Champions League
2012-05-19 - Bayern Munchen vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Uefa Champions League Final,
Venue: Fußball Arena München - Munich
Saturday 19th May – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Bayern Munchen
Bayern Munchen will be seeking their fifth European crown in a first CL final in which one of the finalists are competing in their home stadium.
The Bavarians have won seven consecutive home matches before reaching this stage of the competition, including a 2-1 victory over Mourinho’s Real Madrid.
Jupp Heynckes’ team have already faced one English club this season, recording a 2-0 home win against Premier League champions Manchester City, losing the reverse fixture with the same score.
Bayern has an impressive home record, they’ve won 14 of their last 15 European home games and have a 10-5-1 record against English opposition, only Norwich managed to win there back in 1993.
There are some important absences at Bayern, as defenders Alaba, Badstuber and midfidler Luiz Gustavo are all suspended. Ukrainian midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk will probably partner Boateng in the center of Bayern’s defense, with Contento on the left.
Probable Bayern line-up :
Lahm, Boateng, Tymoshchuk, Contento
Kroos, Schweinsteiger
Robben, Muller, Ribery
Gomez
Chelsea
Chelsea’s pursuit of a first UCL title seemed to have ended when they were drawn against Barcelona, but the Blues managed to eliminate the Spanish giants in the semis after some excellent defensive performances.
This is Chelsea’s second UCL final, their previous appearance in this stage of the competition came in 2008 in Moscow when they suffered a penalty shoot-out loss to Manchester United, following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.
Chelsea has a poor away record in Europe this season and a particularly poor record when playing in Germany. They’ve only won once this season on the road, losing to Bayer Leverkusen on their previous visit to Germany, which was their fourth defeat in six visits.
Roberto Di Matteo has four key players missing due to suspensions for this clash, including John Terry and Ramires. The Brazilian has scored some decisive goals at Nou Camp and Wembley in recent weeks. Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles are the other two suspended for this match.
Probable Chelsea line-up :
Bosingwa, Luiz, Cahill, Cole
Mikel, Essien
Kalou, Lampard, Mata
Drogba
The Betting Verdict
Bayern has the great advantage of playing the final on home ground. Combine that with the fact that they have a superior tradition in the competition and you can understand why they are considered favorites to win the trophy.
Whether the price for a home win is short or not can be debated, but let’s just remember Bayern’s match against Real Madrid from the semis, when the Germans dominated the entire second half and eventually scored the winner.
Chelsea on the other hand was all about defense for the entire 180 minutes against Barcelona. I’m not saying that they didn’t deserved to qualify, maybe that’s the way to play against Barca, all I’m saying is that Bayern made a far better impression on me.
Both teams miss a lot of players and Chelsea should have a fair amount of chances to score, Drogba will give Anatoliy Tymoschuk a hard time, but Bayern has the offensive strength to outscore Chelsea and I think they will. I would have taken Bayern to win even if the match was played on a neutral ground.
The Pick :
Bayern Munchen 2-1 Chelsea
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Bayern Munchen to win at 1.83 at PaddyPowerConfidence: 8/10
