Basis: Robben + Ribery = Robbery
Arjen Robben scored his 1st UEFA Champions League final goal after 25 shots in 3 final attempts as Bayern won Europe’s most prestigious trophy on Saturday Night. It was a battle of two German super powers who had banished the ugly heads of the Spanish prima-donas and their dulling El Classico; Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho were lewanroasted at Dortmund and couldn’t overturn the 4-1 loss. Their late 2-0 win couldn’t stop Jurgen Klopp’s yellow and black stripped men. On the Catalan side, Barcelona drank 7up despite fielding the world’s best player (not Nik Bendtner) for 90 minutes. Bayern taught them a 7-0 aggregate lesson that will haunt them for decades.
On Saturday night, as expected, Bayern Munich came out tops with Robben grabbing the man of the match thanks to his 90th minute winning goal. Robben and his Robbery gang-mate Ribery worked out Mario Mandzukic’s opener from 6 yards in 60th minute before Dortmund scored from the spot to level. The game looked like a replica of Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Benfica in the Europa League with all the goals coming at the same time (60, 68, 90minutes)
I was happy for Robbery (Robben and ribery) and Jupp Heynecke. The manager will retire in high spirit with this UEFA Champions league trophy. Bayern is poised for a treble with a German Cup final next Saturday.
So Robben finally broke his jinx of losing finals. Bayern had lost two finals in the last 3 seasons and losing to Dortmund would be a bitter pill to swallow. Robben’s lost his penalty kick in the shoot-out to Chelsea last year at the Allianz Arena after losing another penalty kick in regulation time. In South Africa at the Worldcup, he missed a lot of chances for the orange boys in their loss to Spain.
Arsenal may have beaten Bayern Munich at the Arena, but the 2006 Paris Final loss to Barcelona remains the best we have reached in Europe. Lehman’s clean sheet run is yet to be beaten and the venue was said to favour the gunners with a good number of French contingents including Wenger. We dispatched Juventus who had Viera then, and skipped over Real Madrid before the tense semi-final win over Villarreal.
Losing to Barcelona was and is still a bitter pill to swallow. I watch that final almost every time I go through my laptop videos. Eboue and Toure neutralized Ronaldinho and his allies; Ljunberg ran his heart out and Campbell returned with the opener. Those late 2 goals spoilt my night and for the first time supper was difficult to eat. When we expected him to deliver, our legendary Thierry Henry fluffed his lines and failed to convert.
Robben’s tears at Wembley indicated how much he has wanted that medal. Behold, he has gotten his price. I wonder how much tears would flow from the Arsenal players, fans and the Manager – maybe the stadium would be flooded. Our bragging rights have dwindled and we have counted 8 barren years. Who would break our jinx? When? Hopefully, next season.
For now, congratulations to Neuer, Lahm, Alaba, Boateng, Badstuber, Martinez, Schwasteinger, Muller, Robben, Ribery, Mandzukic et al. Congrats Bayern. See you next season.
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