Inter Milan versus Bayern Munich – UEFA Champions League: Key battles (Part 1)
Both the teams are laden with superstars. Both the teams know each other inside out. Both the teams know what it takes to win at the highest level of European football.
As Inter Milan and Bayern Munich gear up for another Bavarian-Italian duel, several players on either side have the capability and the skill to turn the tie on its head. Let’s take some time out to shed light on some of the personal duels that are likely
to take place at San Siro on 22nd of February, 2011.
Arjen Robben versus http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Zanetti-c18096
Last season when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan took on Bayern Munich in the pen-ultimate match of the UEFA Champions League, all the focus was on Arjen Robben to steal the show against Jose Mourinho’s Italian outfit.
However, Javier Zanetti, the Argentinean legendary full back produced an immaculate performance to quell the threat posed by the flying Dutchman. In the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League, Arjen Robben was the main man for Bayern.
The ex-Real Madrid man has seen a rejuvenated return to stardom ever since his arrival in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window of 2009.
In a career which has been plagued by injuries more often than not, Robben has done extremely well to establish himself as one of the most feared wingers in international football.
Lately, Arjen played at the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Holland and led his national team to the final match of the tournament. Despite losing the final match in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/South-Africa-c757, Robben was hailed as one of the best players of the tournament.
The ex-Chelsea winger recently made an injury come back for Bayern Munich after spending more than 3 months on the sidelines following a hefty thigh injury in the aftermath of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
As Robben lines up for Bayern at San Siro against Inter Milan, he will be faced by Javier Zanetti. The Argentinean defender is no stranger to big matches.
Last season in the UEFA Champions League, Zanetti pocketed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 when Barcelona played Inter Milan at the semifinal stage of the competition. Inter’s experienced defender is not just an able tackler but he has a wonderful knack of reading the game.
Robben has an advantage over Javier in terms of pace. The Dutch winger is known to be quite a tricky customer when it comes to width play.
Bayern Munich will no doubt look towards Robben when the going gets tough at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Italy. No doubt, Zanetti will have to once again roll back the years and reproduce the performance he did for the Italian champions last year in May at
Santiago Bernabéu.
It is quite possible that Louis Van Gaal will change his wingers midway during the match if things are not going Bayern’s way.
Nonetheless, Van Gaal has shown time and again that he favours the inverted wingers’ trend which is central to how Bayern Munich builds up their attacks by using the full width of the field.
All that remains now is a competition of experience versus ambition, with Javier Zanetti representing the former and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arjen-Robben-c6521 epitomizing the latter. The winner of this faceoff will no doubt define the course of the tie.
In the second part of this featured series, we shall take a look at Wesley Sneijder’s possible duel with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Anatoliy-Tymoshchuk-c5539 in central midfield as the Ukrainian born enforcer is faced with a tough task to stop the ex-Real Madrid playmaker.
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