For a team to be successful in Football world, the two most important qualities that a team should possess are consistency and stability. Consistency in team results and stability in management is what it takes to be at the top. One of the best examples of this being Sir Alex Ferguson, who won Barclays Premier League same number of times as Arsenal i.e; 13 titles. This year in Champions League when the semi-final draws were out, many of the fans expressed that Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are going to make it to finals. Dortmund made it to finals and now, we have an all German final which will be an absolute delight for the world.
Dortmund 5-2 Bayern | Boateng conceding mistakes at the back
There are many questions which people raise at this point of time. How Bayern Munich performs so consistently in Champions League? How Dortmund managed to make it to finals after their group stage elimination last year? After having spent €458.5 million on the entire squad, how Real Madrid have failed to make it to finals thrice with Dortmund having spent less than Kaka's transfer fees on the entire squad going through in first attempt itself? Are Bayern going to win it this time? So many interesting questions to answer. Are Bayern and Dortmund the deserved finalists? Yes. How? Much needed transitions in their squad compared to previous year were done. Better strategies, improved game play and quality of attack has been increased in both teams.
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich signed Dante, Mario Mandzukic and Javi Martinez this season to reinforce their defence and to buy a backup striker. After Gomez's injury, Mandzukic stepped up to the occasion and now he is preferred over Gomez. What makes Bayern different with these signings? Jerome Boateng is a player who concedes goals more because of his mistakes and a team certainly cannot afford to have a defender of that sort. Usually, the defenders are a wall. The defence gives confidence to the entire team. The titles are won with better defence. With the addition of Dante, he has been one of the best bargains this season. His performances have been brilliant with the team having involved in more than 25 clean sheets this season and receiving a call from Brazilian National Team. Mandzukic has scored 15 goals this term and he is having his best season ever. People questioned Javi Martinez's signing at Bayern. Is he worth it? I'd say yes. Bayern's pressing game breaks down opposition's game play. What Martinez and Schweinsteiger do is, they pick a wing to press along with full backs if opposition comes from either of the left wing or right wing or one of them presses forward and other stays in his position when the opposition attacks from centre. This is where Bayern have improved at in midfield. Bayern's wingers and attacking midfielders constantly add pressure on opposition by pressing them as soon as they lose the ball possession. In attack, when one of their player starts moving ahead let's say Ribery, they make sure atleast either of Robben or Muller starts taking runs on the other side. Now, if 2 defenders charge on Ribery, he will make a pass to Robben and Muller by that time makes run ahead and 2 on 1 situation helps Bayern to score.
Jupp Heynckes before the Juventus game said, "I slept with the Old Lady last night." Surely meant that he had done a lot of research on Juve. Heynckes' strategies went perfect. He suggested his players to go for long shooting and attacking from right wing i.e; Robben's side where there was more possibility of getting a goal. Crossing wouldn't have been the solution because Juve's defenders have good aerial abilities. Now their strategy to stop Juve from scoring was to keep Vidal and Pirlo quiet. Pirlo was pressed by Schweinsteiger the entire match and Vidal was hardly given any space during the match, this is how Juve's scoring chances were blocked completely. Their semi-final opponents were Barcelona. One of the weak points of Barcelona is set pieces and their full backs being way ahead when Barcelona loses possession. Bayern cracked their weak point in both the legs and scored goals by set pieces and by counter over the course of two legs. Barcelona were particularly very dull throughout the match because of Bayern's constant pressing on Messi and Iniesta.
This clearly shows that Bayern Munich break down opposition's attack and their creativity by pressing 2-3 most important players and use oppositions' weakness to their advantage to score.
This Bayern side needs to be a little careful during the corners. They've been complacent quite a lot of times when they've conceded by corners. Bayern either needs to concede as few corners as possible or they have to tactically improve their marking during the corners.
Borussia Dortmund
A team which won only once out of six group fixtures last year have remained undefeated in this year's CL and have made it to finals answering everyone who ever doubted their capabilities. Dortmund have clearly been the 'Underdogs' right from the Group of Death and the way they've progressed in such a short span of time is astonishing. The youth project has paid off. The efforts have paid off. Keeping a cap on salary at the start has paid off. Klopp's work on this team has paid off. This is why many people would want Borussia Dortmund to win this year. The foundation roots of their project is solely based on Youth, they continue to manufacture more and more. When Nuri Sahin departed for Real Madrid, they got Ilkay Gundogan. When Shinji Kagawa left for Manchester United, Mario Gotze stepped up to the occasion. Their youth academy is going to produce more and more wonderkids just because they've invested at the right place. Imagine if all these wonderkids stay at this club and play for the club forever, we could actually see the rise and domination of Dortmund similar to Bayern's during 70s.
What have Dortmund done to set themselves apart from Spanish giants? They play together as a team, they defend together as a team. When Dortmund move forward, atleast 3-4 players move along together. That means a lot of options and you need options when you're upfront. The players take their man and make sure they don't lose their marking that easily. The difference makers in this team are Gundogan, Reus, Gotze and Lewandowski. Gundogan is as clean as a whistle when it comes to interceptions having received 4 yellow cards this season and no red cards having featured in 28 games this season. He can create space for himself and initiate the attack by passing the ball ahead even having marked by 2 players. His passing accuracy and his positioning sense has impressed Loew as well as he received a call from German National Team and scored a goal in one of the matches. Gotze and Reus constantly keep on changing wings so as to create more and more impact and their pinpoint crossing with Lewandowski seems to have got them many goals this season this way. Reus' pace upfront is a nightmare for many defenders, he can easily outpace any player and score. Gotze will be a big miss for Dortmund in this match. Dortmund look for that space in the final third and Lewandowski takes a run in that direction and pass is made and they score goals, their another plan. Lewandowski has scored 24 goals this season, 4 of them coming against Real Madrid. Linked with almost all the big clubs, Lewandowski is a typical finisher. Give him the ball upfront and a goal can be assured. They are good in scoring from corners because of aerial threat possessed by some of their players.
Dortmund sometimes need to improve more on offside traps and personal errors. They concede way too many goals because of that. If Dortmund wants to win the finals tonight, they need to maintain their lead as they haven't been able to on big occasions.
This all German final is definitely going to be thrilling, high quality football and of course, a great game of Football.
