There isn’t much you can do when you create the best scoring chances, open up the biggest holes and outplay your opponent brilliantly, but the ball refuses to go in the net.

It is especially depressing when 83 minutes of hard work produce a single, much-deserved goal that’s canceled out by one good effort by your opponents five minutes later. That’s what several years of team building work gets you?

Bayern beat itself, it didn’t get defeated. Those costly misses by Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez prevented the better side from winning, as those misses by Lionel Messi sunk FC Barcelona in the semi-finals.

The best two teams in Europe remain FC Bayern and FC Barcelona.  I’m not going to give credit to Chelsea for the way it played. I love football too much for that. They didn’t play a masterful game as Inter Milan did in 2010.

For the future, I hope that a certain Shaqiri earns his spot as a starter on the right wing. Robben sucked so much energy out of FC Bayern this year. Competition would make him more humble.

As a last word, I feel especially bad for Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was freaked out before taking the penalty that sealed the loss. For the first time of his life, he didn’t come up big to save the day. And he’s lost three big finals since 2008. It looks like the ghosts of Michael Ballack have latched on to him.

We’ll talk again during the Euro. I still have to see whether I will blog here, or at a friend’s Euro blog. Tschüss.

Don’t try to fool yourself. Bayern’s season is hanging by a thread. Victory in the Champions League final at home on Saturday against Chelsea justifies the glorious gold stripes on our shirts. A loss means two seasons in a row without a single trophy.

The introduction is harsh, but it shows how important it is for the favorites to make this final a historic first of the competition.

Suspended players
Bayern: Luiz Gustavo (DM), David Alaba (LB), Holger Badstuber (CB)
Chelsea: John Terry (CB), Branislav Ivanovic (CB), Ramires (AM), Raul Meireles (M)

Chelsea, the wild card that plays the trap

Incredibly enough, FCB faces an opponent that is very similar to Inter Milan in the 2010 final. We are talking about a Chelsea club that thrived on negative tactics when survival was at stake against a superior footballing powerhouse (Barcelona).

What scares me the most is how Roberto Di Matteo saved that squad from near-death experience, to restore some European glory. His sense of organization is amazing, having built it back when he was still playing sweeper.

When needed, he employed a tactic that is well known to anybody who is familiar with ice hockey. We call it the trap. Set up a line or wall of players at the most important penetration point of the defensive midfield, and “cut” the offense short.

When executed with discipline, by athletic players with a good sense of position, it is a deadly tactic. Almost all attempts to go through are doomed to fail. Barcelona experienced it, although you can blame the crossbar and bad luck for their semi-final loss.

I expect Chelsea to play their trap on Saturday. They cannot afford to keep possession against FCB and they know it. They will rather try to surprise our weakened backline with counterattacks.

However, Chelsea has its own defensive problems. John Terry, will not be around because he is on red card suspension. He should be replaced by an impressive David Luiz.

Meireles, a solid defensive midfielder, will also be unable to contribute because of his own suspension. Defender Branislav Ivanovic will also be sorely missed because he does well in challenges.

With the trap, the collective position work remains more important than individual skills. Di Matteo may find the way to compensate with talents such as midfielder Michael Essien.

If the blues can find ways to counter, they have a few extremely dangerous weapons to do so.

The versatile midfielder Frank Lampard is the first that comes to mind. He has a wicked shot, both in open play and from set pieces. Attacking midfielder Daniel Sturridge, another Englischer, dribbles well and sends dangerous long shots or headers. Don’t leave him too much space.

Then, striker Didier Drogba is one of those strong men who play the ball very well in the air. Often seen as an underdog, he has scored important goals and survived in Chelsea since 2004. His colleague Fernando Torres has recently found the back of the net again.

Without Ramires, an expert dribbler, that counterattack loses some of its punch.

My main worry is elsewhere. The most needed defenders for Chelsea will be playing. Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa will be on duty to work on the flanks, trying to stop Ribéry and Robben from forming the double wing threat with the help of their midfield.

Bayern, shuffling the cards and using the middle

For the above reasons, I believe that FC Bayern has to focus on winning this game from the middle of the pitch. This is where the blues will be weaker.

Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben will certainly have to deal with plenty of opposition when they attack. How they can set up the Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos/Thomas Müller and Mario Gomez may have more importance than their own scoring chances. Gomez could have more space than usual to operate.

The exception to the above paragraph is that Arjen Robben is very dangerous when cutting in from the right wing, setting up all sorts of possible angles in the middle.

There are, however, huge holes in our own defense. Imagine having Holger Badstuber suspended, without Luiz Gustavo to replace him because he also was carded. Badstuber is the best central defender the team had in years. Gustavo is a certified ball winner with pace and endurance.

This means that Bayern should choose between Daniel van Buyten and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk in central defense. Both have less speed than their colleagues. While Van Buyten has had a pretty good first half, he has barely recovered from months of injury. On the other hand, Timo has problems playing central defense because he is clearly out of position. Whoever starts alongside Jerome Boateng will be a bit of a risk.

David Alaba’s suspension makes things more complicated at left-back, because he does a good job defensively and adds massive firepower on the left wing.

It forces Jupp Heynckes to choose between this:

- Lahm at right-back, Contento (unproven) at left-back
- Rafinha (not safe) at right-back, Lahm at left-back

My bet would be on the first combination since it is more conservative defensively. This limits options in attack since Contento and Ribéry aren’t the most natural pair.

Jupp Heynckes could force Rafinha to play his most defensive game of the year instead of lurking around the attack. If this works, then we have the best possible combination with Lahm on the left. When Rafinha really does focus on his defensive duties, he is hard to beat. The problem is that he did it only for a handful of games.

Why didn’t I talk about the potential impact of the loss against Dortmund a week ago? Because Bayern is more comfortable against its European opponents. It is a simple fact of life. Against Chelsea, tactics are more important.

At home, the 12th player should make a difference. When push comes to shove, the reds will prevail over the blues. The most important reason is that Bayern is an improved team. It is the same challenge than in 2010, with a better, more proactive and adaptive squad.

Let’s win that fifth European title and establish Die Bayern as the benchmark!

The 6 foot 4 figure is still young in keeper terms, aged 31. He had 8 clean sheets last season, in a team that allowed 1.38 goal per game.

I could write a long piece to explain how good Starke is. A video will describe it better, so here it is:

And the result of the meltdown is below.

This one is for pride. Having lost four times in a row against Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern will want to beat them on Saturday at 14:00 (20:00 in Germany) in order to prove that they are more worthy of silverware.

Having previewed the Dortmund weaknesses that should be exploited previously, which still apply, I thought I would turn to readers on Twitter to ask them what they thought were deciding factors. I like the answers enough to bring them here.

Willpower

@fcbayerncentral ~ How badly Bayern actually want it.

— Matthew Leach (@MatthewHLeach) May 10, 2012

That is absolutely right. I had the chance to talk about this in previous matchups and I believe it will determine the outcome of the game. When FCB last faced Dortmund, it wasn’t playing its own game and decidedly not confident to win. In comparison, the Champions League semi against Real Madrid showed the other side of the coin: a Bayern that fights to the finish. If we see that on Saturday, I’m not worried.

Midfield battle

@fcbayerncentral The midfield duel: Kehl-Gundogan VS Schweinsteiger-Kroos.

— Luis Cristofini (@luiscristofini) May 10, 2012

It is true that in a big game, whose midfield controls the action/creates the deciding plays normally wins. This is where I have a bit of a worry. This week, Bastian Schweinsteiger admitted to having problems with his ankle, which means he is not playing with 100% of his strength. Toni Kroos will have a lot to say in the result.

Pressure game

@fcbayerncentral Dortmunds press coverage will be the biggest factor.#Bayern need an early goal.

— David Faidley (@DavidFaidleyJr) May 10, 2012

Nothing was more annoying than seeing the boys losing the ball while Dortmund was pressing, handing them counterattacking occasions. It happened too many times to too many teams.

The solution to that is within Bayern’s reach: more lateral movement. Running to the side and using the whole width of the pitch are vital to keeping the ball and opening space.

Arjen Robben

@fcbayerncentral ~ Which Robben shows up. He’s had some not so great moments in some big games. Here’s hoping he can put his chances away.

— Alles FC Bayern (@AllesFCBayern) May 11, 2012

In the last few matches against Dortmund, Robben was not a force. The yellow guys found ways to stop him and our double wing threat was greatly diminished. No. 10 needs to show up with a nice performance because he can decide a game with a play or two.

Duh

@fcbayerncentral scoring more goals than the opposition. Because I really wanted to be that guy.

— Alex Edema (@alexedema) May 10, 2012

I guess this guy gets the last word, right?

Would it be a good idea? Perhaps.

As many of you probably know, Giroud is similiar to Mario Gomez in playing style, with an added dose of agility. He also is a very good scorer, who dominates the Ligue 1 (the French championship) with 21 goals.

The problem for a man like him is that Gomez is one of the best strikers in the world. Anybody playing in the same position has to accept being in second place. He accepts that. Now, in a normal situation, that isn’t so bad. With Gomez in front of you, however, this means you play very little! Ask Ivica Olic. Seeing little action can hurt your productivity.

On the other hand, Giroud’s similarity in style is a big argument to bring him to München.

He fits in the current system, where the striker has to be ruthless when fed with quality service, mostly from the wings. His colleagues open up the scoring chances, he puts them away with physical play, a nose for goal and heading skills.

With Giroud as a second man, you can replace Gomez if he has one of his bad days, without disturbing the game plan. It also means you can afford to rest Gomez a bit more often without worries… therefore minimizing the fatigue that brings bad days. That’s a winning formula to me.

In addition, Giroud is clear about his eagerness to join FCB. I like that attitude. Bring him!

With leagues in the rest of Europe agonizing as well, we take a moment to look at Dortmund and Chelsea in the Bundesliga and the FA Cup final. Dortmund saw away the Bundesliga with a 4:0 victory over Freiburg, while Chelsea attained the FA Cup title narrowly defeating a rather passive Liverpool side by 2:1.

Chelsea – Liverpool

The FA Cup final starred two unlikely teams, given the Manchester domination this season in England. United eliminated City and Liverpool eliminated United, eventually yielding this interesting fixture for the oldest competition in football history. Liverpool’s season has been a satisfying one, having already attained the League Cup against Cardiff in an agonic 2:2 game that ended up being decided on penalties, where Liverpool’s Premier League class finally prevailed. As for Chelsea, they are still patching up André Villas-Boas’ disastrous tenure, struggling to put themselves in Champions League spots to qualify for next season’s tournament.

Roberto Di Matteo assembled his finest men for the task, putting together a 4-2-3-1 that focused a bit more on ball possession than his previous games against Barcelona and Arsenal. He opted to have more pace and ultimately press in Liverpool’s territory. Cech sat in goal; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry and Cole made up the back four; Lampard and Obi Mikel lined up in defensive midfield; Ramires, Mata and Kalou lined up in offensive midfield; with Drogba as striker.

Liverpool manager Kenny Daglish also made use of his prime squad, but lined up a 4-5-1 to hold back the double midfield line assembled by Di Matteo, with Pepe Reina in goal; José Enrique, Agger, Skrtel and Johnson in the back; Downing, Gerard, Spearing, Henderson and Bellamy in the middle; with Suárez as striker. Daglish wanted to create a wall to contain Chelsea’s faster midfield, and also wanted to add speed of his own, with Bellamy and Spearing leading offensive incursions. Suárez, well, is Suárez and Daglish is never likely to leave him out in such a game.

The game saw the sides struggling to get over the other and attain control of the passage of play and the ball, with neither of them really succeeding at this, but rather making good use of the ball when they had it. Liverpool saw a bit more of the ball, with 52% possession, and this was translated into a few more chances for them (9 shots on target for them, 7 for Chelsea).

The corner count was heavily biased, with Liverpool being granted 7 and Chelsea having just one. In a rare note, none of the teams used all three of their substitutions, each manager opting for using two, perhaps saving one sub in anticipation for a possible extra 30 minutes which could have come in the last part of the game had the referee conceded a goal for Downing after a header. The ball did not actually cross the goal line entirely, and the referee was right. In the end, Chelsea’s 11th and 52nd minute goals, combined with holding back the heavy Liverpool attacks, were enough to win them the game and the FA Cup.

Goals
1:0 – Ramires (11′)
2:0 – Drogba (52′)
2:1 – Carroll (64′)

Borussia Dortmund – SC Freiburg

The bumblebees played their last game of the Bundesliga at their own Signal-Iduna Park to a comfortably-avoiding-relegation Freiburg side that is already thinking about next season’s Bundesliga to maybe aim for Europa League spots, however far-fetched that may seem for them. Dortmund, on the other hand, wanted to get the game over with to go on and receive the Bundesliga trophy they won two weeks before the end of the season.

The home crowd really did not attend the stadium for the game, which was really a time-consuming bureaucratic affair as far as they were concerned. Thus, Dortmund came out in a relaxed state of mind. What was impressive was that even with that, they sealed the game in the first half with a score of 4:0

Yellow boss Jurgen Klopp did use his traditional strong 4-2-3-1 formation, with Wiedenfeller in goal; Real Madrid-bound Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels and Schmelzer in the back; Gündogan and Kehl in defensive midfield; Blaszczykowski, Kagawa and Großkreutz in offensive midfield; with Lewandowski as striker. Klopp pulled out his traditional high pressure and possession team to dismiss the game as soon as he could. Dortmund were no mystery in this game: they wanted to win it as soon as they could and then focus on waiting to be handed the trophy at the end. .

Freiburg, on the other hand were slightly brave and made a slight change to the lineup used in the previous matchday against poor poor Köln, in which they used a 4-2-3-1, and instead lined up a 4-4-1-1 squad made to create a short-circuit in Dortmund’s two-pronged midfield and try to create some possession play of their own, making their wingers run a few meters ahead of the midfield line when in possession to enhance the team’s attacking potential. So it was a dynamic display for Freiburg, at least on paper. They wanted to be 4-2-2-1-1 when in possession and revert to 4-4-1-1 when defending to prevent any unfortunate goals against. Thus, Batz lined up in goal; Sorg, Höhn, Ginter and Mujdza in the back; Caliguri, Makiadi, Guede and Schmid in the middle; Rosenthal as offensive pivot (half-point); and Freis as striker. The latter two could also create a line of their own to try to create spaces behind Dortmund’s centre backs.

See, Freiburg’s tactics were good on paper. But on the field they turned out to be disaster. Dortmund’s double midfield managed to break the 4-man middle line created by Freiburg, which at times was broken by the players themselves. The wingers often failed to retreat to defend either side, allowing Blaszczykowski and Großkreutz to open play and be even more proficient in attack. This proved fatal for Freiburg. Blaszczykowski and Lewandowski scored braces apiece, sealing the game before the halftime whistle had blown. From then on, Dortmund clocked away the game, retaining possession and putting Freiburg in utter despair.

The champions finished the season in style. With 4:0 win in their home field and a trophy to account for it. It serves as a warning for the Pokal final next Saturday. Still, it is too bad they made fools of themselves in Europe. That speaks for itself, with Bayern in the Champions League Final.

Goals
1:0 – Blaszczykowski (5′)
2:0 – Lewandowski (20′)
3:0 – Lewandowski (27′)
4:0 – Blaszczykowski (37′)

Goalkeeping

Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München)
Marc-André ter Stegen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)
Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Defence

Holger Badstuber (FC Bayern München)
Jerome Boateng (FC Bayern München)
Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04)
Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)
Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München)
Per Mertesacker (FC Arsenal)
Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfield

Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen)
Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund)
Julian Draxler (FC Schalke 04)
Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund)
Ilkay Gündogan (Borussia Dortmund)
Sami Khedira (Real Madrid)
Toni Kroos (FC Bayern München)
Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München)
Mesut Özil (Real Madrid)
Lukas Podolski (FC Köln)
Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München)

Offence

Cacau (VfB Stuttgart)
Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München)
Miroslav Klose (Lazio Roma)

The official lineup page is at the German federation site.

FC Bayern finishes the season on a positive note, defeating FC Köln 4:1. Sadly, hooligans threw at least one smoke bomb at the end of the match, calling riot police into action.

This result, combined with a Hertha Berlin win, confirms Köln’s relegation in the 2. Bundesliga.

Much of the action was end-to-end, Köln taking chances and having to deal with many Bayern counterattacks. The boys played badly in defense, but very well in offense. There was a lot of space to maneuver on both sides.

Hooligans ruined the chance for Lukas Podolski to get a decent farewell. Their smoke bomb prevented anything like a normal end of season, with riot police taking over the pitch to prevent things from getting out of hand. Schade.

FC Köln now has a sporting crisis to deal with. Let’s hope that their management sorts it out.

Let’s hope that Michael Rensing goes to a real football club. Having seen his Bayern career ruined by the incompetence of Jürgen Klinsmann, he deserves to play with a winning team and to fight for European footie.

Goals

1:0 Thomas Müller goes forward on the left of the box, controls a bouncing cross from Ribéry and beats Rensing to the near post (34′)
2:0 Geromel scores an own-goal, assisted by Ribéry (52′)
3:0 On the left, Kroos sends a very pretty low cross to Robben, who puts the ball in the upper left of the goal (54′)
3:1 Two Bayern defenders were late on the play allowing Podolski to send a cross to Novakovic, who tipped the ball in (63′)
4:1 To the right of the net, Müller receives a nice pass from Rafinha on his right, and he backheels it in (85′)

Yellow cards

Schweinsteiger, Peszko

Lineups

FC Bayern (4-2-3-1) : Neuer – Lahm, Tymoshchuk, Boateng, Contento – Schweinsteiger, Kroos (Alaba 69′) – Robben (Rafinha 75′), Müller, Ribéry (Badstuber 71′) – Gomez

Bench: Butt, Pranjic, Petersen, Olic

FC Köln (4-2-3-1) : Rensing – Brecko, Geromel, McKenna, Eichner – Lanig (Buchtmann 69′), Pezzoni – Riether, Jajalo (Novakovic 46′), Peszko – Podolski