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gallery: Tom Jenkins's pictures from Munich
"No matter how many people paint it as a 'tactical battle'," begins John Reid, "this game is very dull. Chelsea remind me of a relegation haunted team playing against my beloved Celtic, with nearly everybody playing behind the ball. We haven't even got John Terry to vent abuse at."
Half time: Bayern Munich 0-0 Chelsea. Or, to put it another way: Bayern 60-40 Chelsea (possession), Bayern 16-2 Chelsea (goal attempts), Bayern 8-0 Chelsea (corners). It's been all Bayern, but Chelsea came here to win the European Cup. The means matter not a jot, and they are still right in the match. See you in 10 minutes.
45 min There will be one added minute of Bayern attacking.
44 min The longer the game stays 0-0, the more Bayern's players and fans will wonder: what if? This level of dominance is all fun and games till Drogba roofs one from 15 yards.
42 min: GOMEZ MISSES AGAIN! What a chance this is! The move began Robben moved infield from the right and stabbed a short pass towards Muller. He fell over under a challenge from the increasingly clumsy Luiz right on the edge of the area – that might have been a penalty, you know, although I'd like to see it again – and the ball ran square to Gomez. He dummied Cahill expertly to create a clear shooting opportunity ... and then blootered it into orbit from 12 yards.
40 min Bayern's patched-up defence is not very good. Roberto Di Matteo should make Chelsea's players write 100 lines of this at half-time to drill it into their subconscious. They haven't really got at them at all in this half.
39 min Is it me or is Mario Gomez a bit of a donkey? He has just missed another chance. Robben's excellent lobbed pass freed Ribery on the left of the box. He shanked his shot across goal, and Gomez miscontrolled it eight yards from goal at the far post. It was a nasty ball to deal with – pacy and bouncing – but I know what Lionel Messi or Carlton Cole would have done with it.
37 min Chelsea's best move of the match. A precsie ball in from the left by Cole was flicked behind his standing leg by Drogba on the edge of the box. It came to Lampard 25 yards from goal; he might have fancied the shot, but instead played wide to Kalou in a fair bit of space on the right side of the box. His curling shot towards the near post was held by the plunging Neuer.
36 min Another near miss from Bayern. Ribery played the ball down the left to Contento, who curved over an excellent first-time cross. Muller, near the penalty spot, got away from Cole and belted a left-footed volley not far wide of the near post.
35 min "Doesn't Gary Cahill look like he's doing Riverdance rather than football?" says Katherine Cross. That's a compliment, right.
34 min Mata does he hit it, but he curls it over the bar. Still, a shot is a shot is a shot.
33 min Cahill, Beckenbauring his way forward in open play, is fouled on the edge of the area by Boateng. This is a great chance for Chelsea. The free kick is 20 yards from goal, maybe 10 yards to right of centre. You'd expect Mata to hit this ...
32 min Gomez's pull back finds Muller, whose shot is blocked well by the covering Bosingwa. It breaks to Robben, whose bobbling volley from the edge of the area is straight at Cech.
31 min Bosingwa somehow gets away with a wretchedly inept hack from behind at Ribery by the halfway line. He should have been booked for that.
30 min Bertrand gets his first chance to run at Lahm, who dispossesses him expertly. It's easy to say that the game has passed Bertrand by, but you could say that about all Chelsea's front four. The reality is that they simply haven't had the ball.
28 min This is ridiculously one-sided. Luiz fouls Muller 20 yards from goal, to the right of centre. Robben will fancy this, although Kroos is there as well. It's Robben to take it ... and he clips it straight into the wall.
25 min "Totes," says Sean Boiling. "There are no mitigating circumstances if you are more than 12 years old. Oh, and awesome."
24 min Chelsea have had 36 per cent possession and no attemps at goal. Bayern have had six.
23 min There's no way Chelsea can do this for 90 minutes. Mind you, we said that against Barcelona and they did it for 180 minutes then.
22 min "How about the Glorious Glasgow Rangers, 92/93?" says Ryan Dunne, and literally nones of others. "Recall that the eventual winners, Marseille, only won (allegedly, but not by much) due to match-fixing, suggesting we were the 'real' winners anyway (the funny group stage format meant that we should have qualified for the final ahead of Marseille, making Milan the moral runners-up)." It's worth mentioning that Rangers team just for this Goal of the Century contender in the group stage.
21 min: BAYERN HIT THE POST! A goal isn't just in the post: it's been sent by special delivery. Robben almost gave Bayern the lead there. He came across to the left, slithered into the box and then drove an angled shot towards the near post from 12 yards. I'm not sure how well Cech saw it, but he stuck out his right leg to deflect it onto the outside of the post.
18 min A corner from the left by Kroos is allowed to reach Robben on the penalty spot, and he belts a volley that is deflected wide for another corner. Chelsea are really struggling now. From that corner, a cutback eventually finds Gomez eight yards from goal. He eschews the first-time shot, instead allowing the ball to run away from the sliding Cahill, but it slips under Gomez's foot and Chelsea clear. That was a big opportunity.
17 min A slick one-two between Lahm and Robben, but whoever is controlling David Luiz is pressing the right buttons at the moment: he moves forward smoothly to challenge Lahm on the edge of the box.
16 min Lampard makes a good interception in the box from Ribery's cutback, but here come Bayern again. Schweinsteiger has taken the temperature of the game and is influencing it a bit too much for Chelsea's comfort. Mata needs to get tighter on him when Chelsea don't have the ball.
15 min "5live commentary has just let us know that 'the longer this game goes on, the better for Chelsea'," says Matt Dony. "With any luck, it'll stretch into sometime next week, allowing them to muller (minus umlaut) Munich."
14 min An inswinging cross from Ribery, deep on the left, is headed over by Gomez. It was no sort of chance really – he was ahead of the near post 10 yards from goal, under pressure from David Luiz, and had no pace on the ball to work with.
13 min "Perhaps more interesting than the line-up for the first game of Abramovich era is the team for the last game of the Bates era," says my colleague Evan Fanning. "A mixture of has-been, never-beens and never-will-bes:
Chelsea v Liverpool, 11 May 2003: C Cudicini, M Melchiot, W Gallas , M
Desailly, C Babayaro, J Gronkjaer, E Petit, F Lampard, G Le Saux , J
Hasselbaink, E Gudjohnsen. Subs: E de Goey, J Morris, M Stanic, C Cole, G Zola."
12 min Nothing to report on Ryan Bertrand as yet. He might not even have touched the ball, certainly not offensively – the few attacks Chelsea have had have been down the right.
10 min I don't think Cech has had to use his hands yet, and in that sense Chelsea will be pleased with the start. But they have struggled to keep the ball. I suppose that was to be expected early on. And if they win the game, Chelsea will not give a solitary one about the means.
8 min A dangerous deep cross from Mata is headed away at the far post by Lahm, allowing Bayern to break dangerously. Robben hurries towards Cole from the right, gets into the box and then comes back on his left foot. It's set for him to shape a curler into the far corner. He hoofs it miles over the bar.
7 min Chelsea's first attack. Drogba moves wide to the right to pick up possession and belabour a cross that is too far in front of Bertrand and Kalou.
6 min "We all know the real story line today," says Lorenzo Landini. "Sideshow Bob impersonator David Luiz versus George McFly impersonator Mario Gomez. Can't wait to see that play out."
5 min Schweinsteiger is given a disgraceful amount of space 25 yards from goal. He picks up a loose ball, runs into the D and then drives a left-footed shot that is deflected over by the sprawling Cahill. When the resulting corner is half-cleared, Kroos drags a shot wide of the near post from 20 yards. Chelsea aren't exactly on the ropes here but it hasn't been a great start. It's an odd thing to say in a final, but they need to quieten the crowd. Good luck with that, gentlemen. It may not be September/October, but I suspect there's been a Munich Beer Festival today.
3 min "If you're looking for great European teams to miss out on winning the Champions League, how about Arsenal 2002-04?" says Andrew Enloe. "Not winning the Champions League is in fact the one mark against their greatness." That's true, although unlike Chelsea they didn't even get close to winning it. That's why I left out Ferguson's first great Man Utd side as well. (Personally I think Arsenal 97-99 were better than 02-04, but that's another story.)
2 min Schweingsteiger is booked for a deliberate handball. That was utterly needless, because he was 70 yards from his own goal. It was just an instinctive motion, but he might regret it later tonight.
2 min An early free kick from Robben, deep on the right, is headed clear by Bosingwa. The game has started as we expected, with Bayern having plenty of the ball.
1 min Chelsea kick off from left to right. They are in blue; Bayern are in red.
7.44pm There is a stonking atmosphere, as there always is at German grounds. It's spine-bothering stuff.
7.43pm The players are lined up on the field now. Jose Bosingwa waves at solmeone in the crowd. Most of the players have their business face on. Ryan Bertrand looks pretty calm. There's no sign of Karl Power.
7.41pm Sky's Geoff Shreeves has been around both dressing rooms to remind both sets of players that everybody they know someday will die, and now the players are in the tunnel. Bayern are in red, Chelsea in blue. On the field, a swarthy man with spectacularly moist hair is belting out a tune.
7.40pm In a parallel universe, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are studiously avoiding eye contact in a tunnel in Munich.
7.39pm I'm going to go on a journey to the coffee machine. Why don't you pour yourself a drink of Inhibition Obliterator? We're six minutes away from the greatest club game on earth.
7.37pm "Hey Holmes," waddups JR in Illinois. "Being a U.S. of A-er I use and appreciate many of y'alls words/phrases from over there. Not a lot of them have made it over here. Unfortunately one of the ones that has is one that I just cannot abide: 'spot on'. If you use it: fine. If an American uses it: no good. I also dislike a phrase used over here that means the same thing: on point. Do you use that one over there?" Only when it's time to rock a funky joint.
7.35pm "Would Roberto Di Matteo be the nicest manager to win the Champions League?" says Ethan Dean-Richards. "Normally only vicious types grab it – Mourinho, Ferguson and even Guardiola aren't smiley like Robbie." Er, hello? Johan Cruyff? Actually Ancelotti is very nice. You have to love a man who uses his autobiography to detail a habit of staring at his fadass in the mirror.
7.31pm Roberto Di Matteo is asked whether playing Ryan Bertrand is a risk. "No, he's fine," he says. "He's a composed guy." He looks very calm and is answering Gabriel Clarke's questions with an almost playful smile. He really is a dude, isn't he.
7.30pm "Remarkably generous appraisal of this Chelsea team: 'a great team...brilliant and enduring'," says Robert Elison. "But come on, like all true-blooded patriotic Englishmen, you want Bayern to win, right?"
Well yes, but that's mainly because of thunderous man-crushes on Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller and indeed Germany. But I don't particularly want Chelsea not to win. It does feel as if negative attitudes towards Chelsea have softened a fair bit in the last month. There are a number of possible reasons for that: the manner of the win over Barcelona; the decency of Di Matteo; the realisation that this is their last chance and that they really have been a bloody fantastic team; and, perhaps, the absence of John Terry.
7.20pm On ITV, Adrian Chiles apologises for his imminent use of a stereotype – and then shows that forewarned is not forearmed by informing us that the Bayern chant with "Teutonic efficiency". There's a rumour that one of them has been caught eating a Bratwurst as well.
It's abundantly clear that anybody who uses the phrase "on a journey" should be banged up for a not insignificant stretch. But what other words and phrases warrant a sentence of the custodial variety? I'll start with the obvious open goal: chillax.
Talking of David Cameron, he's been busy caught saying something or other about John Terry. The country's got 99 problems and, while some would argue John Terry is one, it'd probably be better if Cameron focused on the other 98.
Team news That drum-and-bass track you can hear in Munich is Ryan Bertrand's heartbeat: he has been included in the Chelsea team and will make his European debut, in a Champions League final, playing out of position. I wouldn't ordinarily encourage use of the word 'wow', but, well, wow! That might be the bravest decision in top-level football since somebody last made eye contact with Roy Keane.
Bertrand's primary role will be to help Ashley Cole against Arjen Robben and Philipp Lahm. The rest of the Chelsea side is as expected, with Gary Cahill and David Luiz both fit to start. Well, they start. Toni Kroos drops into a deeper midfield role for Bayern alongside the majestic, man-lovable Bastian Schweinsteiger, so Thomas Muller will play behind Mario Gomez.
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1) Neuer; Lahm, Boateng, Tymoschuk, Contento; Schweinsteiger, Kroos; Robben, Muller, Ribery; Gomez.
Subs: Butt, Van Buyten, Petersen, Olic, Rafinha, Usami, Pranjic.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Cech; Bosingwa, Luiz, Cahill, Cole; Mikel, Lampard; Kalou, Mata, Bertrand; Drogba.
Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Romeu, Torres, Malouda, Ferreira, Sturridge.
Referee: Pedro Proenca (Portugal)
Preamble Everyone's on a journey these days. Detailed imaginary research shows that the phrase "on a journey" is used 1724 per cent times more in the iAge than it was in the 20th century. It's most prevalent on reality TV shows, with presenters and judges putting on their Gravitas Face as they talk about the journey undertaken by the show's stars. (That journey in full: a return ticket from anonymity to Heat magazine.)
If you want a real spiritual journey, try Chelsea's attempt to win the European Cup. Let me assure you, this, like any other story worth telling, is all about obsession. It began on Wednesday 13 August 2003, when they won 2-0 away to Zilina in the qualifying round, their first European match after Roman Abramovich's takeover. Eidur Gudjohnsen scored the first; Michal Drahno scored an own goal; Juan Veron flounced around imperiously. This was the team in full:
Cudicini; Johnson, Desailly, Terry, Bridge; Geremi, Veron, Lampard, Duff; Gudjohnsen, Forssell.
Subs: Huth, Melchiot, Gronkjaer, J Cole, C Cole, Ambrosetti, Hasselbaink.
Eight managers, 3193 days, 101 games and around £600m later, they face Bayern Munich in the final tonight. This is their last chance to secure the legacy they crave – and the legacy they deserve. It's hard to recall the last time a side as brilliant and enduring as this Chelsea team failed to win the European Cup. The late 1980s Real Madrid perhaps?
Chelsea's courtship of the European Cup has been so heartbreaking and apparently ill-fated as to make Scotland and the World Cup – not to mention Heathcliff and Cathy – seem like they lived happily ever after. It's been a litany of misfortune and near misses. There was infamous tinkering and an unseen handball against Monaco in 2004; the ghost goal and Eidur Gudjohnsen's injury-time miss in 2005; the penalty shoot-out at Anfield in 2007; THE penalty shoot-out in Moscow in 2008; the 47 clear penalties that were not given by Tom Henning Øvrebo before Andres Iniesta's injury-time decider in 2009. Five semi-finals in six years, including one final; no medals and umpteen regrets.
When Chelsea were quietly beaten before the semi-finals by Internazionale and Manchester United in 2010 and 2011, it seemed that time was up for a great team, and that the European Cup was destined to be the one that got away. Then something perverse happened. Since the second leg against Napoli in February, Fate has been whispering all sorts of filthy promises in Chelsea's ear. The manner of their victories over Napoli, Benfica and particularly Barcelona has created an increasing sense that this is their year. If nothing else, a win tonight would ensure Gary Neville's goalgasm was not in vain.
The trouble is, that duplicitous wench Fate has been giving Bayern Munich an equally strong come-on. They too have unfinished business in this tournament, having lost the final to Jose Mourinho two years ago; they also have a powerful sense of destiny, fuelled by a sensational semi-final victory over Mourinho and the long-standing knowledge that the final would be played in Munich. Bayern could become the first side to win the competition on their own ground since Internazionale in 1965. Either they will win their fifth European Cup, or Chelsea will win their first.
Kick off is at 7.45pm. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
