no. I pick Wigan as the third team that will be relegated.

Key additions: Ali Al-Habsi (Bolton Wanderers), David Jones (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nouha Dicko (Strasbourg)

Wolverhampton Wanderers:

Finally, the last team to talk about is Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves just survived the drop on the final day of last season. I think they'll fight for safety again and this time, not on the last day of the season, maybe with 3 weeks to go.

Key additions: Jamie O'Hara (Tottenham Hotspur), Dorus de Vries (Swansea City), Roger Johnson (Birmingham City)