Another great Champions League final!

To be fair, we haven't been too disappointed in the last few years: the 2010, 2011, and 2012 Champions League finals have been entertaining games between two teams that deserved to be there and that gave it
their best shot. As a Chelsea fan, of course, I especially enjoyed last year!

Of course, Bayern Munich fans have been far less thrilled. Bayern holds the dubious distinction of being the only team in UCL history to lose three finals, and three consecutive finals, at that: the 1999 heartbreaker to Manchester United, where they led until the 91st minute and were taken down by a shocking Sheringham-Solskjaer one-two in stoppage time; the deserved 2010 defeat at the hand of a confident Inter; and the new 2012 heartbreaker to a resilient (and lucky) Chelsea. So Bayern had such high stakes going into this final. That's not to say that Borussia didn't. They confidently won the Champions League in 1997 against Juventus on their first-ever trip to the final, but since then they haven't been back to the top flights of Euro football. For them, this was a magical season that a UCL win would have but crowned.

Both teams had much to win and much to lose, and they both played like they were fully cognizant of that fact. With the exception of the first 15-20 minutes, the match was highly spectacular and one for the books. The rhythm soon escalated into an attacking pattern as formations stretched, midfields struggled to keep up, and goalies had to get busy from the get-go.

And that was merely the appetizer. Bayern and Borussia gave life to one of the best second halves of football that I've ever seen. Continuous chances on both ends resulted in some impressive saves by Neuer and Wiedenfeller. The goal, as they say, was "in the air," and Bayern struck first in the 60th minute after a spectacular Robben dribble that set Mandzukic up with an easy tap-in.

Borussia's reaction was fast and furious. They pressed hard for the next few minutes -- as you aren't really supposed to do, for fear of going down 0-2 -- and earned a penalty. Dante's foul was obvious, and it would have deserved a yellow card too, and since he had already been booked that might have influenced the final. In my opinion that was Italian referee Rizzoli's only stain on an otherwise excellent night. Be that as it may, Gundogan converted and the score was leveled.

The following 20 minutes weren't as exciting as the first part of the second half, but they were still very very good and highly entertaining to watch. Bayern came close on two occasions, including a seemingly easy tap-in by Robben miraculously saved by Subotic on the goal line. The final breakthrough was, again, on a stellar play by Robben, who took advantage of a lucky backheel by Ribery on the edge of the box, vaulted over two Borussia defenders, and deposited the ball gently past Wiedenfeller's right. It reminded me of a far less known but equally spectacular goal by Giuseppe Giannini in the Italy-USA 1990 World Cup group match.

Borussia's final attacks proved to be sterile, so Bayern wasn't robbed of another UCL in stoppage time. The trophy celebration seemed, if possible, even more enthusiastic than ever. I might be projecting here, but one of the best things in football is that every game tells a story beyond the story of that game itself. This wasn't just Bayern-Borussia in the 2013 Champions League final. This was the story of Bayern's quest to exorcise a reputation of losers; it was Borussia's quest for resurgence after a very troubled decade; it was Robben's personal story of redemption after an objectively disappointing career, never winning anything big and playing relatively poorly in three consecutive major finals (UCL 2010 and 2012, World Cup 2010).

And, of course, it was the story of the first-ever all-German UCL final and only the fifth time that teams from the same nation met in the final: previously, we'd seen Barcelona-Valencia in 2000, Juventus-Milan in 2003, and Manchester United-Chelsea in 2008. When the semifinals were drafted a few weeks ago, everyone was excited to see a different kind of intranational derby. The prospect of a first-ever Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the UCL final was almost too good to pass up! But when Bayern and Borussia literally shellacked the Spaniards in the semis first legs, we knew that we were in for a different treat. As it turns out, it was a damn tasty one.

And since the final was in Wembley, a friend and I have been joking that this was a "Blitzkrieg in London." You know, minus the V2s. ;-)