German powerhouse Bayern Munich will take on Chelsea, a team which has revived under manager http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-c31294 Di Matteo after the departure of Andres Villas Boas earlier this year. The two teams will go head-to-head on Saturday, May 19,
at the Allianz Arena, which is Bayern Munich’s home ground.
Both sides will be looking to avenge their losses at the same stage in recent years and emerge champions this time around. The Blues lost to rivals Manchester United in Moscow in 2009 whereas http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan got the better of Bayern
the next year in Madrid.
Bayern Munich
The Reds started the season brilliantly in all competitions but slipped midway giving Borussia Dortmund the chance to move forward. The Bavarians ended the Bundesliga in second place, four points behind Dortmund, and lost the final
of the DFB-Pokal to the same opposition.
Although the former German champions have had a fairly successful season domestically considering they went all the way in the league and the Cup but the side had certainly saved their best for Europe.
Bayern have been arguably the most impressive team in Europe considering they started the campaign in one of the toughest groups. They had the likes of Manchester City, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Napoli-c40003 and Villarreal to compete and eventually won the group
with ease. Since then, they have put in some impressive showings against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Basel-c39079, Olympique Marseille and Real Madrid.
Chelsea
The English side was recently crowned FA Cup champions after they downed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 and
the club faced a host of problems throughout the course of the campaign.
Roberto Di Matteo’s appointment as interim manager after the departure of Villas Boas has been the turning point as the former West Bromwich Albion boss has revived the team and now they await the Champions League final.
The Blues downed Napoli in the knock-out stage, Benfica in the quarter-final and got the better of reigning champions Barcelona in the last four stage.
Team News
Bayern Munich will miss the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-Van-Buyten-c10095 is also facing a race against time to be fit before the game otherwise Anatoliy
Tymoshchuk will play in the heart of defence.
Chelsea have a similar problem as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Luiz-c10542 will recover from respective hamstring injuries and will start the game in the centre of
defence.
Players to watch
Mario Gomez has been Bayern Munich goal machine this season and the team will expect the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/VfB-Stuttgart-c40879 man to continue with his stunning form. The striker has found the net on 12 occasions in Europe this season and will
be the danger man for Bayern.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Didier-Drogba-c11044 was instrumental in Chelsea’s brilliant victory over defending champions Barcelona in the semi-final stage and the Ivorian will be looking to continue with his sublime form to lead his side to their first ever European
title.
Prediction
Bayern Munich outplayed favourites Real Madrid in the final and were sensational throughout the two legged fixture. On the other hand, Chelsea’s negative tactics against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 have handed them a lot of criticism. Bayern have
arguably been the better team of the two in Europe this season and an added advantage of playing at Allianz Arena would certainly help.
Verdict: Bayern Munich 2-1 Chelsea
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