The Champions League was won by Didier Drogba. The enigma. A fantastic player who at times have frustrated fans, and then shocked them with his brilliance. Former Chelsea player Arjen Robben was the man who could have won it, had it not been for his weak penalty that was saved by Petr Cech. Bastien Schwienstieger had the moment to get it back for Bayern Munich but his penalty rebounded off the bottom of the post, and “Mr Munich” crumbled into tears.
Up stepped the Ivorian, who 3 minutes from the end of the game rescued Chelsea, to cooly slot home what may perceive to be his final touch for the Blues. Roberto di Matteo delivered what many more qualified managers failed to do. If he is not the Chelsea manager by the start of the 2012/2013 season, then there is something seriously wrong with Abramovich. A unique double has been achieved through the caretaker manager. Players who weren’t in confidence, were suddenly blossoming. The tactics against Munich were spot on, albeit very fortunate due to greedy wing play by Robben and Frank Ribery. The duo spurned many opportunities and failed to get Mario Gomez in the game.
Chelsea secure the Champions League, but many questions will need answering after the Euros. Which senior players will be on their way out? Who will be the manager?
2 finals. 1 is the £90million game. The other, the ending of an era and a possible job.
Blackpool take on West Ham to join Reading and Southampton in the Premier League. Blackpool conquered Birmingham, while West Ham toppled Cardiff. West Ham remain favourites, with their record against Blackpool being 2-0, with the Tangerines conceding 8 goals in their fixtures. West Ham have a near full strength side with Jack Collison returning to fitness. Blackpool go into the game on the back of 9 games without defeat. Having won the play-off final last year, Ian Holloway remains optimistic of his sides chances. I’m plumping for the Tangerines, purely because I think West Ham will choke. They failed to produce so many times this season, which has “lesser” strength squads overtake them in terms of position.
The Champions League final will be contested between 2 teams most people feel don’t deserve to be there. There seems to be no clear favourites in this match, with both teams missing key players. Chelsea are without John Terry, Ramieres, Raul Merieles and Branislav Ivanovic are all suspended, while Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Florent Malouda all concerns. Bayern are missing Luiz Gustavo, David Alaba and Holger Badstuber. The final will be played at the Allainz Arena, where Bayern Munich have only lost once in their 14 games. Chelsea have only won once in their travels this season. A win could secure the job for Roberto Di Matteo, and be the last hurrah for much of the old guard of Chelsea. If there was ever a chance to finally secure it, now is the time.
Newcastle’s Alan Pardew.
At the start of the season, they were heavily tipped to struggle. Big name players left in the form of Jose Enrique, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton. That was following on from the loss of Andy Carroll to Liverpool and Hatem Ben Arfa to a broken leg.
I’ve always admired Alan Pardew’s credentials though. He’s a very forward thinking manager, and knows player’s potentials. At his time in Southampton, he brought in Rickie Lambert and helped develop Adam Llallana. At Newcastle, he has carried it on. Undoubtedly one of the finds of the season is deep lying play-maker Yohan Cabeye.
Pardew also showed his transfer astuteness, picking up Demba Ba on a free transfer. The Senegalese international scored 15 goals in the 1st half of the season. In January, Pardew scooped for Papiss Cisse for £8m, who then payed back the transfer fee with 13 goals in the 2nd half of the season.
There were some bad results but they always seemed to inspire a wake up call. A 5-2 defeat at Fulham was followed by 2 wins on the bounce. A 2-1 defeat at Arsenal then inspired a 7 match win run.
Pardew lead them to European Football, just 2 seasons after being promoted back in the Championship. He was unfortunate that he could not take advantage of Tottenham’s spiralling form like Arsenal did to secure Champions League football, but if he can keep hold of his stars from this season, get Slyvan Marveaux fit, and regularly play Ben Arfa, they will be a force next season.
An exciting, thrilling, strange and explosive season has finally come to a finish. For a number of teams in the Premier League, May 13th 2012 was make it or break it. For Bolton and QPR, points meant survival. For Man Utd and City, points meant trophies. For Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham, points meant the European stage. This season has provided erratic moments, strange results, amazing goals, and contentious decisions. The final day would be no different.
Yes, for the 1st time in 44 years, Manchester City became only the 5th club to win the Premier League Crown. A 3-2 win over QPR secured the title in dramatic fashion. Manchester Utd were already celebrating a 1-0 victory over Sunderland that put them in pole position. At that time, City were 2-1 down, thanks Drijbil Cisse and Jamie Mackie. However, Joey Barton’s very ugly altercation left QPR’s survival in the balance, and down to 10 men, Rangers got tired. First, Edin Dzeko scored in the 91st minute. Still not enough. Then Mario Balotelli set up Sergio Aguero to score the winner in the 95th minute. It was over. The news filtered through at the Stadium of Light and Utd were left disappointed.
For QPR, they had done all they can. Bolton took the fight to Stoke and even lead 2-1, but two bad decisions for the Stoke’s goals, meant that Bolton’s 11 year stay in the top flight had come to a close. Arsenal did enough to secure 3rd. A nervy encounter at the Hawthorns saw it end 3-2 in favour of the Gunners, which meant despite Tottenham winning 2-0 and Newcastle going to down to Everton 3-1, 17 years of Champions league football had been confirmed. Everton finished higher than Liverpool for only the 2nd time in 19 years. Norwich and Swansea finished their seasons with creditable wins, and Wigan also achieved victory fully confirming 8 years in the Premier League.
Congratulations on your promotion to the Premier League. Thoroughly deserved after a 4-0 win over a youthful Coventry side. Never been outside the top 2 all season. Fantastic support. Fantastic stadium. Fantastic staff. Fantastic players.
The magnificent 4-4 draw at Old Trafford between Man Utd and Everton kicked things off nicely, before Man City closed the gap to 3 points to relegate Wolves with a 2-0 win. All this has built up to the Manchester Derby on Monday. The Venue: The Etihad Stadium. The Referee: Andre Marriner. This game will decide where the title heads. If Man Utd win, it is their title to lose. If Man City win, the title could go to the last day of the season.
On Tuesday, we witnessed the Barcelona masterclass, as they got 2 goals to put the tie back in their favour against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League. However, for all their brilliance, Fernando Torres scored what some are now calling the £50million goal. Cue jubilant scenes from Chelsea, whose fans stayed an hour in the Nou Camp cheering and singing.
On Wednesday, a fascinating game between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich culminated in a victorious penalty shoot-out in favour of the Germans. CR7 looked to finally relinquish the World’s Best Player mantle from Leo Messi by scoring 2 goals to set Madrid on their to victory. Former player Arjen Robben scored a decisive penalty before half time however, and with no goals scored in the 2nd and extra time, the tie went to penalties. Like Messi just 24 hours ago, Ronaldo missed a crucial penalty. His team-mate Kaka also missed. Sergio Ramos also missed for the Galactico’s and up stepped Mr Bayern Munich Bastien Schwienstiger to send the Bavarians to the final.
Yesterday, an all Spanish Europa League final was set up between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. Madrid’s 2nd club already lead 4-2 and beat Valencia by a goal to nil in the Mestalla to go through, but it was the Basque club who has stole the tournament this season. Fernando Llorente’s 88th minute goal settled the tie against Sporting Lisbon, who would have won the tie on away goals thanks to Ricky Van Wolfswinkal’s goal.
Today. Well more job losses were announced at Portsmouth as they prepare for life in League 1. Chelsea and QPR have said they will suspend the handshakes ahead of the fixture this weekend due to the tension between Anton Ferdinand and John Terry. Pep Guardiola has announced he will step down as head coach of Barcelona after professing he has taken them as far as he can. After 4 successful years at the Catalan Giants, it is expected he will spend a year away from management.
