BAYREN MUNICH 2013-14
Well, the outcome of the final at Wembley bought little surprise to football fans across the globe. Dortmund tried real hard but a sublime chip by Robben crashed their hope 2 minutes from time. Bayern are now a five star club. It is clearly the dawn of new superpower of the soccer world. If they beat Stuttgart this Saturday in DFB Pokal cup final (they should), they will become first German and only 7th European to have won ‘Dream treble’ of winning Domestic League, Champions League and Domestic knock-out cup in the same year. They clearly are on cloud no.9. What will happen in 2013-14 for the club is a story to be analyzed.
Starting with transfers, they have inducted Gotze and Lewandowski from the camp of closest rival and added more nuclear arsenal in their weaponry. It has further weakened their opposition on the domestic level. Pep Guardiola has been inducted in as coach of the club. Clearly, with 3 La Ligas and 2 Ch leagues for Barcelona, Pep Guardiola was the most sought out coach of the world. However, Pep will face a completely different scenario here. When he took charge of Barcelona 4 years before, Barcelona was a club, struggling to come out of Madrid shadows. Messi was a winger only. Their confidence was shaky after defeat to Manchester United. Guardiola introduced ‘tiki-taka’ and metamorphosis of Messi took place in his guidance. Barcelona became European best and helped Spain winning hat trick of titles (2 Euros and 1 WC), a record very very tough to be even touched in Europe. With Bayren, he has got ample talent, hungry players, success and huge sum of money to spend in heritance. Will, short passing style of play work here, is a serious question because unlike Spanish football which depends more on leg skills and passing, German soccer rely more on physical strengths and header accuracy. Barcelona believes in controlling the ball and in the match against Celtic though they lost 2-1 yet their possession reached up to whopping 82%! Bayern is a different team, played with solid defense and their midfield made many counter moves.
Presently, Bayern looks in no mood to relinquish the podium. Though they have won Bundesliga by record breacking 25 point margin, yet the way they are spending indicates that their thirst has not been quenched fully. Bayern team is infused with young blood, full of energy and with huge experience of even big matches on their shoulders. Now they do not want to be a mere Domestic power (where they have set all sorts of record). They have beaten Barcelona 7-0 already this season in 2 head to head meetings on aggregate and now with their coach camped in Munich, they clearly want to replace them at the world stage. They are in no mood to be called as 5 times European Champions only. They want to be a fearsome force, to be placed in the History books, much like Real Madrid of 60s, Liverpool of 70s, AC Milan of 90s and recently, Barcelona of 10s. The desire for more respect has gained momentum. They have already played 3 of the last 4 Champions League finals, finally winning this time. Clearly, their time has come and 2013-14 and even more seasons will again be Munich v Europe.
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