There are two ways to look at Tuesday night’s Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan match. The first is to say this was a pretty boring game (because in all honesty, it was). It seemed as if neither team was sufficiently inspired to get the win, and this despite the prestigious nature of the fixture (it was Serie A vs. Bundesliga champions after all) and the title at stake (the “Franz Beckenbauer Cup” and “12th Trofeo Pirelli”, as it were). Even after Mançini’s opener (a nice left-footed chip over the keeper and the only real highlight of the night, arriving as late as minute 52) neither team changed their playing attitude a great deal, Inter seemingly content of holding their lead till the end, and Bayern obviously lacking any real motivation to get the equalizer.
That’s one way to look at it.
The other way, and this one’s strictly from the Nerazzurri’s point of view, is to say this was José Mourinho’s first step towards Inter’s transformation, a transformation from Italian league champions to European champions. Let’s face it, the team which has dominated Serie A for the past 2 years has not delivered (to put it lightly) in Europe at all, and that is one thing Inter’s “big boss” Massimo Moratti is surely hoping to change this year. In that light, winning against Bayern Munich (who were missing Toni and Ribéry though) can be definitely seen as a positive thing, since (by Mourinho’s own admission) the Inter manager was primarily focused on getting a good result on Tuesday. No “friendlies” in José’s vocabulary apparently…
So, while Inter prepare step nº3 (tonight’s second match of the Amsterdam tournament against Ajax (live 21:00 CET) -step nº2 was the 0-0 draw vs. FC Sevilla), I’ll leave you to fcbayern.de‘s excellent match report by Chris Hamley. Let’s just hope the spectacle will be better for future matches…
The home side made the brighter opening, although Lucio headed wide and Van Bommel’s shot was wayward, before new Bayern nº1 Michael Rensing (Oliver Kahn retired at the end of last season) got down well to Adriano’s stinging free-kick. Toldo saved comfortably on Lahm’s effortt, then Altintop whistled a drive past the upright as the Germans continued to set the pace, but Klinsmann was forced into another change of formation midway through the first half when Martin Demichelis limped off following a collision with Adriano. Young Toni Kroos came into midfield with Lell reverting to a conventional right-back role, but the switch to 4-4-2 threw Bayern out of their stride and the Italians were content to rely on their disciplined defence as the game meandered to the interval, half-chances at either end for Lahm and Mançini the only incidents worthy of note.
It's down to the wire, and the final on may 22nd in Madrid will be between Bayern Munich & Inter Milan. Two old friends & master tacticians in their Barcelona days, Van Gaal & Mourinho have guided their respective teams through the tricky maze of the competition into the richest final in the world.
Those of you who from time to time read my blogs may remember that at the beginning of the season I nominated Barcelona as the best team in the world and my tip to successfully defend their European crown. Having declared my interest as a life long Bayern Munich supporter, I also cautiously labeled Bayern as one of the dark horses of this year's Champions League.
And my predictions nearly came true! Bayern admittedly rode their luck with brave away leg performances & wonderful away goals by Robben (amongst others) to the final. Van Gaal has slowly but surely blended the tough German mentality with the skillful Dutch/Barcelona style possession game into one of the best Bayern teams I can remember in my 35 odd years of being a die hard fan.
And as for Inter Milan, in Mourinho they undoubtedly have the most flamboyant, arrogant & polarising master tactician in the world of football today. His chess game got them past the might of Chelsea & Barcelona. And the quality of the players in their squad speaks for itself. Any team that manages to get through battles with Chelsea & Barcelona fully deserves its place in the final.
Macedonian international and current Inter Milan striker Goran Pandev has suffered a blow after his manager Leonardo ruled him out of the UEFA Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich.
Nerazzurri’s will take on Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 in what is expected to be a replay of the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League final, which Inter won.
Former AC Milan coach Leonardo has been very clear in his stance that the striker Samuel Eto’o will be put upfront all alone.
Leonardo wants to be strong both defensively and in attack. As a result, the coach had to make this decision of leaving Pandev out in favour of Wesley Sneijder who was rested from Inter’s last Serie A game against Cagliari which the Nerazzurri’s won by a margin of 1-0.
The boss wants to field a competitive line-up and therefore the former AC Milan manager has preferred to go out with Sneijder and Dejan Stankovic. Leonardo believes that the duo can adapt a defensive gear too if Bayern look to attack.
The rest of the midfield is expected to be the same and will be relied upon a lot by the lone striking abilities of Eto’o and also the Inter fans. The midfield will have the experienced Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Thiago Motta.
Inter, who are currently following AC Milan in the Serie A are the current UEFA Champions League holders, winning under the current Real Madrid coach, Jose Mourinho. Leonardo will desperately want to follow the footsteps of the legendary Portuguese manager and cannot afford to slip their way out of the competition.
Pandev, on the other hand seemed disappointed at his manager’s decision but since then has calmed down a bit as the team’s interest comes first and not the player’s.
Inter Milan will take on Bayern Munich in the 1st leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie on Wednesday, the 23 of February, 2011.
