What was Bayern's aversion to actually crossing the ball? I lost count of the number of times it was crying out for a ball in the box and they didn't bother. They swung in about 3 crosses and each one produced, or nearly produced a goal. I mostly blame Gomez. He might as well have been a statue. In fact, he was a statue most the time.
God knows mate, I'm just sick of seeing negative football getting so many good results. I know I'm bitter about the result and the fact I hate Chelsea with a passion but they are aguably one of the least deserving Champions I can think of. They're just like a more expensive version of Stoke. Yeah Gomez was also dire, his strike rate prior to the final was immense, you'd have thought he had a twin brother who'd never played football before in his place Saturday night. But that penalty miss from Robben will haunt me for years (and him I suspect).
hehe aye we had a shocking league performance this year. We can beat that though, in 2005 Chelsea finished 37 points and 4 places above the European Champions (Liverpool)
Has it ever happened before that a team in the CL qualifying spot wasn't allowed to enter because another team from their country won it but didn't make the top 3 or 4?
Technically this does not answer KingHotspur's question. Everton finished 4th and Liverpool 5th. So both Liverpool and Everton were put into a qualifying round. Liverpool won theirs and progressed to the group stage, but Everton lost their qualfying games (to Villareal) and went out.
I think we are the first since the rule was changed thanks to another English team!! It is now confirmed that Maltese Premier League champions Valletta FC will enter the qualifying rounds to make up the numbers
Tell that to Leeds United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Arsenal. All of whom have qualified for the CL and never won it.
No problem I'll tell them. I'll also tell them that to win it, they need to defend with 11 men and then pray a lucky break arises to sneak a goal - full proof plan.
Ah sorry you are right. It was the reason though for the implementation of the rule. Apparently though, in 1999-2000 La Liga season, Madrid finished 5th but won the CL, meaning Zaragoza, who finished 4th, were put into the UEFA Cup.
lol. worked for us. If I am deadly honest, I am a little dissapointed that we adopted a more defensive approach, but Bayern have a more attacking squad and were hit much harder than they by the suspensions of key players (mostly Ivan, JT and Ramires). I knew as soon as Bosingwa was named at right back that Bayern would be doing most of the attacking. but we won and I will take a victory in the CL final no matter how well we played, our name is on the cup.
I was amazed you only conceded the one with Bosingwa at the back. Ribery did toy with him at times but Cahill and Luiz dealt with the crosses (bar the Muller goal) and Cole proved why he's the best LB in world football. To be fair Bayern were without some crucial players, Badstuber had been a key player in a defence that only conceded 6 goals at the Allianz in the league all season and Gustavo is their ball winning midfielder. Granted you guys will be elated with the win, I would be too if it were Spurs in your position but none the less no one can deny you were extremely lucky to even get to the final after the Barca game, let alone win the competition in a similar styled match of attack vs defence. The worst thing is, and it's not because I hate Chelsea but even a neutral, I still think of Barca when I hear the word "European Champions".
say what you want about the way chelsea play but you do not win the CL by playing crap. chelsea have shown real resilience, every time the bus was breached and they needed a goal they scored one, that is not luck.
Very much depends on your definition of crap. My definition of crap = not very entertaining, regardless of result Other peoples definition of crap probably involves winning. So by my definition you won the champs league by playing crap. You don't have to agree with my prognosis.
Of course, we have been very lucky during this competition, but after all the bad luck we have had during previous competitions, I think it was fair that we finally got some good luck (even better that we got all of it in one season). I also think its a bit hypocritical of people saying we were undeserved winners, when they applaud Barcelona's CL win in 2009, when they too were incredibly lucky to get the final, even more so than us, only due to an awful refereeing performance.
