Kristian Jack

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A historical reflection on the 2011/12 Premier League season

It was special. There is nothing quite like the unscripted drama of sport. Just when you think you might have seen everything it reminds you just how wrong you are. Heading into the final day we were told it was the best season in the Premier League’s 20 years and those who disagreed lost their case in five amazing injury time minutes at the Etihad Stadium just before 5pm local time on Sunday May 13th. It was a fitting end to a record-breaking year. Off the pitch, the English Premier League celebrated its 20th season with a long list of celebrations and award ceremonies to celebrate two decades of top flight action in England while on the pitch it went about producing an enthralling season that had a little bit of everything. When something is labelled the best we must remember how hard it is for anything to get close to it again and never is that more apparent than this season. These kind of season’s simply don’t come around very often.

In fact, the 20th year of the Premier League was one much like that of anyone going from 19 and into their twenties. The league experienced some incredible high’s while also going through some difficult, awkward moments where it was forced to learn and hopefully prepare for similar scenarios should they pop up again in its life.

While the scandals involving Carlos Tevez, Luis Suarez and John Terry put a dark cloud over periods of the season, when the clouds lifted in May the site of a new champion, Manchester City, lifting the trophy for the first time will be the image most will see when this season truly hits the history books. Needing a win, yet down 2-1 as the game rolled past 90 minutes, a team without a title in 44 years somehow found two goals in three minutes to secure the championship in one of the most dramatic scenes English top flight football has ever seen. City, led by their Italian manager Roberto Mancini, spent the nine months trying to discover what they were. Sometimes they looked like a fantastic team any fantasy football manager could only dream to own and others they look like a disjointed bunch of high-maintenance individuals who starved for cohesion and unity. Manchester United, the Premier League’s dominant bully for two decades, led their rivals by eight points with five weeks to go but uncharacteristically cracked at the same time City found their form again and allowed a new empire to finally get what they wanted. United’s collapse may well be forgotten by some in the wake of City’s rise to fame but it needs to be said that this previous juggernaut did not surrender because of pressure, instead losing its way because of an alarming lack of talent on a side that has seen much better days. Make no mistake, this United team would have won the title in past years but their opponents across Manchester were simply too talented (and rich) and credit must once again go to Sir Alex Ferguson for running a far more talented squad as close as he did. Past giants certainly faded earlier than expected with Arsenal never in contention all season, Chelsea out of it by January and Liverpool stuck in an identity crisis and too often in the 1980s.

Winners – Manchester City

Champions League berths – Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham*

*Will only qualify should Chelsea, who finished 6th in the Premier League, don’t win the Champions League final.

Relegated – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers.

For the first time since 2000/2001 all three promoted teams, QPR, Norwich City and Swansea City, survived their first season together in the Premier League. Two of the last three to do that, Blackburn and Bolton, saw their top flight status disappear for the first time in 11 years while the other member of that group in Fulham continues to be a strong force in the division.

Winning points total - 89

Average winning points total in the PL since going to 20 teams in 1995/96 – 85

Most games won - 28 (Man City and Man Utd)

Least games won – 5 (Wolves)

Most home points - 55 (Man City)

Most away points - 42 (Man Utd)

Man City became the first club since Man Utd in 2007/08 to win the Premier League by scoring the most goals and conceding the fewest.

Goals scored in total - 1066 – the most ever goals in a single 38-match PL season. (Avg – 2.81)

Amount of penalties awarded – 100. (72 scored; 28 missed).

This was the third time in a row that the amount of penalties awarded in the Premier League reached three figures and that is now the league average with 601 penalties being awarded in the past six seasons (2006/07-2011/12). With the game played at a rapid pace and more and more rules put in place to help attackers and hinder defenders, the regular awarding of penalties throughout the sport globally (not just the Premier League) is a problem. Quite simply the awarding of a penalty kick and the punishment for the opposing team far too often now does not warrant the crime. In the six previous Premier League seasons in this century (2000/01-2005/06) there were 474 penalties awarded at an average of 79 per season. We are now in an era where 21 more penalties per season are being awarded than they were just six years ago.

Top goalscorer - Robin Van Persie – 30.

Dutchman Robin van Persie was the undisputed best player in the league and even those voting for awards got it right as he scooped both the PFA Player’s Player of the Year and the Football Writers Award. Van Persie’s rise to a true world class centre forward proved to be another fine result for the scouting and development at Arsenal but history may well go on to tell a cruel story as his breakout did come in a year of transition for the football club when they lost their best two players, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, in August.

Top 50 players -

1. Robin Van Persie. 2. Wayne Rooney. 3. Sergio Aguero. 4. Yaya Toure. 5. David Silva 6. Luka Modric. 7. Vincent Kompany. 8. Gareth Bale. 9. Juan Mata. 10. Antonio Valencia 11. Emmanuel Adebayor. 12. Nani. 13. Clint Dempsey. 14. Michael Carrick. 15. Samir Nasri. 16. Ramires. 17. Laurent Koscielny. 18. Joe Hart. 19. Mikel Arteta. 20. Yohan Cabaye. 21. Paul Scholes. 22. Papiss Cisse. 23. Jonny Evans. 24. Fabricio Coloccini. 25. Alex Song. 26. Rafael Van Der Vaart. 27. Tim Krul. 28. Michel Vorm. 29. Scott Parker. 30. Joe Allen. 31. Jonas Gutierrez. 32. Thomas Vermaelen. 33. John Terry. 34. Rio Ferdinand. 35. Joleon Lescott. 36. Patrice Evra. 37. Danny Welbeck. 38. Frank Lampard 39. Stephane Sessegnon. 40. Demba Ba. 41. Ashley Cole. 42. Kyle Walker. 43. Sebastian Larsson. 44. Grant Holt. 45. Marouane Fellaini. 46. Luis Suarez. 47. Yakubu. 48. Hatem Ben Arfa. 49. James McCarthy. 50. Theo Walcott.

My Premier League team of the season – Joe Hart, Kyle Walker, Vincent Kompany, Laurent Koscielny, Patrice Evra, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie.

Sergio Aguero deserves a spot on this team. The 23-year-old burst on to the scene on a Monday night in August and finished his campaign in the most dramatic of circumstances. The Premier League has been graced with wonderful overseas talent through the years – Henry, Bergkamp, Cantona, Zola, Ronaldo, Klinsmann – and this player, if he sticks around, is at a level that one day will put him alongside such world class imports.

Jozef Venglos XI (not good enough; time to move on) – Thomas Sorensen, Alan Hutton, Roger Johnson, Sebastien Squillaci, Stephen Warnock, Ruben Rochina, Steve Sidwell, Stephen Ireland, Florent Malouda, Hugo Rodallega, Andy Johnson.

Jacques Santini XI (biggest disappointments/underachievers) – Jussi Jaaskelainen, Jose Bosingwa, David Luiz, Per Mertesacker, Alexsandar Kolorov, Dirk Kuyt, Tim Cahill, Nigel De Jong, Andrey Arshavin, Andy Carroll, Fernando Torres.

Roy Hodgson XI (bigger stages and moments are to come) – Wayne Hennessey, Phil Jones, Steven Caulker, Nathan Baker, Ryan Bertrand, Jordan Henderson, Joe Allen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Mark Davies, James McClean, David Hoilett.

Top 5 managers of the season - 1. Brendan Rodgers. 2. Alan Pardew. 3. Tony Pulis. 4.Paul Lambert. 5. Martin O’Neill.

Worst 5 managers of the season – 1. Alex McLeish. 2. Steve Bruce 3. Kenny Dalglish. 4. Steve Kean. 5. Owen Coyle.

25 games whose highlights need to be put on the season recap DVD - Man Utd 8-2 Arsenal; Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal; Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham; Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle; Chelsea 1-3 Aston Villa; Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal; Wigan 3-3 Blackburn; Man Utd 2-3 Blackburn; Chelsea 3-3 Man Utd; Chelsea 0-2 Newcastle; Man Utd 4-4 Everton; Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool; Blackburn 2-3 Liverpool; Tottenham 1-5 Man City; Man Utd 1-6 Man City; Man City 1-1 Man Utd; Man City 3-2 Tottenham; Man City 3-3 Sunderland; Man City 3-2 QPR; Newcastle 1-1 Sunderland; QPR 3-2 Liverpool; Swansea 4-4 Wolves; Swansea 3-2 Arsenal; West Brom 2-3 Arsenal; Wigan 1-2 Tottenham.

Top 5 goals of the season – 1. Papiss Cisse vs Chelsea. 2. Luis Suarez vs Norwich. 3. Robin Van Persie vs Everton. 4. Peter Crouch vs Man City. 5. Hatem Ben Arfa vs Bolton.

Top 3 best looking shirts – Everton (home), Norwich (away), Tottenham (home).

Top 3 worst looking shirts – Liverpool 3rd strip (white & blue), QPR 3rd strip (red & white), Sunderland away (blue).

Top 3 men who are better players than human beings – Luis Suarez, John Terry, Carlos Tevez.

Quote of the season – Kenny Dalglish to Sky Sports after Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra’s hand: “I think you are very severe and bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today.”

Managers fired during the season – Steve Bruce, Mick McCarthy, Andre Villas-Boas, Neil Warnock.

Managers who should have been fired during the season – Alex McLeish, Steve Kean

A quick word about each of these two Scots. One man had a constant barrage of abuse all season, dealt with players jumping ship and key injuries, yet never blamed anyone for it and handled himself with incredible class throughout. In truth, his team and, likely, himself weren’t good enough for this league but as a man he was Premier League quality. The other, is Alex McLeish.

Worst owners in the league – The Venky’s, Blackburn Rovers.

Best Referee – Andre Marriner Worst Referee – Martin Atkinson

Three biggest errors by Atkinson this season in the Premier League –

1. Allows play to continue and doesn’t award a goal when QPR defender Clint Hill clearly heads the ball over the line vs Bolton.

2. Sends Jack Rodwell off for violent conduct on Luis Suarez. Rodwell later won on appeal.

3. Misses Mario Balotelli’s studs up tackle on Alex Song.

Outfield players to play every minute of all 38 games – Brede Hangeland (Fulham) & Stephen Ward (Wolves)

Players whose season’s ended far too early – Darren Bent, Michael Dawson, Stiliyan Petrov, Fabrice Muamba, Lucas Leiva, Chung-Young Lee, Nemanja Vidic, Steven Taylor, Alejandro Faurlin, Tom Huddlestone.

Fabrice Muamba and Stiliyan Petrov were in a lot of people’s thoughts and prayers this season as their situations brought home to all what really matters in life. Let’s hope they continue to stay strong and go on to live long and happy lives.

These players actually played for these clubs this season – Samir Nasri, Nicklas Bendtner, Armand Traore (Arsenal), Jermaine Jenas (Aston Villa), Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea), Jermaine Beckford (Everton), Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland), Vedran Corluka (Tottenham).

Five players you’d never imagined would have played the amount of minutes they did:

1. Thierry Henry – it was only 73 minutes over three sub appearances and it felt like a dream to Arsenal fans but it was real.

2. Adam Bogdan 20 starts vs Jussi Jaaskelainen 18 starts – The Hungarian had a tough start, conceding a goal to Tim Howard for example, but won the job half way through the season and started all of Bolton’s last 19 matches.

3. Maxi Rodriguez – 10 starts, 12 appearances in total and only once did he complete 90 minutes. Even stranger on a team that struggled to create goals all season.

4. Jonathan Woodgate – he didn’t feature in the last two months but 17 appearances for Stoke when he hadn’t made any PL appearances for the previous 21 months heading into the season proved to be a real bonus for Tony Pulis.

5. Hugo Rodallega – last season he had 116 shots. Only Didier Drogba and Nani had more. This season if you’d told any Wigan fan that he’d start only 10 games and score only 2 goals this season they’d have bet their mortgage on relegation. Turned out they found a better way to play without him.

Welsh Wizards

Promotion twins Norwich and Swansea each ended the season with the same record, 12 wins, 11 draws and 15 losses just missing out on the top half with 47pts. Both accomplishments were remarkable when you see that neither team invested heavily before the season began. The story of Swansea City is even more special as their passing style took the league by storm. One year ago they were getting set for a playoff final and now the world knows all about them and their manager.

Average amount of points gained by previous 10 teams in the PL who’d been promoted via the playoffs – 35

Average position of those teams – 17th

Worst of those 10 – Derby County (07/08) 11pts, 20th. Best of those 10 – West Ham (05/06) – 55pts, 9th.

The return of the January Sales

Just a year on from the signings of Andy Carroll & Fernando Torres in January 2011, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Nikica Jelavic and Papiss Cisse all arrived at their clubs and made an instant impact. The first two arrived on loan and their future with their clubs remain up in the air but Jelavic, nine goals in 2012, and Cisse, 13 goals in 2012 look legitimate stars in this league and Everton and Newcastle fans should be very excited to have them for a full season.

Final words

And so it was indeed the greatest season of the Premier League, but it is now unfair to just raise this past year to the top of the charts within the last two decades. In 1989, Michael Thomas scored a dramatic final minute goal to win the title for Arsenal over their opponents that day, Liverpool. That was the benchmark for a season’s final act. Until this season, that was the last time the winners of the league title needed a tie-breaker to secure their place at the top of the league, but you must remember not all season’s are like this. Manchester City played over 800 minutes of Premier League football over 275 days and nine months and needed their final shot to go in after 94 minutes of their final game to win their first league trophy in 44 years. The goal took them above their city rivals for the final time. Just two minutes earlier the league’s most successful team stood on a football field 140 miles north of Manchester, after winning their match, seconds away from lifting a thirteenth Premier League crown. And then, just like Michael Thomas, along came Sergio Aguero. It was a finish unlike no other. I hope you got to watch it live because you’ll be telling people about it for the rest of your life. It was a day for Manchester City, a day for the sport itself and a day best captured by a brave man who watched his team get relegated. How great it is that he remains with us.

I think watching or hearing about football today is not good for my heart.

— fabrice muamba (@fmuamba) May 13, 2012

Game in a sentence

A masterclass in finishing from Colombian sensation Radamel Falcao hands Atletico Madrid their second Europa League title in three years as his first half brace was enough to guide his team to a 3-0 victory in Bucharest.

Observations

One year ago in Dublin for Porto, Falcao scored his 38th goal in all competitions to defeat a team from the same country and 12 months on the hitman ensured history repeated itself as goals in the 7th and 34th minute proved to be the difference against a brave Bilbao.
The quality of the goals, numbers 31 and 32 in all competitions, cannot be overstated. The first, worthy of winning any game let alone a final, saw the striker drift off into a wide area, receive the ball and come up against three defenders as he entered the box. The defenders didn’t get too tight on him, allowing him to turn on his left before rocketing a fantastic shot into the far corner past Gorka Iraizo in goal. It was an unstoppable shot and in many just epitomized everything Falcao is excellent at. The running into space, the confidence to turn and shoot and the ability to be ruthless when his team needed him to be.
The goal rocked Marcelo Bielsa’s young team and their confidence, style and fluency with the ball took some time to come out. Credit had to go to Atletico for preventing them, particularly the midfield duo of Mario Suarez and Gabi who were outstanding in closing down the spaces and countering with pace when they got the ball back.
The second goal was a frustrating one for Bielsa’s men who had dealt with a free kick but were punished for their tendency to play the ball out from their own half when Fernando Amorebieta turned the ball over and suddenly the ball found Falcao in the box and he did the rest, turning on to his left foot and smashing his side into a two goal lead.
The goal gave Falcao his 12th Europa League goal, a tournament that certainly belongs to him having now won the golden boot in it in each of the past two years. It may also have been his last ever in this competition. We still don’t know if Atletico Madrid will be in the Champions League next season (they should be for winning this in my opinion) but it appears the Colombian is at the level now where he is needed to be seen on the biggest stage in European football.
The second half was certainly much closer than the first and Bielsa’s two changes at half-time certainly gave his side more of a threat in the final third and they had more than two good chances to get a goal. Star striker Fernando Llorente had a poor game and looked to be carrying an injury as he lacked movement and overall sharpness.
As usual, the brilliant Iker Muniain had a part to play in the match and was the best player for twenty minutes as the game went in to the final quarter and it wasn’t a surprise to see the youngster break down in tears when Atletico broke away on 85 minutes and score through Diego to secure the victory. Muniain, a star in the making, still only 19, will have better days in this game that is for sure.
Athletic Bilbao will rue their missed chances and didn’t deserve to lose a game by a three goal margin but this young side will certainly learn from this game. It was hard to not feel for their passionate fans in Bucharest but they should be very proud of their club and their results in this competition.
In the end the difference was Falcao. Without his two world class finishes the result may well have been different as Bilbao certainly grew into the game and found space the longer the game wore on.

Three Stars

Radamel Falcao
Mario Suarez
Iker Muniain

Kristian Jack

Game in a sentence

An eleventh change at the top of the table this season could be the final one as a dramatic match in Manchester sees a City side come together when it counts to defeat their rivals by one goal to nil.

Observations

Manchester City fans have taken a lot of pain down the years. Many of their fans have put up with an incredible amount of abuse but on Monday April 30th, 2012 they have their day. This was a day made by City’s great players but the fans who have been in love with this club, before some of these players were born, finally get their moment.
Their hero, and goalscorer, could not have been more fitting. Vincent Kompany, Manchester City’s captain and true leader, scored arguably the most important goal in this club’s history to put his side in the driving seat for their first title in 44 years.
Two more games remain for City but two wins – at Newcastle and home to QPR – and they will be champions.
City were, as expected, unchanged from their last match but the biggest storyline came from Man Utd’s eleven with Sir Alex Ferguson picking a midfield three behind Wayne Rooney who played up top by himself. Many of the post-mortems from this game will likely signal this as a mistake from Ferguson but, in truth, they frustrated City until they scored.
United were compact, settled into the game very well with Rooney doing his job and pressing City’s deepest midfielder, Gareth Barry. Behind Rooney, Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park and Paul Scholes hunted in packs and the plan to stay narrow worked for the first thirty minutes, keeping Yaya Toure deep and preventing David Silva and Samir Nasri from cutting in.
Like all top teams do, City kept at it and Nasri and Silva took over the second part of the first half as their passing became more precise and they got more comfortable taking the space conceded to them by the visitors.
Suddenly United couldn’t get the ball as half-time neared but a minute before the break City won a corner and from a dead ball scored the crucial goal.
It was a bad way to concede a goal. Setting up in a man-marking system, rather than zonal, United put Chris Smalling on Vincent Kompany but just as David Silva whipped in the corner, the Englishman went for a stroll in front of the Belgian, was then forced to run around Rio Ferdinand, concentrating on his own man, started to lean back, knowing the ball was beating him, as Kompany came from behind and headed home from the space Smalling left.
The goal forced United to change their style, if not their system. Shortly after half-time, Danny Welbeck came on to play the Rooney role while Rooney took over from the departed Ji-Sung Park. Further additions included Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young but United never had a period in the game in which they dominated. In truth, United lacked quality in the final third and didn’t do enough to get anything from this match, not managing to even get a shot on target.
This United team does not have the talent that City have and it showed in this game. City’s front four of Aguero, Tevez, Silva and Nasri would all walk into Man Utd’s team. The same cannot be said for United’s. That should take nothing away from this United team, however, who might still go on to win this league. Over 38 games City have certainly showed they are far from perfect, but their home record has been the difference.
City have made their stadium an absolute fortress and that played a huge part in this result and how United set up. They have now scored in 30 straight matches at home in the league and have not lost since December 2010. Each of the last nine Premier League Champions finished the season with the best home record, something City have already accomplished this season.
City’s final game of the season is number 19 at home against QPR, a team they should easily handle if the league is on the line. That leaves them with their trip to Newcastle on Sunday where they will have to be equally as brilliant as they were in this game, something City have not always been this season.
The title race is far from over yet but on this night City took the lead with two laps to go and very few would bet against them winning it all now.

Three Stars

Vincent Kompany
Pablo Zabaleta
Samir Nasri

Six Super Stats

Manchester City climbed to the top of the PL table by doing the double over crosstown rivals for only the second time in the PL era.
Vincent Kompany scored the game’s only goal and became the first Belgian to score a goal in a PL Manchester Derby.
The two Manchester sides are now level in points. The last time the first and second place finishers were level on points was before the PL started. In 1988/1989 Arsenal prevailed over Liverpool.
United suffered their 200th defeat in official matches in April. This is the month in which they have suffered most defeats.
The single goal in tonight’s match raised the Premier League season total to 998.
The team scoring the opening goal in PL Manchester Derbies improved its track record to 23 wins, 4 draws and 1 defeat. That breaks down as follows: United (16-3-0) and City (7-1-1).

Match Stats

Kristian Jack

Kristian and James hosted a special Saturday edition of the Footy Show vodcast and with good reason as Zonal Marking’s Michael Cox joins them to preview the massive clash between Manchester City and Manchester United this Monday.

Game in a sentence

A classic European tie sees Bayern Munich come from 2-0 down to win on penalties, knocking out Real Madrid and booking a spot in the final at home on May 19th.

Observations

It wasn’t going to be easy to live up to Tuesday’s semi final but for overall entertainment and talking points this game came very close.
As so often in these matches memories will shift to the penalty shootout and what a dramatic one it was. Kicking first Bayern Munich led 1-0 through the magnificent David Alaba who at 19 showed remarkable composure.
Cristiano Ronaldo, scorer of two early goals in the first half and of 25 straight penalties, then stepped up and saw his effort brilliantly saved by Manuel Neuer. Memories of the 2008 Champions League final returned for Ronaldo. Mario Gomez made it 2-0 and when Neuer denied Kaka it appeared all over. After all, no way a German team can surrender a two goal lead in a penalty shootout, right?
Toni Kroos missed, Xabi Alonso scored and Philipp Lahm missed and suddenly Real were back in it as two German internationals failed to score from the spot. Sergio Ramos had the chance to gain back the momentum but blazed over the bar, leaving it at 2-1.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, the face of German football, who’d played such a massive part in bringing Bayern back into the game, then stepped up and placed the ball past Iker Casillas to send Bayern into the final. It was a fitting moment for Germany’s best player of this era and one he deserved after struggling with injuries this season.
The goal put an end to all of the Jose Mourinho talk, chatter of records, old enemies and supposed special men. Instead, those covering the final will have to work a little harder to preview this most unexpected mathup, which will surely be a tasty one, without the lazy cliches that would have come with other characters involved.
Remarkably, Real and Barcelona are not in Munich after both teams, in back-to-back days, gave up 2-0 leads at home. Take that in, folks. You won’t see that very often. Like Barcelona on Tuesday, Real will be stunned at how they let it slip away.
The first half was as good as any half you will have seen all season. Incredibly wide open, both of these European giants went toe-to-toe with reckless abandon almost forgetting what was on the line for the winner.
Real Madrid took the lead after just five minutes and were more than just a little fortunate. Left back David Alaba was adjudged to handle the ball when Angel Di Maria’s volley hit his hand and Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to hit home his 25th consecutive penalty.
Less than 10 minutes later, and still inside 15 minutes, Real doubled their lead when Bayern lost the ball inside their own half and the home side immediately punished them, Mesut Ozil once again putting through a fantastic ball for Ronaldo to score comfortably passed Manuel Neuer. It was a terrible goal to concede for the Germans as they’d allowed Real’s best player far too much space, but it’s important to point out Marcelo’s presence on the left was enough to pull Philipp Lahm out and give Ronaldo just enough space to punish the visitors.
At 2-0, Real failed to close the game up and were far too open enabling Bayern’s midfield three, led by the superb Toni Kroos, to take over the game. Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez both missed chances at 2-0 but that lead soon narrowed on 34 minutes when Kroos played in Gomez, who was rugby tackled by Pepe in the box. Unlike at the other end, this was a clear penalty and former Madrid man Arjen Robben calmly stepped up to level the tie 3-3 on aggregate.
The second half had no chance living up to the first and was a far more tense affair after the players had 15 minutes with their managers to calm down. By the 47th minute it was clear that extra time was on the cards and only a moment of brilliance or a mistake could prevent it from going to penalties. Bayern definitely had the best of the second half and should have booked their place in the final after 85 minutes when Gomez was all alone inside his office but took too long to finish the best moment of the second half.
Instead it was penalties that was left to decide this match. Remarkably, Bayern progressed through the shootout without using their penalty taker (Robben) who also scored from the spot in the match. That may be a first. Remember, Xabi Alonso missed his penalty for Liverpool in 2005. It is not the Champions League but @jonoblain on twitter informs me: Kassoum Ouedraogo scored and then did not take in Burk. Faso’s 1998 ANC quarter v Tunisia (and it ended 8-7!)
Bayern certainly were the story in this game for me, although Jose Mourinho will of course dominate many of the headlines. I have to say there was something quite different about this Jose Mourinho team in Europe. The ‘Special One’ in the past has almost had such an influence on the discipline and structure of his Porto, Chelsea and Inter teams you’d think he was actually controlling them on the sidelines like a video game player. This Real is different. Careless in possession, slow to adapt to vital situations and wildly spontaneous I am sure they are a team Mourinho hates to love. They got by on individual brilliance early in the game but lack of cohesion over two legs cost them their place in the final.

Six Super Stats

Bayern become the first club to play the European Cup final on their home ground since AS Roma in 1984 (1-1, lost 2-4 penalties vs Liverpool).
Bayern can become the 3rd team to win the final in their own stadium, following Real Madrid in 1957 and Internazionale in 1965.
Bayern have now reached the final of this competition 9 times (4 wins). Only AC Milan (11) and Real Madrid (12) have played more finals in the competition, while Liverpool (5), Milan (7) and Real (9) have won the competition more often. Ajax and FC Barcelona are also on four.
Real Madrid had not been involved in a penalty shootout in European competition since knocking out Juventus in the second round of the 1986/1987 Champions Cup.Arjen Robben has now scored his last 8 CL goals in the KO phase.
Ronaldo scored twice to reach 10 CL goals this season and 38th overall, equal to Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.
Only once in his professional career, Cristiano Ronaldo needed fewer minutes to score 1-0 and 2-0 than the 14 he needed today. He scored 1-0 and 2-0 in 13 minutes for Manchester United when facing Portsmouth on 30 Jan 2008.

Three Stars

Bastian Schweinsteiger
Toni Kroos
David Alaba

Match Stats

Kristian Jack

Game in a sentence

In one of the greatest games of football you will ever see magnificent Chelsea defied all of the odds to knock out holders Barcelona and book their spot in the final on May 19th.

Observations

United States beat Russia on the ice in 1980, Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson in 1990 and Chelsea knocked out Barcelona in 2012 with ten men at the Nou Camp. This was more than just a football game, folks. If you see the scoreline you may not understand the magnitude of what happened in Barcelona on this night but this was a defining moment in this tournament and in the history of these two football clubs.
This was one of the most astonishing games of football you will ever wish to see and arguably the greatest night in the history of Chelsea Football Club. The world’s best player missed a penalty, the Chelsea captain was sent off for violent conduct after 37 minutes and the 10-men of Chelsea not only came back from 2-0 down, they actually drew the match and beat 11-men Barcelona 1-0 in the second half, without really having the ball. And to top it all off it was Fernando Torres, of all people, who put the final nail in Barca’s coffin.
Barcelona were slaughtered by their press after the weekend loss to Real Madrid but that will seem like nothing to the reaction this result will get in Spain.
Pep Guardiola’s team were up 2-0, ahead in the leg 2-1, against a side with 10 men, who had lost their best defenders, and couldn’t score. Yes, Chelsea were great but the holders were average at best in the second half and such a performance could have a dramatic affect on how they play in the next few years. For all of their brilliance, there was no flexibility from the way they attacked, they had far too few overlaps, crosses into the box and were once again too narrow. It took the 10 men of Inter to defeat them in 2010 and now the 10 men of Chelsea have defeated them as well.
But credit must go to Chelsea. Only a team united both on and off the field can get through a game like this. It’s incredible to imagine this is the same team that two months ago were battered in Naples. Except, it’s not the same team.
Roberto Di Matteo deserves all the credit in the world for getting his team to be so disciplined and organised and empowering his senior players. That is where Andre Villas-Boas failed but the Italian’s relationship with his older players showed today.
Chelsea lost both centre-backs, one injured and one sent off. They played the second half with a back six with three central midfielders in front of them and invited all the pressure Barcelona gave them and barely buckled.
For the majority of the second half Salomon Kalou played right back, Ramires, Brainslav Ivanovic, Jose Bosingwa & Ashley Cole played a squeezed back four and Didier Drogba played left back. Drogba made their only error of the second half, giving away a penalty but incredibly Lionel Messi blasted the spot kick off the bar.
Ramires, one of four players who will not get to play in the final on May 19th due to suspension, was the pick of the bunch for me, scoring a brilliant goal at a crucial time that sent the team into the dressing room at half time with belief. At the moment, Barcelona had scored two goals in eight minutes and in between captain John Terry had been sent off for violent conduct.
Terry’s knee into the back of Alexis Sanchez off the ball was moronic as he let the entire club down at a crucial moment. Chelsea’s remarkable comeback means his punishment now fits the crime as he will be forced to sit out the final in Munich.
However, as Di Matteo said so rightly after this match, this is not a day to talk about who will be missing for that game. Chelsea’s performance on April 24th, 2012 in Barcelona will be talked about and written about for decades. It was that good. It was the kind of performance fans of all football teams can only dream about seeing. After all, they put an end to’ the greatest team of all time’ debate in one monumental half of football. The Miracle on Ice had Al Michaels and this one had Gary Neville. Take it away Nev.

Three Stars

Ramires
Frank Lampard
Petr Cech

Six Super Stats

Chelsea reached their second ever CL final, after losing on penalties to Manchester United in 2008. They won their other three European finals, the 1971 and 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1998 European Super Cup.
When Chelsea reached the CL final in 2008, they also sacked their Portuguese coach during the season (José Mourinho and André Villas-Boas).
Chelsea can become the first London club to win the CL. The only other club to win the competition in the same year in which their city hosted the Summer Olympics was FC Barcelona in 1992.
When Munich hosts the CL final, there has always been a first time winner of the competition. This happened in 1979 (Nottingham Forest), 1993 (Olympique Marseille) and 1997 (Borussia Dortmund). This also bodes well for Chelsea’s chances.
Lionel Messi has now missed eight of the 33 penalties he has taken for Barcelona.
Chelsea are without the suspended John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles and Ramires in the final. The previous record for most suspension in a CL final was three in 2009 – Dani Alves and Eric Abidal for Barça and Darren Fletcher for Manchester United.

Match Stats

Kristian Jack

Weekend in 100 words or less

Manchester United 83 Manchester City 80. Three points with three to play heading into their game one week from today. In a sudden turnaround in roles it is now the wise, experienced, ‘been there and done it before’ guys who are stuttering towards the finish line while the upstarts, who two weeks ago were ruled out of the chase by their own manager, cruised to another victory on Sunday just a few hours after hearing of United’s uncharacteristic collapse at home to Everton. The races for 1st, 4th & 17th remains fascinating as the season enters its final 20 days.
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