Okay, the trophy presentation is about to begin now so we’ll sign off. That was a fantastic game to watch, and even if there was an error or two, it was great entertainment. On balance, Bayern maybe shaded it and the finish, via the much-maligned Robben, was sheer class.
Klopp’s team have delighted us all season, and it would have been a fairytale for Dortmund to win it, but after years of near misses it is hard to begrudge Bayern this moment.
Thanks for staying with us for the final and we’ll be back to you for the group stages next season. Good night!
Dunphy now slating Bayern and not putting them in the same class as other recent winners as Inter, Barca or United. Even by his standards, this is bizarre stuff.
Dunphy now saying that it wasn’t a good game, that Bayern are over hyped. Chippy is disagreeing. Good man Liam.
The smile on Robben’s face on the pitch now as they wait for the trophy presentation is one of the broadest we’ve ever seen.
You have to feel for Dortmund, they worked so hard and probably deserved to have another 30 minutes to try and win. But Arjen Robben, after so many fluffed chances, finally got on right, in the final minutes, to win the Champions League for Bayern Munich. What a game and what a finish.
2137:
It’s over, 2-1 Bayern, as I predicted! Delight for Robben and the other Bayern players after all those near misses. Reus is in tears and he was sensational tonight.
Here’s the probable winning goal by Robben…
Dortmund putting it into the mixer now but getting no joy. Last minute…
Dreadful defending by Hummels and Subotic, who get in a tangle, Ribery puts it through for Arjen Robben and the most wasteful player on the picth slots it home deftly for once. After all the misery for him in finals, he celebrated that goal like a lunatic. And we’re into added time… 2-1 Bayern
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT! GOAL! BAYERN! ROBBEN!
Another great passage of play. Lahm slots it across, Muller dummies it and Schweinsteiger leathers it towards goal and Weidenfeller is equal to it. The corner comes to nothing. Thought that was it but the ball was struck too centrally.
No subs used yet. Incredible levels of fitness on show… that or the two managers are so lost in the game they forgot
Bayern starting to dominate possession again. Seven minutes to go. We wouldn’t mind another 30 minutes of this. It has been a sensational game…
This really is a cracking game. Alaba had a fine effort in all the madness that went on there too. We’re 10 minutes away from extra-time and an overtime invoice from me to the boss at JOE Towers…
And here’s the amazing bit of defending from Subotic to prevent Bayern retaking the lead… Superb but we’re blaming Robben for not smashing it home…
Here’s the Gundogan goal…
OH MY MARK II: A Lewandowski effort from about 40 yards goes in but it was called back, correctly, for a handball. SOme game this…
OH MY: What a bit of defending that was from Subotic. Typical strong running Muller sets him free of the defence and around Weidenfeller in a flash. The midfielder sends the ball goalward and it looked to be going in as Robben approached for a tap in but Subotic was much more committed thatn Robben and he cleared the ball off the line and avoided hitting Robben with the clearance. Magnificent stuff but Robben should have been stronger…
And now Dortmund are playing like they did in the opening 20. A fast break, led by Reus, results in a Hummels blast flying just over. Fantastic atmosphere and tempo again.
No card for Dante for the high challenge. Gundogen to take… and he drills it home. GOAL. The midfielder’s first ever goal in the Champions League. What a way to start. Game is now most definitely back on. 1-1 22 to go.
PENALTY TO DORTMUND. Dante takes down Reus. Dante has been booked too. Will he see red?
Now does Klopp change it or does he keep the faith? Bayern are pressing for a second to kill the game now. Huge mountain for Dortmund to climb now, especially as the Bayern bench is so much stronger.
And here’s the opener. That Dortmund defence is finally breached…
After slightly fluffing a shot the big Croat scores the first goal. Ribery plays a super ball that lets Robben loose to the by-line. He drills a low cross in and it pops up for Mandzukic to scoop it home. 1-0 Bayern, 30 minutes to go.
And it was almost a goal. Mandzukic found himself unmarked when the ball fell to him six yards out. He couldn’t get any power into it.
GOAL: Mandzukic
A few niggly fouls creeping in as we approach the hour mark. Some of the players may be getting tired, even with the superb levels of fitness both these sides have. It has been intense stuff.
No clear-cut chances in the second-half so far, though Ribery is finally doing a bit on the left. Bayern corner now and they have been most dangerous from set-pieces
Bayern enjoying a long spell of possession in front of the Dortmund defence. In fairness to Borussia, they defended it very well but they can’t let Bayern spend the second half camped on the edge of their box…
Incredible stat from OPTA:
Arjen Robben in Champions League finals – 24 shots, 0 goal.
That’s just wow…
More of the same so far in the second half. Bayern look solid at the back but struggling to get out of the middle third due to Dortmund’s pressing. Still a fantastic game to watch, especialy if you remember how bad last year’s one was…
Interesting stat here from the Beeb…
Nine of Bayern Munich’s last 10 goals in the Champions League have been scored in the second half
No subs at HT. And we’re off in the second 45…
Eamo now leaning towards Munich. So is Johnny. Hard to disagree with them based on what we saw.
John Giles not impressed with the Dortmund defending and he reckons Munich will eventually take one of these chnaces the yellow and black defence keeps coughing up.
Okay, we’re off for a half-time slice of orange. Back in five…
That’s unfortunate…
And there’s half-time. Dortmund started so well but Bayern came into it by the end of the 45. If Arjen Robben had his shooting boots on, Munich could be two or three up. Finely poised after a pulsating first half that absolutely flew by…
A defensive mix-up sees the ball fall to, you know who, Arjen Robben striaght in front of goal and he looked like he didn’t fancy it. A weak lobbed left-foot effort hits Weidenfeller in the face. ANother chance wasted by the Dutch winger.
Bayern in the ascendancy now. Having lots and lots of joy down their right side. Robben and Muller now stationed there. Schmelzer needs some help. It would be typical if Bayern nicked one just before half-time. 0-0 with 41 minutes gone.
Lovely move by Bayern ends with Muller slipping Robben in. He refuses to cross it with his weaker right and the chance is gone. Honestly, watching Arjen Robben play football might be the most frustrating experience a fan can have…
Now Lewandowski gets in and Neuer was out so fast to close him down and smother the chance. Keepers, plus Reus, have been the best on show so far…
Ray Houghton on RTE saying that Robben could have squared the ball for a team-mate in a better position when that chance fell his way. You’ve seen Robben play before Ray, right?
Somehow the ball spills to Robben and he ends up one-on-one with Wiedenfeller. The keeper does well to block it. Bayern starting to spend more time in the area of the Dortmund penalty box now…
First booking of the game for Dante after he hacks down Reus…
And just as we pressed the update button Mandzukic almost scores. It was well saved by Wiedenfeller but the Croatian should have headed home from six yards out. The resultant corner was also just headed over. Bayern flex their muscles for the first time. Has to be said that Ribery, Robben andMuller have been anonymous so far. They surely can’t remain so invisible for the entire 90 minutes.
Despite the way the game is going, this tweet sums up how we feel…
And now a Bender effort is saved by Neuer. The Bayern stopper has been the busiest Munich player on the bench. Still 0-0 at the midway point of the first half.
Wonderful pass out of defence splits the Bayern rearguard and Reus has a powerful effort that forces a fifth Dortmund corner. Bayern have none so far… Dortmund massively on top so far
Some stats for you after 18 minutes. Dortmund have had 70 per cent of the territory but Munich have had more possession, 66 per cent in fact.
And now a Blaszczykowski snapshot, after a tee up by Reus, forced another save from Neuer. Massive pressure on the Bayern defence at the moment…
Jerome Boateng is having a bit of a ‘mare and Lewandowski just outmuscled him there to get past. Thirty seconds later another chance for Lewandowski forces the first save of the night from Neuer. Lewandowski looks in the mood tonight…
Bayern almost create a chance for Ribery but Dortmund break quicky, through Reus, and a Blaszczykowski shot flies over Neuer’s crossbar.
And we have our first shot of Gotze on the sideline, who will play for Bayern next year. He’s wearing a back-to-front baseball cap…
Very impressive stuff from Dortmund so far. Working very hard to give Bayern no time on the ball. Can they keep it up and will Heynckes twea things to counteract it. Fascinating tactical battle so far.
More classy stuff from Reus but Schmelzer ended up losing the ball out for a goal-kick. Good start by the underdog and the noise from the TV is massive. Atmosphere must be electric in the ground.
First chance. A Reus cross falls to Lewandowski but the Pole’s effort is blocked by Boateng. Corner came to nothing though…
As you might expect, it’s a high-tempo start. Sven Bender with the first foul of the game on Martinez. Dortmund looking to limit the space the Munich midfield get.
Angela Merkel, a big football fan, is at the game too. And the game is on…
The teams are coming out on the pitch now. We’ll have some ball in about three minutes. By the way the referee is Nicola Rizzoli from Italy. He’s an architecht and he got some grief in England for how he reffed the England/France game at Euro 2012. He’s a touch flamboyant so he may be a factor tonight…
Right, it is prediction time here. We would love Dortmund to win as they have been the most entertaining team of the year but based on talent, form, ability and the desire to end a miserable run in finals, we’re going for Bayern. We’ll say 2-1.
The pre-match festivities on the Wembley pitch now seems to be a cross between Braveheart and the Olympic opening ceremony. It’s an odd one. Hurry up and bring on the football!
Steve McLaren talks his way out of the Liverpool job over on the BBC website…
“You talk about the Kop at Liverpool, but it has nothing on the Sudtribune stand at Borussia Dortmund.
“Dortmund are workmanlike, and that is what the fans want to see. Dortmund can do this.”
Over on ITV, Adrian Chiles just declared his ‘man love’ for Klopp. Roy Keane didn’t…
It’s not quite the Yellow Wall, but the Dortmund fans are making their presence felt at Wembley…
Schweinsteiger injury update. He’s grand and will play…
News coming in that Bastian Schweinsteiger is down on the Wembley pitch after a tackle on Mario Mandzukic in the warm-up. If he’s out, that would be a huge loss for Munich. We’ll keep you posted.
And while all the focus has been on the highly entertaining Klopp, spare a thought for the man in the other dugout, Jupp Heynckes. It is his final game in charge and after a long career, a Champions League win would be a great way to sign off.
Oh, and while we’re talking about betting we have to mention that before the tournament began our own Declan Whooley picked Ronaldo to be top scorer and Bayern Munich to win the Champions League. Unless Lewandowski scores three tonight half the bet is secure and and a Bayern win will seal it.
The odds? 66/1. As far is we know Declan didn’t actually back his prediction with cold hard cash but if he doesn’t show up for work in the morning, we reckon we will know why…
As for my own prediction, well the less said about that the better…
Is Jurgen Klopp feeling the pressure before this massive game? That’d be a no…
Time for a quick bettting breakdown on the game.
Dortmund are a very juicy 7/2, while Bayern are odds on to win at 4/5. The draw is 11/4. The lowest price on an exact scoreline is 1-0 to Bayern at 15/2.
For us, the best looking bet is Thomas Muller to score at any time at 15/8.
While we countdown to kick-off you could do a lot worse than have a listen to the frankly brilliant ‘I Wanna Be Like Jurgen Klopp‘.
You won’t regret it
The lads on RTE have started their coverage. Dunphy reckons that the absence of Gotze could be a good thing as it will make Dortmund more defensively solid thanks to the presence of Grosskruetz. Think Eamo is leaning towards a Dortmund win…
Okay, here’s the team news for tonight’s game. No surprises really, though we do wish Mario Gotze was fit. Ah well…
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer, Bender, Gundogan, Blaszczykowski, Reus, Grosskreutz, Lewandowski. Subs: Langerak, Kehl, Leitner, Sahin, Kirch, Schieber, Felipe Santana.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Dante, Alaba, Javi Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Robben, Muller, Ribery, Mandzukic. Subs: Starke, Van Buyten, Shaqiri, Pizarro, Gustavo, Gomez, Tymoschuk.
Hello and welcome to our live blog of the Champions League final.
After thrilling us for close to nine months we’re down the last game of the 2012-13 Champions League. Since September we’ve had arguably the best Champions League ever. From the early exit of the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, to the magic night when Celtic beat Barcelona, to Nani’s red card against Real Madrid to the subsequent demise of Barca, we’ve seen some dramatic and brilliant stuff this year.
But the story of this year’s tournament has been German excellence. Dortmund’s dramatic escape from what looked like certain defeat to Malaga, Bayern hanging on (just) against Arsenal, and their elimination of the Spanish giants at the semi-final stage, the two best teams in Germany have made a very strong case that they are the best in Europe too.
Tonight we will see one of them crowned as such in Wembley. The bookies are tipping Bayern to finally get over the line after two defeats in the last three finals but would you dare write off Jurgen Klopp’s happy mob from Dortmund?
We can’t wait for this game to be honest so keep it here for the next couple of hours, or three if we have extra-time, and you won’t miss a thing.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
