The party is still going strong in Munich but football's glamour game is heading back to London in a year's time
Football's A-listers are in Munich this weekend. Quite apart from the two clubs involved, the Champions League final is a magnet for every club, every coach, every fixer who likes to consider himself a part of the elite. The mingling, preening and backslapping in Uefa's official hotel needs to be seen to be believed. It is as close as football comes to putting on an equivalent of an Oscars afterparty, albeit without the dresses.
There will, though, be a handful of clubs not preoccupied by making an appearance in Germany over the weekend as they are otherwise engaged. Juventus are playing Napoli in the Italian Cup final on Sunday, with a chance to embellish the Alessandro Del Piero farewell tour with another trophy. In France Montpellier visit relegated Auxerre intent on securing the point they need to claim the title for the first time in their history. Paris St-Germain, who need Montpellier to lose, are at Lorient on the final weekend of Ligue 1 fixtures, hungry to pounce.
It is only when their seasons are finally over that teams such as Juventus, Napoli, Montpellier and PSG can reflect on the significant campaigns they have all had. Napoli, in particular, will not easily forget the leaps and bounds they made in the Champions League this season. The Coppa Italia final gives them a chance to celebrate a campaign that has at times been wonderfully uplifting as they won new friends with their boldness against Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. In Serie A they were too inconsistent to finish high enough to qualify for Europe's top table again but this team wants honours before a summer that is likely to see some of its crucial components broken off. Ezequiel Lavezzi is already halfway out of the door of the San Paolo, with his agent flirting openly with PSG and rumours heating up regarding Internazionale.
The Coppa Italia may not be the most adored of competitions but it would mean a great deal to the Partenopei, who last won it at the height of the Maradona era. "We haven't won a trophy for 25 years and we have all of the ingredients at our disposal to play a great game," says the Napoli captain, Paolo Cannavaro.
Juventus go into the final on the back of their invincible scudetto. They have had a few days to attempt to come down to earth after the volcanic emotions of last weekend, when Del Piero's parting gift of a goal on his last home appearance for the Turin club coincided with the conclusion of an undefeated league campaign, and an open-top bus parade that was defiant and cathartic. Taking their place back at the Italian summit after the calciopoli scandal was never going to be something to underplay. "It's fun walking down the street in Turin and seeing people hit the brakes in the middle of the road so they can get out of their cars, hug you, cry and thank you for everything," reflected the coach, Antonio Conte.
Juventus are eager to return to the Champions League next season after four years in the wilderness and it will be fascinating to see how they fare. They can bring more strength, more savvy, more consistency and a sharper winning mentality to the party than Napoli did. The great unknown issue for next season is that their players do not have much experience at the top level of European competition. Next season there will be only three survivors from the lineup the last time Juventus played a Champions League game – Gianluigi Buffon, Georgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio.
Juve are expected to bolster their squad over the summer. While they must somehow address the departure of Del Piero and are openly in the market for a high-calibre centre-forward, they could do with strengthening in midfield and defence, too. With the added pressures of Champions League football next term, they want more depth in the squad.
Milan, too, have a recruitment drive on their hands after the retirements of a cluster of old favourites. They have already started, having brought in a couple of free agents, Riccardo Montolivio from Fiorentina and Bakaye Traoré from Nancy.
Although Montpellier are favourites to win the league at the expense of PSG, it is not hard to predict which of the French clubs will be aiming to make an impact on next season's Champions League. Montpellier face the same problem Lille experienced a year ago, when they lost three of their most valuable players in one fell swoop as soon as they had won the title. Montpellier are braced for bids to come in for their target man Olivier Giroud, playmaker Younes Belhanda and defensive linchpin Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. Meanwhile PSG have chequebook and pen at the ready. They have a reported €100m to spend and will hoover up as much talent as they can. They are quite a few players short of the standards they want to reach but the club's Qatari owners will have noticed the strides made by Manchester City this season.
Roberto Mancini's team, now that they have proved they have sufficient power and technique to topple Manchester United on the domestic front, are under pressure to make more of an impression in the Champions League. Another early exit will not easily be tolerated now that the club have stepped on to a level where they have to be judged as contenders – as all Premier League winners should be.
Borussia Dortmund have to show they belong with the best in Europe after an inhibited showing last term. Although Shinji Kagawa is on his way out, Jürgen Klopp's team will be boosted by the return of Marco Reus. It was an important signing by Dortmund in that it made the point that the best young Germans do not automatically move to Bayern.
But no matter how much money is spent elsewhere, as usual, it is hard to escape the feeling that any team that wants to go far in the Champions League will have to ride its luck and get past Spain's heavyweights. Barcelona and Real Madrid are both on the hunt for improvements. Defeat by Chelsea in the semi-finals has made Barça talk again about the merits of having a taller centre- forward, and they also need a left-back. Real are well equipped as a squad but one marquee signing is on the agenda. A goalscorer, with Sergio Agüero, Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie on the radar, is in their sights.
Not long after the parties in Munich come to an end planning cranks up for the road to Wembley 2013. Read More
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