It was the best team before the confinement, when the matches had a face-to-face audience, the coaches could make three changes and the eliminatory ones were back and forth, and it has continued to be so in the resumption of football, with the stands empty, five changes for opponent and the unpredictability of single-appointment crossings. At the end of the longest season we have seen, Bayern Munich were proclaimed champions of the Champions League yesterday for the sixth time in their history. The Germans beat Barça, who are left with five, and equal Liverpool in the list.
Hans Flick’s team reached the final against Paris Saint-Germain with the reliability of an essential service in times of pandemic, or the effectiveness of a concrete ball in the demolition of a glass building. In the Bundesliga, he had lifted his eighth consecutive title after a streak of 13 straight victories, while in the top competition he had won the previous 10 games with an average of 4.2 goals for every 90 minutes, with humiliation included against Leo Messi’s Barça in the quarterfinals (2-8). The Bavarians, physically and collectively superior, knew how to minimize in time the spark of Neymar Jr. and Kylian Mbappé, top exponents of a PSG that will have to continue working to translate the millions of Qataris into European Cups. Coman was the author of the only goal to Da Luz.
The match was born moving, with both teams determined to enhance their virtues. Bayern, with very advanced lines, more possession of the ball and delicate prominence of Thiago Alcántara in the construction of static plays. And PSG, well positioned in their field and with the top three ready to make a dent in the back of German midfielders. This was the recipe that the French applied to generate the first clear chance of the match, in which Mbappé galloped to the left and enabled Neymar, who collapsed in front of the imperial exit of Neuer, savior of the Bavarians when Boateng still he held on to the grass – Süle took his place in the 26th minute. This first attempt served a beautiful exchange of blows. Lewandowski responded to the first opportunity in Paris with a loose but placed shot that crashed into the right post of a reappearing Keylor Navas. Then Di María would waste a good assist from Ander Herrera before the top scorer of Bayern answered again with a header that the PSG goalkeeper saved in a great show of reflexes. Keylor, as Madrid fans know, grows up in the Champions League finals.
Despite Flick’s territorial dominance, Tuchel’s team came to the break with the counter of chances in their favor after Mbappé, just as the fourth referee was about to show an added minute, finished in his hands. of Neuer a very dangerous pass from Di Maria, who had passed the Davies prodigy through his area. In an early part of a heart attack, there was still time for Coman to claim a Kehrer penalty. Daniele Orsato, very close to the play, did not even ask for help from the VAR. The Frenchman’s fall was not clear enough to punish her with a throw from 11 yards out. The 0-1, however, would directly involve Perisic’s accidental replacement for the Bavarian team.
Newer, imperial
The second half began with fewer revolutions, but Bayern took advantage of an acceleration on the right side for Coman, who is not exactly a striker, to undo the equalizer in the 59th minute. PSG defenders were so keen to control the movements of Müller and Lewandowski inside the area that Kimmich’s measured cross went to the far end of Juventus, who banged his head, this time, impossible for Navas. Extra glove deserves the glove of the accidental winger of Bayern, who shortly after, with PSG, repeated the telegraph pass for a Coman who did not hit for the second time. Kimmich is one of those tactically gifted footballers who, on top of that, dress up their repertoire with a privileged quality.
The French accused the coup of being seen as inferior – they are not very used to it – but they looked for Di María, their most persistent footballer, to try to turn the situation around. Neymar, in the second half, was diluted between the Bavarian intensity. First Fideo enabled a clearance from Mbappé that the young striker failed to hit in the direction of the goal. And then he left Marquinhos alone in the area, who came across a huge Neuer again, although it is true that the Brazilian, whom Tuchel uses as a pivot, would not be the footballer best prepared to define in front of a goalkeeper world-class.
Not even the tight marker moved Flick’s initial plan, a hero-turned interim who doesn’t speculate. Kovac and Joachim Löw’s ex-assistant – in the national team – did not protect themselves with the changes and let Bayern finish the final with the defensive line in the middle of the field, in search of a sentence that did not arrive. . It is the virtue of one who feels superior. Now yes, the Bavarians will be able to say that they are the best team in the world.
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