Champions League knockout stage draw

In my last post, I mentioned most group winners in this year's Champions League would want to avoid Arsenal.........and the defending Champions, Bayern Munchen ended up drawing Arsenal again, in a rematch of last year's round of 16 clash which Bayern won on away goals rule on the way to winning the final at Wembley.

But I should have also mentioned the fast improving and free scoring Manchester City too. In perhaps the most exciting clash of the round, City have drawn Barcelona.

Whilst I believe Bayern have enough to beat Arsenal again, I can not comfortably predict that in case of Barcelona.
It is quite clear that Barcelona are simply not the same team when the axis of Xavi-Messi-Bosquets-Iniesta is misfiring & on top of this their defence which was totally humbled 7-0 on aggregate by Bayern last year is still vulnerable, specially against the free scoring City side. Manchester City on the other hand will be vulnerable in goal and away from home and would be hoping Aguero will be back in full fitness by February.

Of the other pairings, Atletico Madrid are the dark horses of the tournament & should account for a sorry looking AC Milan who were lucky to account for Ajax , Real Madrid will be too strong for a injury hit & somewhat misfiring Schalke whilst last year's finalists Borussia Dortmund should have enough time to get their injury ravaged team back to shape to beat a disappointing Zenit.

....which brings us to the last three encounters........whilst at least on paper Chelsea, PSG & Manchester United are all favourites to go to the quarter finals, I believe their respective opponents ie Galatasaray, Leverkusen & Olympiakos can all cause huge upsets, but only if they manage to do well at home ie to win their home leg with a comfortable margin.

I say this because I don't think Chelsea & Manchester United are contenders this year & in case of PSG, I believe they, like their "Trophy buying" peers before them (ie Chelsea & Manchester City) need a few more years of CL experience before they can impress beyond the early stages of the knockout phase.

Regardless of all of that, there is one thing that is clear: the eventual outcome of this round of matches will no doubt produce mouth watering quarter final pairings.

CL battle of English vs German teams: all 8 qualified for the knockout stage but EPL teams won most of the battles

One of the most highly excitable results of this season's Champions League draw was the pairing of the 4 EPL qualifiers with the 4 Bundelisga qualifiers in the same groups:

Manchester United with Bayer Leverkusen
Chelsea (2012 winners over Bayern) with Schalke
Manchester City with the defending Champions Bayern and
Arsenal with Borussia Dortmund

Chelsea famously had beaten Bayern on penalties in the 2012 final in Bayern's home in Munich whilst Bayern & Dortmund had contested the 2013 final at Wembley the home of football & in the process raised the wasteful debate over whether Bundesliga was getting the better of the EPL & Spanish La Liga.

And this morning, all 8 teams qualified for the knockout stage albeit under vastly different circumstances:

• An erratic Manchester United side struggling in mid table in the EPL comprehensively accounted for Leverkusen 4-2 & 0-5
• Chelsea also totally outgunned an injury depleted Schalke 3-0 & 0-3 
• CL Champions Bayern played scintillating football & beat City 1-3 away & then wasted an early 2-0 lead at home to succumb to a fast improving City 2-3, and 
• Dortmund just got the better of Arsenal & edged them to top the group of death by winning 1-2 in London & losing 0-1 at home

All in all, EPL clubs won the battle. At the same time, La Liga giants Barcelona & Real Madrid were complimented by the true dark horses of this year's competition, the hugely impressive Atletico Madrid.

Overall, the lesson from the knockout stage is this: 

With the exception of Bayern Munich which are again one of the favourites, whilst other German teams (and the trophy buying power of PSG) are clearly on the ascendency in Europe& catching up fast, hyped up claims of demise of English & Spanish teams are premature & exaggerated & their dominance is far from over. Serie A on the other hand is clearly in trouble although Napoli were fully deserving of qualification & missed out. Milan were lucky to edge out a young & up & coming Ajax side whilst Juventus simply flopped.

Most impressive teams of the group stage: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid & Bayern Munchen

Most dissapointing: Porto, Benfica & Marseille

Flop of the season: Juventus

Unlucky teams: Napoli & Basel both of which beat their group winners & Ajax 

Dark horses: Atletico Madrid without any doubt

The draw for the round of 16 will be interesting with most group winners wanting to avoid Arsenal.

Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup draw, the winners & the losers

The FIFA World Cup draw for Brazil 2014 was conducted on Friday night & as usual, some groups ended up being more difficult than others. This year however, South America have 6 representatives (instead of 5) & Europe have 13 instead of the usual 14.

Also, Belgium, Colombia & Switzerland were seeded due to their superior FIFA rankings in Nov 2013 & as a result powerhouses of England, Italy, Holland, Portugal were demoted to the 2nd pot.

It is too early to try to predict which teams will be successful in the first round simply because teams' forms can dip or improve between now & June next year and key players may get injured & miss out.

However, whilst playing at the World Cup is difficult regardless of the draw, there are groups which are more difficult to prove than others: Here are my early tips until I decide on my final tips by around March 2014:

Group A Hosts Brazil are the clear favourites following their mesmerising triumph at Confederation Cup. On the other hand, Mexico have had a torrid time with 4 different coaches & only qualified through the play offs by beating New Zealand. Croatia are always difficult to beat & possess enough talent to overcome Cameroon & finish second.

Group B is the first group of death & sees the two finalists of WC 2010 ie Holland & Spain paired against each other. You can't help but to feel sorry for Chile for being paired with Spain for the second WC in a row, and for the Socceroos who will no doubt have a torrid time against all of their 3 vastly superior opponents. However, Chile are a brilliant team & with a bit of luck are capable of knocking out either of their two most illustrious opponents.

Group C see hosts Columbia as a well deserved seed. Columbia are once again spoilt with talent & should win the group. Greece are on the other hand becoming an experienced tournament nation & are slight favourites to outdo Japan & Ivory Coast.

Group D, at least on paper, is THE group of death. However, reputations aside, I believe Uruguay & Italy are clearly far stronger sides than an England side which is desperately short of creative talent in the midfield & lacks depth in many positions including in defence. Costa Rica can & probably will pinch crucial points too.

Group E sees Switzerland seeded & France as the main giant in the group. If Ribery & co play the way they played against Ukraine in the 2nd leg of the play offs, they will be the clear favourites to win the group. Switzerland coach has on the other hand built a team which is extremely difficult to beat although Switzerland have in the past got eliminated unbeaten!

Group F will see Argentina as comfortable winners. Bosnia, Nigeria & even Iran, are all capable of finishing second if they take their chances & other results go their way.

Group G is a tough group for Portugal & Germany & there are no easy matches in this group. Ghana only lost to Germany 1-0 in the group stage in WC 2010 & finished 2nd, and USA in fact topped their group in WC 2010. On top of that, USA is coached by the former Germany Captain & coach Jurgen Klinsman & the USA team consisted of several German born players who play their football in the German Bundesliga. However, at least on paper, a talented Germany side & Portugal by the irreplaceable Ronaldo are favourites to go through.

Group H see the seeded Belgium side oozing with young talent. Whilst I believe Capello's Russian side are overrated, in South Korea & Algeria, they have two of the weakest teams in the tournament & both Russia & Belgium will easily qualify for the knockout round.

European Football season 2013-14 promises to produce the most exciting season yet!

The new European football season is already well on the way & the draw for the 2013-14 Champions League has also taken place.

Unlike previous years, I am running late with my pre season predictions of the major league & will be combining all my predictions in this post.

Amongst the glamour clubs of the ivy leagues in Europe, there are as usual mouth watering & puzzling transfers which will be finalised by 1st September:

Amongst the winners so far in the transfer market are:

In Germany, the record breaking defending European & Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munchen have signed the hugely talented Mario Goetze & Thiago Alcantra & of course Pep Guardiola & should win the Bundesliga again, whilst Dortmund will once again challenge both in Germany & Europe. Bundesliga will however struggle to challenge EPL & La Liga for supremacy unless other German teams manage to do well in the Champions & Europa League too. Therefore much is expected of Leverkusen & Schalke this season.

In Spain, Barcelona have captured Neymar but it is yet to be seen how the new coach will deal with Neymar & Messi whilst Real Madrid have allowed Mourinho & Higuain & a few others to leave whilst the hugely talented Isco, Carvajel & Illaramendi & Ancelotti have arrived. La Liga is once again the domain of these two & I tip Barcelona to prevail. Atletico Madrid have lost Falcao to Monaco but in David Villa as his replacement to give the big two a run for their money & alleviate the predictability of the two horse race aspect of La Liga.

In France, PSG & Monaco have taken the French League to another dimension by capturing Cavani & Falcao respectively but PSG will win Ligue 1.

Whilst I also tip Tevez to do well at Juventus, Napoli are the dark horses in Serie A & also in Champions League. Despite losing Cavani to PSG, Rafa Benitez has signed a few tactically superior players for Napoli & they may even pip Juventus to the post in Italy.

In the Premier League, Manchester City have signed the highly sought after trio of Negrado, Navas & Jovetic & in Pellegrini they have a more tempered & skilful coach than Mancini. Tottenham on the otehr hand, are a winner for buying many valued stars such as Poulinho & Eriksen & will be a winner just for selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid at a price which is simply stupid!

I just watched Mourinho's Chelsea losing the European Super Cup to Bayern. Mourinho has already begun to transform Chelsea to a force to be reckoned with albeit with his usual defensive & dirty play. The new Manchester United coach David Moyes, & Arsen Wenger at Arsenal are on the other hand seemingly having trouble attracting top talent to their teams & will struggle to challenge.

My prediction for EPL: 1. Manchester City 2. Chelsea 3. Manchester United 4. Tottenham

How Andy Murray's win at Wimbledon highlights the disappointing international record of England's National Football Team!

When England beat Australia in 2003 to win the Rugby World Cup, astonishingly it was the first time an English side had won a team sport World Cup in any sport since England won the football World Cup in 1966!

Since 2003, English & British individual athletes & teams have got better & better, all but the team representing their national sport ie Football!

England also made it to the Rugby World Cup final in 2007, England's Cricket team have dominated Australia in the Ashes series in recent times, & of course in individual sports Bradley Wiggins won Tour de France & the British team performed magnificently in last year's London Olympics.

And now, Andy Murray won Wimbledon77 years since the last British winner Fred Perry (not to mention the triumphant Lions tour of Australia & the upcoming Ashes series for which England are the favourites to win again!)

And YES! YES! YES!I know Andy Murray is Scottish! But the English tend to mix English & British when it suits them! So, I am doing the same to suit myself to write my blog to criticise England's Football Team!!)

These wonderful achievements however in some way do magnify the disappointingly poor record of England's football team & its total lack of achievement since their solitary 1966 triumph!

Whilst English teams have performed very well in the UEFA Champions League, albeit with the support of the bottomless pockets of Russian & Arab billionaires, England themselves have failed to match the usual hype around them before very World Cup & European Championships. The huge sums of money in the EPL means young English players simply do not stand a chance of playing in the Premier League on a regular basis because EPL Clubs buy the cream of the best international talent.

Let's hope Andy Murray's win, in some way piles more pressure on England's FA in order to force a major overhaul of the current system of youth development in football in UK.

Bayern Munich's treble winning triumph in 2013 was a lesson in life

Bayern Munich finished second to Dortmund in their domestic league (Bundesliga) last year & also lost the German Cup final to their bitter rival. To top it all, they hosted the Champions League Final against Chelsea in their own stadium in Munich last May & unbelievably lost that final in a penalty shoot out too.

Bayern players after the penalty shootout loss to Chelsea in the Champions League Final last May

Out of the the above three competitions none hurt more than the Champions League final. Bayern dominated the match for 88 minutes & were winning 1-0 until Chelsea scored from their first corner in the 88th minute. Then Robben missed a penalty in the extra time which would have won Bayern the match 2-1...and finally, in the penalty shoot out Bayern led 3-1 & ended up losing the shoot out 3-4!

Jupp Heynckes, the Bayern coach, & the Bayern management, promised Bayern would be back stronger & more determined this season. Only a handful of people believed they could psychologically bring the players back. Bayern nevertheless set about buying new players in order to plug the gaps that had lost them Champions League finals in 2010 & 2010.

By the end of this season last week, Bayern had won the Bundesliga in record time, were crowned European Champions after accounting for Arsenal, Juventus & barcelona in the knockout phase & beating Dortmund 2-1 at Wembley, and became the first ever German side (and only the 7th ever) to win the treble crown by also winning the German Cup final last weekend.

Robben displaying shear relief after scoring the winner in the Champions League Final vs Dortmund

And Robben, who had missed a penalty vs Dortmund to hand them the Bundesliga title last year, and a penalty vs Chelsea in last year's Champions League Final, scored the winner in the 89th minute in a Man of the Match performance in this year's 2-1 final win vs Dortmund.

A lesson in life on how shear determination & hard work (and money to invest on new players!) can overcome the most difficult mental barriers, and how the agony of a major loss can turn into triumph in life.......................and a well deserved one at that!

Manchester United & the world of Football will miss Sir Alex Ferguson's larger than life personality, influence & ability

Love him or loath him, Sir Alex Ferguson is universally admired & respected. His retirement at the time of winning the English Premier League again is perhaps timely but will leave a huge vacuum for Manchester United, the English game, and in fact the world of football in general.

He is generally regarded as the most successful Club Coach in the modern era & deservedly so.

Not only he has won a ton of trophies in his long illustrious career, but also he survived in the one job for 26 years. His record in the brutal world of "quick trophy at any price" of European football is simply unrivalled.

Here's Sir Alex Ferguson's record:

* St Mirren

1 Scottish First Division (second tier) title 1976-77

- -

* Aberdeen:

3 Scottish Premier League titles: 1979-80, 1983-84, 1984-85

4 Scottish FA Cups: 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86

1 Scottish League Cup: 1985-86

1 European Cup Winners Cup: 1982-83

1 UEFA Super Cup: 1983

- -

* Manchester United

13 Premier League titles: 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2012-13

5 FA Cups: 1989-90, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04

4 League Cups: 1991-92, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10

10 Charity/Community Shields: 1990 (shared), 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011

2 Champions League: 1998-99, 2007-08

1 European Cup Winners Cup: 1990-91

1 UEFA Super Cup: 1991

1 Intercontinental Cup: 1999

1 FIFA Club World Cup: 2008

Bayern & Dortmund to contest the first ever all German Champions League Final at the home of football, Wembley

The German National Team has suffered badly in the hands of Spain (& Italy) in recent years!

Their starts & their up & coming crop of young talented internationals lost the 2006 World Cup semi final to Italy, the final of Euro 2008 to Spain, the semi final of WC 2010 to Spain, and the semi final of Euro 2012 to Italy!

Add to that Bayern's loss in the 2009 Champions League final of 2010 to Inter Milan & you get the picture!

But now, finally, Bayern & Dortmund have made amends for all that heartache with their respective gutsy, skilful & impressive displays throughout this year's Champions League.

Dortmund topped Real Madrid in the so called group of death, beating Real 2-1 in Germany &drawing 2-2 in Madrid when a last minute goal save the day for Mourinho & co. Then they (albeit) luckily but deservedly eliminated Malaga & hammered Real 4-1 in the first leg of the semi final.

Bayern on the other hand, have impressively accounted for Valencia, Juventus & Barcelona on their way to the final. No one can question the difficulty of their path in the knockout stages: Arsenal then Juventus then Barcelona.

And the German invasion of London is now complete: The first ever all German Champions League final, at Wembley, the home of football! (only Spanish & English teams have achieved that previously)

And whilst Dortmund & Bayern know each other only too well & the result will be hard to predict, this current Bayern side has been immensely impressive on all fronts this year & deserves to lift the trophy in their third final in the last four years, and particularly in light of the heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in last year's final in their home ground in Munich.

Bayern will take over the mantle of Barcelona as the greatest club team in the world & will rule European football for the next few years! As we, the Bayern supporters famously say:

Mia San Mia

The best four attacking sides in Europe make this one of the most exciting Champions League semi finals of all time!

Arguably, the four best teams in Europe this season have made it to the semi finals of the Champions League this year.

This means, we won't have to worry about the ultimately effective yet totally anti football tactics of De Matteo's Chelsea of last year!

The semi finalists in this year's Champions League are undoubtedly the most exciting attacking sides anywhere in Europe at the moment.

And the draw has ended up being the battle of Germany vs Spain. This is a battle that at club level the Germans have won in the recent past whilst at National level the Spaniards have been the victors.

Bayern & Dortmund have been victors vs Real Madrid in the last two years whilst Dortmund deservedly albeit luckily accounted for Malaga in the quarter finals & Bayern got the better of Valencia in the group stage in this year's competition.

Therefore, whist the media are salivating for the dream Barcelona vs Real Madrid final, they may once again be disappointed this year! Both contests are very close, and over the two leg, a combination of tactics, focus & luck will tell which two teams will prevail & reach the final at Wembley.

Whilst on paper Bayern seem to have ended up with the tougher draw, as a friend rightly pointed out to me, Barcelona are much less difficult to account for over two legs than in a one off final match. (a point that PSG nearly proved right  in the quarter finals this year & Chelsea accomplished last year).

Bayern have already been crowned Bundesliga Champions & can rest players & focus on Barcelona, although Barcelona themselves are almost guaranteed of winning the LaLiga. As a result the battle once again predictably comes down to how Bayern disrupt the mesmerising telepathic connection between the trio of Messi/Xavi/Iniesta. As seen in the quarter final second leg vs PSG, Messi only needs to be on the field to unsettle opponents!

On the other hand, Dortmund & Real Madrid know each other only too well having already played twice in the group stage (at the time many commentators predicted the winner this year would be one of those two).

On the subject of whether first match is played at home or away, I actually prefer the home game first because of the away goals rule & the fact that it makes the team less anxious in the second leg. So, advantage the Germans in that aspect.

This year's final pairing is anyone's guess. The only certainty is the finalists will be worthy of their success & one of the best 4 teams in Europe this year will win the Champions League this year.

More than ever before,  regardless of the heartache of last year's loss to Chelsea in Munich, my heart & mind are united in saying this is Bayern's time to shine & rule European football!
And the emphatic & free scoring ways they have accounted for themselves this year mean I may not be too far off the mark!

What if Barcelona didn't have Messi & Messi didn't have Xavi, Iniesta & co?

Before any criticism is directed at me for the title of this post, let me start by qualifying my personal opinion:
I am old enough to have seen many great players gracing the world game in almost 40 years as a serious football fanatic, and have watched most classic matches before my time in the 1950s & 60s to see the best of those era in action.

Based on that, I admire Messi as one of, if not the most skillful & graceful player of all time. At the same time, I rate the Barcelona team of the last decade (from Frank Rijkaard days as a coach to now) as one of the greatest teams of all time, both at club & national level.

Having stated the above, when Messi did not return after the half time due to an injury in the quarter final clash in the Champions League against PSG, it became more than ever clear to me that Messi & Barcelona must win titles without each other in order to be crowned as the greatest individual player & best team of all time respectively:

Here's the simple reason why:

Messi has won everything with the support of the incomparable Xavi & Iniesta, who have in turn led other hugely talented players in support of Messi. This was evident with the inch perfect pass of Daniel Alvez to Messi for his goal vs PSG. Therefore, Messi needs to prove his leadership qualities in a team which does not include Xavi & Iniesta in particular! ie he must lead Argentina to the World Cup triumph in order to displace Pele & Maradona from their nominal & arbitrary position as the greatest players of all time.

And the reverse simply applies to Barcelona! They are the most watched & copied team in the world & football fans across the world are lucky to be following football in the era of Barcelona, Messi & co. But Barcelona must win the Champions League & La Liga without Messi & his goal scoring feasts in order to become the undisputed best team of all time!

I repeat again,this post is not arguing the magnificent & graceful football of Barcelona & Messi! I am in awe like millions of other fans around the world! But the little niggling matter of "what if Barcelona didn't have Messi & Messi didn't have Xavi & Iniesta" continues to circle in my head every time I watch Barcelona & Messi, as I am sure it does in many other football fans' heads!

Champions League quarter Final Draw keeps most of the powerhouses apart

The quarter final pairings for this year's Champions League have been drawn, and the powerhouses Real Madrid & Barcelona avoided each other.

For the first time, UEFA has not paired the quarter finals, meaning that the semi final draw will be made after the quarter final matches are completed & decided.

I got 6 of the 8 results of the round of 16 right. Malaga, the undoubted surprise package of this year's competition stunned my tip Porto, whilst Galatasaray were a different proposition once they brought Drogba & Sneijder to their fold in the January transfer window. They beat Schalke to advance to the quarter finals.

In reality, whilst the Bayern Munich vs Juventus is the peak of the draw, the competition remains as open as it has ever been. In all fairness, the so called favourites all struggled in some way or another & were far from being fully convincing in getting to the quarter finals. In fact the so called underdogs got to the quarter finals more convincingly!

Yes! Barcelona, led by the irreplaceable trio of Messi-Xavi-Iniesta demolished AC Milan 4-0 in Camp Nou in the return leg & in the process announce themselves as the best & clear favourites. However, this was after they were outclassed 2-0 by Milan in the first leg.

Real Madrid only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United & were by all accounts fortunate to take advantage of a questionable refereeing decision to red card Nani & in the process take the game out of the clutches of Manchester United, who were dominating Real up to that point.

Bayern Munich outclassed Arsenal 1-3 in London but then started to struggle for the past few weeks & finally had to endure some nervy minutes in the return leg before losing 0-2 & only qualifying on the away goal rule.

Juventus, whilst fully in control against Celtic in both legs were hardly troubled by the draw & will have their stern test vs Bayern if they are to prove themselves as serious contenders.

PSG,on the other hand, had difficulty in convincingly disposing of Valencia & will miss Ibrahimovic in the first leg vs Barcelona

In fact Dortmund are undoubtedly the dark horse of this year's competition. They remain unbeaten in their 8 matches so far, whilst Malaga, the romantics' favourites this year & Galatasaray have done extremely well to get this far.

Quarter finals are about experience, depth in squad and also to a lesser extend the advantage of playing the first game away from home (although I don't believe in that last point). So, at least on paper, the predictions are relatively easy:

Barcelona seem to be back at their sublime best after the 4-0 demolition of AC Milan & will most probably take advantage of Ibrahimovic's suspension in the first leg & PSG's relative inexperience at this level.

Real Madrid have the experience & resources to finish Galatasaray's gallant run whilst Dortmund should put an end to Malaga's beautiful game.

Bayern on the other hand, went to the second leg vs Arsenal on the back of a convincing 1-3 win in the first leg & a run of 23 unbeaten matches in all competitions & then wobbled into a 0-2 loss in Munich. Once again all questions of mental fragility which surfaced after their heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in last year's final started to circulate.

But for Bayern's hard core fans such as me, all evidence points to a relatively low level mid season form slump & Bayern should be able to account for a very impressive Juventus side.

Paraphrasing Bayern's President after the shock defeat to Arsenal; "On a good day we are good enough to beat any of the remaining teams in this year's competition....but if we play the way we played in the loss to Arsenal, we will lose no matter which one of the remaining teams we draw!!"

And Bayern have their work cut out! They need to be at their absolute best in both legs in order to account for Juventus, remembering that Italy & Italian teams are generally Germany's & Bayern's boggy teams.

One thing is nevertheless certain: Champions League quarter final & semi finals are undoubtedly the most exciting football encounters anywhere in the world.

Bayern state their clear intention to dominate European football with the appointment of Pep Guardiola

The English football press could hardly believe what they were seeing! How could Guardiola turn his back on the Arab or Russian money of Manchester City & Chelsea & accept a lower offer from those GERMANS?!?

Clearly they had forgotten how lucky Chelsea were to overcome Pep's beloved Barcelona in the semi final of the Champions League last year with their total "Anti Football" & how that same negative tactical approach made them the unlikely European Champions with the skin of their teeth in Munich in May. This was after all against a Bayern side which more than any other team in Europe had been compared to Pep's beloved Barcelona.

And the similarities are precisely why Pep Guardiola chose Bayern over their richer "trophy buying" rivals:

Club pedigree,  culture, sound youth system & policy, financial stability & championship winning experience & quality:

a) The tradition & support, both local & international: Barcelona, with their vast international appeal & fan base, clearly have Catalan roots engraved in the Club's culture. Bayern, with their proud Bavarian routes are the same.

b) Barcelona's youth academy has produced the likes of Xavi, Iniesta & the incomparable Messi. Bayern, whilst not as sophisticated, like other German clubs have invested heavily in youth development & produced the likes of Muller, Badstuber, Lahm, Schweinsteiger & others.

c) Bayern are arguably the most financially stable club in Europe that are also capable of matching the Arab & Russian mega money of trophy buying clubs (ie currently Man City, Chelsea & PSG) as well as the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid & Manchester United.

In fact, without exception, they have produced an annual profit every year in the last few years (ever since the year the construction of their new stadium started). This is compared to the official annual losses of in excess of 100m pounds by Chelsea & Man City in the last few years.

d) Bayern have been the Champions League finalists twice in the last 3 years & whilst they lost to Mourinho's superb Inter Milan side in 2010 fair & square, they literally handed the match to the undeserving Chelsea side last May in Munich.

Nevertheless, the major irreplaceable difference between Barcelona & just about all other football clubs in the world is the once in a life time axis of Messi Xavi & Iniesta which no other club can exactly emulate, with or without Guardiola.

Therefore, whilst Bayern have made their intention to rule European football very clear, it remains to be seen if this major appointment will do the trick for them.

Their only other foray when they employed Trapatoni did not bring them continental success in the 90s. Whilst the more recent appointment of Van Gaal took Bayern to the final in 2010. Van Gaal was also instrumental in streamlining Bayern's youth development policies by installing the likes of Muller, Badstuber & Contento to the first team.

All in all, after the huge heartache of Munich final loss against Chelsea last may, seeing Chelsea subsequently get eliminated in the group stage of Champions League this year AND miss out on Pep's services, make these very exciting times for diehard Bayern fans.

We've secured the services of Pep & now the rumour is the Brazilian "Messi" ie Neymar, who has been linked with all the usual trophy buying clubs of Europe (ie Chelsea, Man City & PSG) will be joining Pep at Bayern as he embarks on emulating his success at Barcelona.

And like all other life long diehard Bayern fans around the world, I couldn't be more hopeful & excited!