By Darren Walsh
Once again in a final, Arjen Robben has a one on one chance. And once again, he misses, with Weidenfeller spreading himself well. He could have passed as well if he so chose. Knowing him, it probably never entered his head.
Another one on one as Lewandowski is through, but Neuer is out quick to block the low shot.
Robben can cross first time to Mandzukic, but dallies and is eventually blocked. At this rate of profligacy he’ll be tied up by his team mates and left in the changing room at half time. He only wanted to shoot by pulling it back onto his left and never considered the pass.
Marco Reus is making some brilliant runs and is showing that Gotze won’t be too badly missed. All I can mark him down for negatively is his hair.
Again Robben should score, but bullets his effort from close range into Weidenfeller’s face. No composure from the Dutchman.
Phew, it’s halftime. I need a break more than the players.
It’s all a bit more edgy and careful in the second half, as if the teams have realised what they’re playing for.
Ribery draws three defenders to him to let Robben get free and he crosses for Mandzukic to tap in. The Croatian seems to get a nipple twister from Robben in the ensuing celebrations, while we see Mario Gotze in the crowd looking unsure of what emotion he should be projecting.
We already knew that Dortmund normally concede a goal; however they almost always score, to paraphrase a Clive Tyldesley quote.
Jurgen Klopp doesn’t look quite so happy now, in fact with the face he makes it looks like he’s lost his top set of teeth as he bellows at anyone nearby.
Penalty appeal for Dortmund; looked to be a foul but was outside the area.
But this one is! A foul by Dante on Reus and Gundogan steps up to fire into the right hand corner. Mario Gotze doesn’t hide anything now, as he broadly grins and high fives with assorted people.
Dortmund summed up in one attack: Mats Hummels makes a block on the edge of his own area and charges forward to receive an infield pass. Unfortunately his shot doesn’t match the quality of his defensive work.
Munich are through as Muller rounds the keeper wide of the goal and crosses for Robben to tap in. Subotic however wants it more and wraps his foot around it to deny the Dutchman. If Robben really went for it, he would have reached it first.
Whistle goes for handball while Lewandowski plays on, hitting a worldie into the far corner. Oh well.
Not quite as clever from the Polish striker as he stamps down on Boateng’s ankle, leaving him writhing in pain. If the ref sees it it’s a clear red card.
“Into Ivanovic/Watson time now.” First time that Ben Watson has ever been mentioned in conjunction with the Champion’s League.
Muller miskicks from a low Lahm cross, but it rolls nicely for Schweinsteiger who belts it; once again Weidenfeller beats it away. The Dortmund keeper is having the best game by a stopper in a European final since Helmuth Duckadam.
After 24 shots in Champion’s League finals with no goals, Arjen Robben eventually gets it right as he finds himself 6 yards from goal and he beats Weidenfeller with a quick shot.
The three injury time minutes are up; if Bayern weren’t bringing on Gomez the full time whistle would have gone.
Emotional celebrations from Munich, not surprising after the shoeing that they’ve taken over the last 12 months. From the German media? Of course. From me and numerous Spurs fans? Undoubtedly.
Munich walk up the Wembley steps; Heynckes looks put out by the number of them, as he finds another flight to go up when he gets to the top of one.
Each player lifts the cup after captain Philipp Lahm; Muller sets himself apart from the group as he sits on Manuel Neuer’s shoulders for his turn. To be fair to him, he’s done more to win the cup than David May did for Man United in 1999.
They’re on the pitch now showing the cup to the fans; John Terry has just tried to run onto the field in full Munich kit but has been rugby tackled by security guards.
Ok, we didn’t see it but it PROBABLY happened.
One man who has made it into the team picture is Kurt Cobain. No wait, that’s Andriy Tymoshchuk.
Once again ITV cut off a manager’s interview, though Klopp isn’t really going anywhere with his comments. We haven’t heard from anyone from Munich.
So the best team throughout the competition has won, while the hipster’s favourite has done itself proud. After two final losses in three years, Munich have gotten it right. Now it’s up to Pep Guardiola to repeat this success next year. No pressure, Pep.
