It won’t be an all-Spanish Champions League final after all.
Barcelona and Real Madrid were outright favourites to make it to the Munich final on 19 May, but football is beautiful because it can spring some surprises. In this respect, Chelsea and Bayern Munich staged memorable upsets to book their place to contest for the most lucrative club trophy in Europe.
They did their job differently.
Chelsea realised that to stop Barcelona they needed to strengthen their defence and allow little access to Barcelona in their penalty area. The Catalans played their possession game all the way, but it was as remarkable as it was sterile. And when things went wrong, they did not change their tactics.
They continued to try to break through into the box, finding walls of defenders blocking their way. It happened in Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea then breaking away to score a solitary goal to give them a first leg advantage, and it happened in the Nou Camp too, as Barcelona were helplessly unable to turn the tables in their favour. Not even by playing for nearly an hour with an extra man.
Barcelona will therefore not be able to defend the title they won last year. No club has succeeded in winning the Champions League twice in a row since Milan did.
For all this, Chelsea coach Roberto di Matteo deserves all the credit. He also deserves to keep his place next season too. It just goes to show that often it is not always a good thing to bring over a manager with a popular name – like Chelsea did with Villas Boas. Di Matteo has shown that he has superior qualities.
The other semi-final was a different story. It was thought that the goal Real Madrid scored in Munich in their 2-1 first leg defeat would have been enough for the Spaniards. But the Germans held on, and not even two quick goals by Real Madrid early in the second leg managed to kill their spirits. They fought on, equalised the aggregate score through a penalty, and held on till the end of extra time to force their way through to the final on penalties.
Real Madrid pays a total of €150 million for Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, but they were among those who missed from the spot. No wonder Jose Mourinho was on his knees. His dream of becoming the first coach to win this competition with three different clubs has to wait.
At least, the Spaniards can console themselves with an all-Spanish final in the Europa League – Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid will play in the final.