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Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund, 2013 Champions League Final: Injuries, Projected Lineups, Television, Referee

2013-05-25T08:30:03Z

We're less than ten hours before the Champions League Final! Can you feel it in the air? Can you? Bayern Munich are in the Final.

As we embark on our third Champions League Final in the last four years, we're no longer at a "happy to be here" stage. Saturday's match against Borussia Dortmund is officially in the "must win" category. We are a title winning club. Saturday should be the second step on the path to the first treble in German football history.

There's no reason that we should forget what's happened in the previous two finals. We were able to live with the first final. While the result may have been different if a few calls had gone our way, losing to Jose Mourinho's 2009-10 Inter Milan side wasn't the worst thing. It was easy to recover from it. It was our first time back in "the big time" of European football in almost a decade.

However, last season's heartbreaking loss to Chelsea on penalties in Munich could have been devastating. It probably should have been devastating. After Schweinsteiger's penalty struck the post, there was little doubt that the title had slipped through the fingers. Seeing the pain and anguish on Bastian's face was tough to take. Knowing what he had gone through to recover from his injury in time to play in the Final made it even harder to take.

Bastian is prepared for this moment. He knows how good the club has been this season. "If we play to our potential, it's very hard for anyone to win against us."

Injuries

Bayern Munich

Bayern will be short two starters on Saturday due to long term injuries.

Holger Badstuber has been out since December after tearing his ACL against Borussia Dortmund. He then re-injured it last weekend and is expected to be out until 2014. This is awful news for the young centerback. Sigh. Poor Holger. The other injury falls to the hamstring of Toni Kroos. He suffered that injury in the quarterfinals against Juventus and will be back to training this summer. It's a huge blow for the player and the club.

Borussia Dortmund

Obviously, the only injury for BVB worth mentioning in Mario Götze. Since injuring his hamstring against Real Madrid in the semifinals, Götze has been in a race against time to get fit for the Final. He resumed training this week for the first since the injury, but he was forced to quit after tweaking the muscle. BVB announced that he would miss the final.

Projected Lineups

Bayern Munich

Manuel Neuer; David Alaba, Dante, Jerome Boateng, Philipp Lahm; Javi Martinez, Bastian Schweinsteiger; Franck Ribery, Thomas Müller, Arjen Robben; Mario Mandzukic

Borussia Dortmund

Roman Weidenfeller; Marcel Schmelzer, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Lukasz Piszczek; Sebastian Kehl, Sven Bender; Marco Reus, Ilkay Gündagon, Jakub Blaszczykowski; Robert Lewandowski

Referee

The referee for the match is Nicola Rizzoli. The Italian has refereed two previous matches for Bayern and none for BVB. Both matches for Bayern were losses including a 2-3 against Manchester United in 2010 (Bayern advanced 4-4 on away goals.) and a 0-1 loss to FC Basel in 2012 (Bayern advanced 7-1.).

Rizzoli became a FIFA international official in 2007 and has a several big games under his belt. He whistled the 2010 UEFA Cup Final between Atletico Madrid and Fulham and three matches at Euro 2012. So far in this year's tournament, he's refereed four matches: Schalke-Arsenal, Celtic-Benfica, Braga-Galatasaray, and Malaga-Porto.

Were you wondering what his regular job was? Yes, he has a regular job. He's an architect.

Television, Radio, Streaming

Television: Fox (USA-English), Fox Deportes (USA-Spanish), Sportsnet (Canada), Sky Sports (Germany and England)

Radio: SiriusXM FC Channel 94 (USA), BBC Radio 5 Live (England)

Streaming: Fox Soccer 2 Go (USA), Sky Go (Germany and England)

Venue and Time

Venue: Wembley Stadium in London, England

Time: Kickoff is 19:45 BST

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

Nils Petersen sold to Werder Bremen

2013-05-25T02:45:03Z

Nils Petersen spent the entire 2012-13 season on loan with Werder Bremen and has now officially completed a transfer to them. The deal is for four years, and while a transfer fee is not being publicly released, Kicker speculates that the deal is likely for around €3 million. That's roughly the same amount that Bayern paid for him.

Petersen, 24, never really settled in Munich during his one season. Unfortunately for him, he joined a team with Mario Gomez and Ivica Olic up top. Gomez started nearly every single match for Bayern last season and scored goal after goal after goal after goal.

The move to Bremen was a big boost for him giving him all the playing time he could have desired. He started 31 matches for Werder in season and played in all 35 competitive fixtures. Even though Werder were awful this year, Petersen banged in eleven goals to lead the club.

Allowing Petersen to depart for Werder makes too much sense for Bayern. He's just not good enough to play regularly in this team, and he'll obviously get more playing time at Werder. Thanks for your season of play at the club, Nils. Good luck in the future with Werder except, of course, against Bayern.

Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund : Statistical Averages and Assessing In-Match Performance

2013-05-24T17:00:03Z

In looking forward to this weekend's UEFA Champions League final, many, including us, have looked mostly subjectively at the two teams in comparison to each other. Tactically...historically...culturally...spiritually(?). However, on the eve of play, let us take a moment to reflect statistically at these two sides.

If you happen to be reader of Sounder at Heart here at SBNation, you'd have seen that sidereal does a series every few weeks called the Crunchy Power Rankings (which if you have any interest in soccer statistics, you should read it, because it is good fun). In this series, he looks at every team in MLS and assesses them based on several statistics that correlate well with points per game over the course of an entire season and are designed to model the overall offensive and defensive efficacy of a team. So let's take a look at which statistics he uses and their correlation to points per game in the Bundesliga.

Net Duels Won (Duels are 50/50 balls, either aerial or on the ground) (R²= .36)
Net Recoveries (R²= .24)
Net Passing Percentage in the Offensive Third (R²= .62)
Net Shots in the Box (R²= .52)

One thing to note on the correlation coefficients is that FC Bayern is an outlier this season in terms of ppg and they show up as a ridiculous outlier in net recoveries compared to the rest of the league. If you remove their datapoint from this dataset, the correlation jumps from .24 to .33.

Now that we know the weight we should assign to this data let's take a look at both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund through this lens, and see if there are any lessons or guides we can take from it for viewing tomorrow's match. The data you are about to be presented is domestic, meaning it is only for their play domestically in the Bundesliga for both FC Bayer Munich and Borussia Dortmund and does not include play in the DFB Pokal, in the Champions League, or any other competitions. Each of the stats below are team averages per game.

Team	Net Duels Won	Net Off Pass %	Net Recoveries	Net Shots in Box
Bayern Munich	5.21	15.28	3	7.68
Borussia Dortmund	3.06	7.91	16.5	3.74

Bayern Munich ranks first in the Bundesliga in all categories, except net recoveries where it ranks 5^th. Borussia Dortmund ranks 4^th in net duels won, 3^rd in Net Off Pass %, 1^st in recoveries, and 2^nd in net shots in the box. While this is all well and good to look at, we should look at the two league draws between these two German heavyweights to get an idea of how they have matched up against each other this year.

	Team	Net Duels	Net Off Pass %	Net Recoveries	Net Shots in Box
Dec-12	Bayern Munich	29	1.811594203	1	-2
May-13	Bayern Munich	-1	-11.6520743	-17	-3
Note: Borussia Dortmund performance in these matches is directly inverse

So, what lessons does this teach us, and should we be looking for anything specific going into this Saturday?

Borussia Dortmund is weaker than Bayern in duels. In both games, their net duels won was lower than their league average, and significantly so in December against the Bayern first choice lineup. Winning a greater proportion of 50/50 balls will be a hallmark of Bayern exercising its will on the match.
Both teams are equally effective in the final third and Dortmund has outshot Bayern in the box both times this year, so look for Bayern to be leading in these types of shots as an indicator of them imposing themselves on the match overall. Either team bucking this trend should be a hallmark of their dominance either in the offensive and/or defensive third.
Bayern needs to be proactive in recovering loose or free balls. Denying Dortmund these balls is going to be key. Loose or free balls coming off of 50/50 plays tend to be in the midfield, and these are exactly the types of plays that allow teams to spring counterattacks. Bayern approaching even with Dortmund in recoveries should be a strong indication on their strength in denying this strong aspect of their opponents game.

Keep in mind, statistics are not gospel in soccer (not yet) where systems are highly complex, and are not immune from events like losing your marker on set pieces. However, in this case they can give us a rough idea of how each team is asserting itself in a match, especially in one as important as this where our eyes are befuddled by the shenanigans of Jurgen Klopp and Nicola Rizzoli, and our objectivity is clouded by passion.

UEFA Champions League Final Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich

2013-05-23T16:05:54Z

They called it the ‘scared rabbit' final. The saying ‘deer caught in headlights' came to the mind. One of them had a history of last minute failures to associate themselves with. And yet again, they were rewarded for all their efforts with nothing but some medals which meant little to their players and their board members.

Stefan Kiessling went up to collect his runner up medal. Kiessling had played a big part in dismantling Bayern in the quarterfinals. In the final, he failed to produce as his team fell prey to Mesut Özil's strike for Bremen. Bremen lifted the 2009 DFB Pokal final but was in for plenty of heartbreak the following season as they finished runner up in two competitions.

The final to be hosted in Wembley will certainly not resemble the ‘scared rabbit' final. However, in a final featuring Bayern, it is difficult not to bring up that final. In 2012, Bayern just did not seem to want to win the home final, like Leverkusen in 2009. They had every chance to but lost it not once, not twice, but thrice. The third time is the charm; the third piece of the puzzle is what has propelled Bayern to great heights this season. But reaching great heights does not make a great team.

That almost sounds a bit too ironic, does it not?

Great heights have peaks of their own. And Bayern has only stared at the peak for far too long. Thomas Müller does not want the ‘loser' moniker on his shoulders. That is exactly what makes this final the hardest of the three, despite the fact that the opponent is not quite as established in the current hierarchy of European football (at least according to the UEFA rankings) as the previous opponents Bayern took on in the final.

In 2010, Bayern had an excuse. The final was their first in nine years. Reaching the final with their ‘devil may care' attitude was a wonderful journey in itself. The runners up medals were collected with pleasure; they came up against a truly great Inter Milan side. In 2012, the squad lacked depth and to a certain extent, belief. Bastian Schweinsteiger, the heart and soul of their midfield, had been missing for a large part of the campaign. Jürgen Klopp's BVB only had domestic competitions to care for, making the league and cup battles much more difficult.

This time, there are no excuses. The individuals are experienced, there is great depth in the squad and Schweinsteiger is and has been fully fit throughout the season.

Add to that the fact that Bayern has actually beaten Dortmund twice and it is incredibly obvious that Bayern has nowhere to hide. They have won the battles and hence they are well prepared for the war. I am sure that I am not the only one who feels that the Bundesliga shield and possibly the cup with the green jewels will mean very little if Bayern does not win the cup with the big ears.

Now, let's move on to the match itself.

Mario Götze has been ruled out. Mats Hummels is a doubt. Do these players make a difference to the complexion of the final? In a nutshell, no. This is because finals are more about passion and less about tactics. Tactical perfection would have won Bayern the finale in 2012. One can argue Jose Mourinho got it perfectly right in 2010; he didn't precisely because Müller and Howard Webb could have changed the face of that final so easily. The simple problem though is that Reus will have to move to the center- from the center he has disappointed for BVB.

Also, Götze's injury will allow one of Dortmund's most hardworking Bayern hating players to feature; Kevin Grosskreutz's dreams are set to come true on Saturday. In simple words, the fan might feature in the Champions League final. Klopp might even shift the visionary Gündogan into the hole behind Robert Lewandowski and play Nuri Sahin in midfield. He will perhaps not try the 4-3-2-1 he tried in the Pokal though, with Grosskreutz for extra power in midfield. Or he might even play Sahin in the hole, leaving the Bender-Gündogan pairing intact.

Hummels' season has been riddled with ridiculous errors, some of which could have been extremely costly, especially one against Malaga and another one against Real Madrid. Felipe Santana has been excellent for Dortmund; BVB's decision to push him across the Ruhr divide is indeed strange. He is the reason they made the semis of course.

For Bayern, for the first time in three finals, nobody is suspended. The sad news of course is that Holger Badstuber, who was suspended for the 2012 final, faces ten months on the sidelines. Bayern has reiterated that his career is not in danger; one can take hope by looking at how Jack Wilshere managed to come back after a year and a half out. Injuries though usually bring one name to my mind: Owen Hargreaves.

Toni Kroos is of course out. Kroos, in his best ever season at club level, will not be able to feature against the side he broke down so expertly in their first league meeting this season. Waiting on the wings is a hungry Arjen Robben, one who needs redemption, one who needs not to lose again on the big stages. Fortunately for him, Wembley brought him one of his trophies, namely the FA Cup with Chelsea.

These two teams are so similar to each other that talking about tactics is tiresome. Both love to press and counterattack. Dortmund presses more intensely than Bayern; Bayern still likes to have a bit of possession but can do without it too as the Champions League semis demonstrated. Dortmund hammered Ajax with about as much possession as Bayern had against Barca in the first leg.

Some are under the perception that BVB likes to attack through the center while Bayern through the wings. While this is not exactly a perception, it is not fully true either. Bayern used to score a lot of goals via Kroos, which means they created a lot through the center. With the return of Arjen Robben to the lineup, they have become a bit more wing based. For BVB, a lot of their attacks come through Reus and Reus of course features on the wing.

BVB's usual tactics were to double up on Bayern's wings to shut them off. This plan failed massively this season as Bayern used Dante's long balls, Kroos' vision and Mario Mandzukic's physicality to bite BVB where it hurts most- in the center. However, BVB's counterattacking abilities remain wonderful. Previously, none of us would have doubted Dante's abilities to stop them. Following the match against Gladbach, there is a 0.5 percent doubt within the mind.

Overall, both these teams aren't too far apart on the pitch. On the bench, there are differences nonetheless. Bayern has countless options to choose from. Xherdan Shaqiri is one of them as is Mario Gomez.

For the Bundesliga, this marks a wonderful conclusion to its 50^th season. Who will the Bundesliga fans be supporting? Most neutrals will lend their hearts to Dortmund of course. Schalke fans will be bending towards Bayern as, if Bayern wins, their club is in line for monetary compensation for Manuel Neuer.

Götze's injury is perhaps good for both sides. If he plays poorly in the final, he will be accused of playing for his future employers. If he featured and played well, the Bayern faithful would definitely give him a hard time the following season. The final is set up as perfectly as possible.

Here is a looking at the probable starting lineups:

Dortmund:

Roman Weidenfeller

Lukasz Piszczek- Mats Hummels- Neven Subotic- Marcel Schmelzer

Ilkay Gündogan- Sven Bender

Jakub Blaszczykowski- Nuri Sahin- Marco Reus

Robert Lewandowski

Bayern:

Manuel Neuer

Philipp Lahm- Dante- Jerome Boateng- David Alaba

Bastian Schweinsteiger- Javier Martinez

Arjen Robben- Thomas Müller- Franck Ribery

Mario Mandzukic

Key Players:

Fort Dortmund, the two that count the most are Gündogan and Reus. These two are the ones who have taken Dortmund to unimaginable heights in the Champions League. While Lewandowski has contributed as has Weidenfeller, Gündogan's passing under pressure and simple calm has been a key to Dortmund riding out moments of pressure, especially against Real Madrid. Reus' addition was a masterstroke by Jürgen Klopp; his unpredictability has simply made Dortmund a team worthy of the Champions League.

For Bayern, there are also two which count the most; they are indeed irreplaceable. The first is Bastian Schweinsteiger; two of the three matches that Bayern lost this season occurred when Schweinsteiger, the beloved non-captain (those of you who read The Guardian will know why I mentioned this), was not on the pitch. The second one is of course Thomas Müller. Müller is not the most extraordinary player on a team filled with extraordinary stars. However, he is the winning piece of the puzzle.

He converted a crucial penalty against Lille, he scored in the Champions League finale, and he struck against Barcelona. Muller is the man for the big occasion. Keeping him out would be a huge mistake. Even substituting him is a mistake as we all know by now. Never substitute Thomas Müller!

In one of her recent articles, Amy Lawrence felt that Bayern in 2001 played not to lose than to win. Should they do the same this time?

Finally, going back to Saturday's Bundesliga battles, Robert Lewandowski almost stole the top scorer crown from Stefan Kiessling with his goal against Hoffenheim. Kiessling's ninetieth minute goal against HSV saw the predatory and hardworking striker take home a well deserved Bundesliga cannon.

Kiessling worked in every second of every match for the crown. He gradually developed every season and finally managed to earn the crown this season by honing his skills and reaching perfection. Bayern has done the same. Will they earn what could have been their crown a year ago this season?

As always, thanks for reading!

22nd May Three Years Ago

2013-05-23T02:38:58Z

In 2001, Bayern played Manchester United in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and put them away expertly. Paulo Sergio's goal saw them win the first leg in Manchester while goals from Giovane Elber and Mehmet Scholl ended the tie. Ryan Giggs could only score a consolation in a 3-1 aggregate defeat. When Bayern went through to the semis against Real, hardly anyone realized that that semifinal would be Bayern München's last for nine years.

Bayern's return to the semifinal in 2010 was marked by a win against Manchester United following a lengthy period of darkness. Louis Van Gaal's revolution is perhaps an appropriate name for what happened that season. It took luck, possession and Arjen Robben to get to the final, but Bayern made it. They were almost knocked out of the group stage until they absolutely obliterated Juventus in the final match day to sneak in as second behind Bordeaux in their group. A Miroslav Klose offside goal gave them the lead against Fiorentina; away goals took them to the quarters.

And when Franck Ribery and Ivica Olic turned the tie around in Munich and later Robben scored the decider in Old Trafford, the Munich faithful knew that this would be a season they would remember for long; there was a feeling of destiny. Yet another final appearance was on the cards. On the day itself, two critical moments decided the match against Bayern.

In the second half, when Bayern was a goal down, Thomas Müller missed an absolutely glorious chance. Louis Van Gaal pointed this out later in his post match conference. The referee, everyone's favorite Englishman, Howard Webb, denied Bayern a penalty when they had begun to turn the screws; a clear Walter Samuel handball went unnoticed by the referee. Surprisingly, the press did not really talk about that moment. Of course Diego Milito's goals were what decided the final; but it decided the final for Inter rather than against Bayern.

When that generation picked up their medals, the fans knew this was that generation's first chance at the trophy. Many more would come. Nobody knew just how quickly they would come. Nobody knew they would come in two successive seasons. 2012 was the year every Bayern fan wants to forget. However, 2013 is the last chance for this generation. They are all at their peak. Highly similar to the situation in 2001, this generation might not come back stronger next season, because, let us be frank, it will be impossible after the kind of season they have had.

Pain is etched into the history of Bayern. The one day in which they celebrated the best moment of their history since 1976 was of in 2001. If any night compared, it was the one in 2010. Because it felt that Bayern no longer had to fear getting thrashed by the Milans and Chelseas of this world. Leaving Chelsea outside the equation, it was now Bayern's shot to take out everyone one by one. Juventus in 2009 was the first victim, United in 2010 the second, Real Madrid in 2012 the third, Arsenal FC the fourth, a stronger Juventus the fifth and FC Barcelona the sixth.

That day in 2010 laid the foundations for what followed; not for the failures, but rather for the successes en route to the final. Had Van Gaal and Bayern conquered Europe that day in 2010, they might have followed up in 2012. But pain, as mentioned before is etched through this club's history.

On this day, let us reminisce about that day in Madrid. Surely, many of us applauded when Bayern München walked beneath the gates into the European Cup final in 2010. The feelings associated with the final have perhaps diminished a slight bit since then considering the events of 2012; hence, let us remember how we all felt when the Bernabeu welcomed Bayern.

The first step is always the most difficult and most important.

And 22nd May 2010 was indeed the first step.

Writer Forum: Dante's Partner, Boateng or van Buyten?

2013-05-22T17:44:37Z

Ryan Cowper: Daniel van Buyten

The aerial ability of Van Buyten is going to be needed in clearing danger out of Bayern's box. This is going to be a concern both from open play, as well as from set pieces as Dortmund excels at putting balls into the box in both ways. While Lahm and Alaba are both more than capable of deterring or stopping the majority of the crosses from open play, the aerial prowess and positional awareness of both Dante and Van Buyten is going to be called upon. While Boateng is also an adept aerial defender and brings a faster pace, I believe he gets edged out by DvB by virtue of superior positioning.

Also, Van Buyten name is going to be so much more fun to listen to when Gus Johnson just mutilates it on air.

Samrin Hasib: Jérôme Boateng

I have been a Bayern fan for a long time and I have witnessed the ups and downs of Daniel Van Buyten's long career in Bayern. Jurgen Klinsmann benched him. Louis Van Gaal revived him only to see him and Demichelis give away two shocking goals in the Champions League final in 2010 (even though that could be blamed more on Van Gaal's approach than anything). Van Buyten has all the attributes of a great defender; he reads the game so well. But the one thing he lacks is what Jerome Boateng has in abundance, may be because he is the younger man. It's called speed. Boateng's speed was vital against Barcelona in the semifinals. Dortmund's entire attack consists of speedy players. Despite the fact that Van Buyten was involved in the 1-0 win in the Pokal, BVB will be giving more in this clash. While Boateng has more 'brain farts' than Van Buyten does, his speed gives the German the edge. My pick out of the two is the well spoken and decent Boateng brother.

Scott Schroder: Daniel van Buyten

My reasoning is simple here. Daniel is tall and tall people help on corners in Champions League Finals provided Lahm decides to actually mark his man instead of ball watching.

Davis VanOpdorp: Daniel van Buyten

He may be 35, he may be slower than Uli Hoeneß right now, and he may need a haircut. There is a reason, though that van Buyten has made six starts in the UEFA Champions League so far and Boateng has only made one. He is a savvy, instinctual player that has good man-marking skills and never gets caught out of position. Boateng, as young and as fast as he is, can make that mental mistake in crucial situations (Exhibit A: who was marking Didier Drogba on the corner in the 88th minute last year? Hint: he had a haircut). Daniel van Buyten has earned this, what could be his final game in his Bayern career.

That's enough from us. What do you think? Vote in the poll and comment below!

From all of us, thanks for reading.

Poll

Who should be the CB that starts alongside Dante?

Gotze-less: Examining Borussia Dortmund's Tactical Conundrums

2013-05-21T21:00:02Z

Unless you've been living in a cave for the last month, you would know that in the second leg of Borussia Dortmund's win over Real Madrid in the UCL semi-finals that Mario Gotze, the dynamic Borussia Dortmund center attacking midfielder, pulled up in the 14 minute with a hamstring strain. His status for the final this coming Saturday has been a point of constant speculation, and while he just began running exercises again yesterday and Jurgen Klopp is optimistic, he came out of practice this morning and according to reports will undergo an MRI tomorrow. With this in mind, it behooves us to take a look at the alternate options that Borussia Dortmund can bring to the table.

CAM : Reus or Gundogan

We can probably safely assume they are going to play their normal 4-2-3-1. With this being the game of the year, the wide attacking midfielders are going to be first choice, meaning it Marco Rues is going to play left and Jakub Blaszczykowski is going to play on the right. While Marco Reus played attacking midfield following Gotze departure in Madrid, as well as in their defeat to Hoffenheim over the weekend, the fleet flooted German international thrives best while drifting and playing fast counterattacking soccer. While Reus is capable of playing this role, the two most recent attempts both ended in defeat for Borussia Dortmund, and given that the opponent in this particular match has quite possibly the strongest holding midfield in the time space continuum, Dortmund is most likely going to have to go with the alternate option of Ilkay Gundogan. If I'm wrong, I'll eat my hat, provided first you bake me one made out of cake.

Gundogan' s development this year has been remarkable and has stepped up as the deep lying playmaker in Dortmund's counterattack system, feeding and supply the attacking set of Gotze and company. With Gotze down and out, Gundogan has been Jurgen Klopp's choice to step up into the attacking midfield band and assume the main playmaker duties. He played this role in the first 15 minutes of the 1-1 between these two sides earlier this month performing well against a second choice Bayern team.

With Gundogan moved up from his holding midfield partnership, this leaves the holding midfield slots open for Jurgen Klopp to employ his tactical trickery in. His normal choice before Gotze's injury was to utilize Gundogan in the playmaking role, while using either Sebastian Kehl or Sven Bender as his alternate partner. Luckily for Dortmund, they also have Turkish international, and former Dortmunder Nuri Sahin on loan from Liverpool (although in his current form he scares me about as much as being in a goose down pillow fight).

Dortmund will approach this one of two ways. Either go head to head with Bayern in the middle of the pitch and pit Sven Bender and Sebastian Kehl against the Bayern attack, or they can partner one of that pair with the more distributive type in Sahin. So far, when Gundogan has played in the attacking role Klopp has chosen to employ Sahin with either Bender or Kehl. I'd expect this secondary configuration. For arguments sake though, let take a look at both midfield configurations.

Holding Midfield : Bender and Kehl

All formations created on footballuser.com

If Kloop chooses to partner his holding midfield with Bender and Kehl, this will be a direct signal that Dortmund is going to play a straight up counterattack strategy with no bells or whistles. By placing his strongest ball winners in the center, Dortmund should effectively neuter forward progress in this zone for Bayern, followed by direct play out to the wings. With the speed of Reus and Blaszczykowski, this effectively bypasses the equally strong Bayern midfield, to directly hit on the counter. This would be the biggest gamble strategy Klopp could run out as it is rather one dimensional and if it fails, Dortmund isn't left with many options for breaking down the Bayern defense

Defending against this strategy would necessarily consist of the Bayern full backs effectively marking and controlling their zones after turnovers in possession. Given that the Bayern fullbacks are going to be Phillip Lahm and David Alaba, this should be a relatively straightforward, albeit engaging task given the quality of the Dortmund wingers. If successful, without Reus, Blasczykowski and effective wing play, this becomes a battle in the center for Dortmund with Ilkay Gundogan up against both Schweinsteiger and Martinez, which is a hilarious thought.

Holding Midfield : Bender/Kehl and Sahin

This is by far the more preferable option for Dortmund as Sahin provides a distributive conduit to Gundogan, and vice versa. Both of these players are capable of either direct creative play or capable of feeding runs for wing players. This is a much more dynamic playbook for Klopp to use, and doesn't pigeon hole the Dortmund side.

For Bayern, to counter this strategy requires the same high press system that Bayern has been playing for most of this season. Muller and Mandzukic must respond with immediate pressure and disallow Sahin and his partner from having time on the ball, forcing them to make conservative passes and preventing free play into Gundogan or out to Reus and Blaszczykowski. This would blunt most of the counterattacking potential and gives the Bayern defense time to organize against an effective counter. With Dortmund in possession, this becomes Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez against Gundogan and Sahin in the center of the park, which given Sahin's rather uninspired form since rejoining from Liverpool is rather comforting to a Bayern fan.

Much of this match is going to come down to execution. With Bayern Munich falling to sides employing counter attacking strategies on several occasions last year, including the Champions League defeat to Chelsea and the DFB Pokal defeat to Dortmund, they have spent a great deal of this year increasing defensive solidity and instituting the high press system, all with the aim of facing counterattacking sides effectively. Both of these teams excel at wing play, and asking each to try to blunt either team is going to be a very tall order defensively. The battle for this is going to come down to the center of the pitch and who can control the movement through it most effectively.

Poll

Which option do you think Bayern needs to prepare for?

How They Got Here: Dortmund and Bayern's Road to the Final

2013-05-21T13:00:04Z

An all-German final in London of all places, Wembley Stadium of all arenas, is perhaps the best stage outside of Germany to host this match that will serve as the climax of German football's year at the end of the Bundesliga's golden anniversary season.

Though Jürgen Klopp will likely be grabbing the headlines for days to come (just as he has at every opportunity since the English-speaking press took notice of him and BVB not too long ago), even he couldn't have been 100% confident that Dortmund would advance out of their group the evening of the draw.

The so-called "Group of Death" contained BVB, 2012 semifinalists Real Madrid, Premier League champions Manchester City (who were built from the start with the intention of winning this competition) and an always-threatening and talented Ajax side (who keep getting really unlucky with these draws, don't they?) with the next generation of European talent occupying nearly every position for the Eredivisie winners.

Meanwhile, there was little doubt as to whether or not Bayern would be able to make it out of their group. Only Valencia seemed to be a real threat compared to Lille and BATE Borisov. It was apparent that it would take a disastrous run of form for FCB to finish third or worse, unless placing was to be determined by the ability to make cheap jokes while poking fun at the name of one's club.

Oddly enough, it was BATE Borisov that pushed Bayern to their worst performance in the competition this season, defeating the Germans by a score of 3-1 at home with Bayern only able to get a stoppage time goal to get the deficit back to one before conceding one last time to seal their defeat. Away from the Allianz Arena, Bayern beat Lille and drew to Valencia 1-1. The Bavarians won all three home matches to finish tied for first in the group at 13 points with Valencia, who were placed second officially due to the head-to-head record between the two since Valencia could only muster a draw at home to Bayern's victory in Germany.

Dortmund's UCL season began with a 1-0 victory over Ajax at home through a late goal by Robert Lewandowski three minutes from time. They managed a only a draw in Manchester after leading into the final minute before a Subotic handball allowed for Mario Balotelli to equalize from the penalty spot. They returned home to defeat Real Madrid 2-1 before blowing yet another late lead, this time at the Bernabeu to Mesut Özil and Real in the 89th minute of play and left with only one point of the possible three. The black and yellows then had little troubling dispatching of Ajax and City to finish the phase atop Group F with 14 points and an undefeated record.

Bayern then drew Arsenal and Dortmund were selected to play Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in the first knockout phase of the competition.

The Reds played a brilliant first leg in London that appeared to send them clear of Arsenal, winning 3-1 from goals by Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller and Mario Mandzukic. Arsenal got one back with former Bayern player Lukas Podolski and it looked like the Bavarians were high and dry, only needing to avoid losing by three goals at home in order to advance.

Dortmund's first leg against Shakhtar went a little less well; they needed a Mats Hummels goal in the 87th minute to tie the match at 2-2.

The two teams played each other in the quarter-final of the DFB-Pokal between legs of the first knockout round in the Champions League. Bayern eliminated BVB, winning 1-0 through a Robben wondergoal just before halftime in Munich.

The second leg for Bayern would turn out to be nothing like the first; they could hardly muster a decent attack and played like they were okay with losing by one or two goals. Giroud scored for the Gunners inside the first five minutes and Bayern seemed to settle in but couldn't get around the Arsenal defense for the decisive goal. Then, just five minutes or so from time, Laurent Koscielny pulled Arsenal level on aggregate. Bayern managed not to concede after that and advanced on the away goals rule, but the near-exit left a bitter taste in the collective mouth of the organization that probably served as a valuable lesson as far as their preparation for future second legs was concerned.

Dortmund, on the other hand, passed the test of their second leg with flying colors. Shakhtar never really threatened the BVB goal while Die Schwarzgelben were having plenty of fun on the other end of the field. Three goals later, Dortmund advanced comfortably, 5-2 on aggregate.

Before the matches were played, the tie of the round was thought to be played in Munich and Turin. After, however, most were saying that it took place in Malaga and Dortmund.

With a touch of luck, Bayern took a 2-0 advantage to Italy. David Alaba's goal just 25 seconds into the match picked up a very favorable deflection along the way. Despite that, FCB were clearly the better team and on a better day would have thrashed the Italians by four or maybe five goals.

Dortmund's first leg with Malaga was a stand-offish 0-0 draw in Spain that provided very few remarkable moments, in stark contrast to how the second leg would be described.

Keeping in mind the away goals rule, Malaga only needed a draw if they could manage a goal in Dortmund. That goal would come in the 25th minute from a gorgeous Joaquin cutback that was just out of Roman Weidenfeller's reach, and then in the 82nd minute when Eliseu scored a tap-in (from an offside position) to give BVB only eight minutes plus stoppage time to find two goals since Lewandowski scored in between the two Malaga goals.

One minute into stoppage time, Marco Reus put BVB level on aggregate after a flurry of activity in the box led to him having the ball land at his feet meters from goal.

Roughly 70 seconds later, another crazy sequence in the box occurred where as a viewer, it was hard to tell who actually had the ball and if they were offside or not. Felipe Santana eventually knocked in the winning goal, sending the Signal Iduna Park into a frenzy, and sending Borussia Dortmund into the semifinal.

Having learned their lesson from the previous round, Bayern's second leg was not nearly as interesting. Though Juventus made a better account of themselves than in the first leg, they couldn't sustain pressure long enough on Bayern and eventually fell by the same score they lost the first leg by, 2-0.

For the semifinals, it was to be Germany vs. Spain as BVB drew former groupmates Real Madrid, leaving Bayern to face Barcelona.

Shocking to many but not so much for fans of the club, a weak Barcelona that was built upon an injured plaer did not fare very well in Munich. Perhaps four goals to Barca's zero was more than was expected, but without a healthy Messi, all of Barcelona's possession went nowhere. Bayern took their chances well and put one foot in Wembley before going to Spain.

Dortmund followed the same plan, although they conceded a goal at home, to only win 4-1 at home. A stunning four goals from Robert Lewandowski (the last three going unanswered) had Dortmund fans making arrangements with their red-clad German counterparts in Bavaria for a May date in London.

BVB's second leg would turn out to be very much like Bayern's against Arsenal; a very big lead to protect and a near-failure to do so over the 90 minutes. Dortmund looked to be safe before a furious finish saw them concede two of the three goals necessary to be eliminated in the final 10 minutes. Those two goals afforded Real about five minutes to grab the winner, but they were unable to poke their noses over the finish line and Dortmund were the first to officially qualify for the Champions League Final.

The next day, Bayern played with as much class and quality as they had in the first leg, winning 3-0 at the Nou Camp against a Messi-less Barcelona team that continued to lack the teeth necessary to probe forward with out their superstar No. 10. A signature Robben goal, a Gerard Pique own-goal, and a Thomas Müller header sent Bayern to the final for the second time in as many years, and the third time in four.

Both teams had remarkable and memorable runs to the final, but given the nature of this rivalry, I doubt either will remember it favorably if they don't leave England as champions of Europe.