Champions League Final: Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

It's down to the wire, and the final on may 22nd in Madrid will be between Bayern Munich & Inter Milan. Two old friends & master tacticians in their Barcelona days, Van Gaal & Mourinho have guided their respective teams through the tricky maze of the competition into the richest final in the world.

Those of you who from time to time read my blogs may remember that at the beginning of the season I nominated Barcelona as the best team in the world and my tip to successfully defend their European crown. Having declared my interest as a life long Bayern Munich supporter, I also cautiously labeled Bayern as one of the dark horses of this year's Champions League.

And my predictions nearly came true! Bayern admittedly rode their luck with brave away leg performances & wonderful away goals by Robben (amongst others) to the final. Van Gaal has slowly but surely blended the tough German mentality with the skillful Dutch/Barcelona style possession game into one of the best Bayern teams I can remember in my 35 odd years of being a die hard fan.

And as for Inter Milan, in Mourinho they undoubtedly have the most flamboyant, arrogant & polarising master tactician in the world of football today. His chess game got them past the might of Chelsea & Barcelona. And the quality of the players in their squad speaks for itself. Any team that manages to get through battles with Chelsea & Barcelona fully deserves its place in the final.

So for me, the final will be a match of Mourinho's tactics vs the Mini Me of Barcelona!

My heart says Bayern will win, my mind knows it will be tough on the night & 50:50........and my life & work schedule are doing everything it can to stop me from dashing off to Madrid for the final......................and in my dreams I am hoping to be there when Bayern lift the trophy!