A lot of good story lines as we come up to this year's Champions League final. The apprentice and the master square off. No English club makes it back to the biggest club soccer game of the year. A traded striker who can actually win the cup twice in a row. Two Double winners for their respective countries.
And chauvinistically speaking of course, Dutch players and personalities all over the place. Too bad that means Holland will not amount to much in the World Cup, but at least on a club level we've got some winners.
Actually honestly I have no idea who's objectively the better team. Each team has quality, star quality even. Of course Ribery is banned, but there's still plenty to look around for in each team. Milito, Olic, Altintop, Zanetti, Lamm, Eto'o, Schweinsteiger. Of course each team has their token gifted, but injury-prone Dutch player. Maybe I have to look at the coaches then, but even there there's no clear-cut winner. Van Gaal is a big disciplinarian, and as long as the basics are under control, he can beat any team. However, I don't see him making an exceptional coaching move that wins him the game. The most exceptional coaching move he ever did, was a karate kick in the 1995 Champions League final. Mourinho is less a disciplinarian and more of an instigator, drawing away attention from the real danger, the actual players on the pitch. He doesn't have however a signature playing style, that wins him the game either.
So between the two teams, there's little to choose between. Bayern might be the hotter team; after struggling early in the year, they've picked up speed, coincidentally after the return of Arjen Robben to form. Inter has been calculatedly solid throughout the season, and they gained a lot of followers after the dismantling of Barcelona in their own home.
Bayern has already won a Champions League in 2001. For Inter it has been ages. Wars have been fought, people have been born and died since the last time Inter held the Cup.
Inter was actually a league champion coming in to this season, although that doesn't seem to be a guarantee for success. Every other year a non-domestic champion wins the final. Last year Barcelona won the Cup, but wasn't the Spanish league champion of the preceding season. In 2008 Manchester United was a league winner and won the final. In 2007 Milan was not Italian champion coming into the Champions League winning-season. In 2006 Barcelona won the cup, and was Spanish champion coming in.
So if this pattern holds, the league champion coming into this Champions League will win the final, which is Internazionale.
Head: undecided
Heart: undecided
Gut: Inter
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