2013 STANLEY CUP FINAL has Arrived

Well after 65 games for the Chicago Blackhawks and 66 games overall for the Boston Bruins it comes down to 7 more games possibly to decide the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Champions. Both sides have gone through the pain barrier and pushed themselves to get the chance to hold aloft Lord Stanley Cup once again as the two teams from the Eastern and Western Conference respectively meet for Game One at the United Center in Downtown Chicago on Wednesday evening.

This however will not be a new experience for the two teams and clubs as both have played in recent Stanley Cup finals, Chicago Blackhawks won the Cup back in 2010 when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of a very physical series as the battle between Chris Pronger and Dustin Byfuglien was a highlight as both gave as good as they got.

chicago in 2010

It also ended in bizarre fashion as Patrick Kane shot from a tight angle and led Kane to throw his helmet, gloves and stick in the air along with his team mate to celebrate the goal. Problem was no one saw it go in apart from Kane himself who skated the whole length of the ice to celebrate with Antti Niemi , who himself looked very confused over the events. Play was reviewed and shown it did go but lodged it`s self under the padding in the nets. Chicago had broken the curse of 49 years and finally brought the cup back to Chicago.

For the Black and Gold of the Boston Bruins it was 2011 that saw them lift the Cup as they beat the Vancouver Canucks in a deciding Game 7 which was a bad tempered final to be fair, As we had the Canucks forward Alex Burrows alleged to have a bite on Patrice Bergeron finger in Game 2 and Game 3 when a scrum by the nets happens Milan Lucic then stuck his glove near Burrows mouth to try and wind him up over the incident and Burrows laughed it off as you could say he didn`t "bite"!

In the same game Aaron Rome of Vancouver was given a game misconduct as he levelled Nathan Horton at mid ice and gave the Bruins forward a severe concussion to which he didn`t play another game in the series after the hit to the head. Even though the Welland Ontario native was ruled out of the playoffs, that didn`t mean he wasn`t going to be involved somehow in these finals and so when reach Game 7 in Vancouver. He was given a bottle of water that was some of the ice from Boston arena melted into water and emptied the contents on to the ice as a way of trying to use it as a way of playing on home ice when away.

boston in 2011

That hit he received Horton, swung the series in Boston favour as they seemed energised and focused more from then on, and so they took it a game 7 and went on to win 4-0 at the Rogers Center in Vancouver after a 21 year cup drought they had won it. Also it was contrast of emotions as while the players celebrated inside the arena, outside saw the arena saw a massive scale Riot in Vancouver as they failed to win the Cup once again.

This shortened season has seen the Hawks look incredible and the stats back it up with them being ranked first in the NHL overall as they were superior in all departments on the ice and they carried that form into the playoffs too as they overcome a spirited Minnesota Wild team as beat them in the first 4 - 1 in the best of Seven series. As Minnesota netminder Josh Harding was the story of the series as the goaltender had been told five minutes before game 1 he was playing , as the Regina Saskatchewan native has been dealing with M.S (Multiple Sclerosis) and missed lot of the season over it but he played excellently all series.

Boston was took all the way by their fellow North Eastern Division rival the Toronto Maple Leafs as they went to a Seven game series with them pulling off one of the most dramatic comebacks in Playoffs history, as they were 4-1 down in the final period and looked dead and buried till 10 minutes from the end Nathan Horton started the recovery off with further goals by Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron tying the game with 51 seconds to go. It was left to Bergeron to score the goal that took the Bruins through as he scored the Overtime winner to send the Bruins through to the Eastern Semi finals against the New York Rangers.

As we moved to the Semi finals stages, Boston saw off the challenge of the New York Rangers winning the series 4-1 as the Rangers were out played all series as they were bullied and were controlled by the Bruins as Rangers Forwards struggled to find any firepower especially Rick Nash, so when they did they found netminder Tuukka Rask in the Boston nets in miserly mood.  It took Game 4 for the Rangers to get a glimmer of hope in the series as they won at Madison Square Garden 4-3 in Overtime to get to a game 5.

Chicago had a tough second round series as they came up against an "Original 6" side in the rejuvenated Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings had only just qualified for these playoffs having had to secure their spot on the final week of the regular season, so the series kicked off in Chicago and the Blackhawks made a good start as they took game 1 at the United Center 4-1 as Detroit looked outclassed by their Central Division rival.

Detroit though, struck back with a 4-1 win of their own in Game 2 and with further wins coming at home in games 3 & 4 for the Red Wings that saw them move to within one win of the Conference finals, it was also Game 4 that was the turning point in ther series as well.

As after the Blackhawks were blanked by the Red Wings 2-0 at the Joe Louis Arena, It meant the Hawks mentality had to change and it did. As they came out for game 5 a different side for the rest of the series.

With them overturning a 3-1 deficit ,as they came back to win the series in a game 7 decider with Brent Seabrook scoring the Overtime series winner and dumped the Red Wings out of the playoffs ,after it looked nailed on for Detroit to sail through.

The Conference finals saw both Stanley Cup finalist have relatively easy passages to the big dance.

COREY CRAWFORD

As Chicago faced the reigning and Defending Stanley Cup Champions the Los Angeles Kings, in was proved to be a series with the spotlight on the net minders. As Corey Crawford put in a great performance for the Blackhawks while at the other end of the ice, LA Kings goaltender Jonathon Quick had a series and if honest a playoffs he`d like to forget. He was far from the confidence goalie of last season where Quick was their go to guy a lot last year ,This year he has a poor run of form in the playoffs and error strewn one too, even though he was ranked in the top 5 net minders of the playoffs. 

PATRICK KANE

Chicago controlled the series from game 1,as their fast attacking play brought them their rewards after they took a 2-0 series lead at home and although they dropped game 3 in LA, they made up for it taking the next 2 games including the clinching game 5 where it went to double overtime and saw Patrick Kane score a hat trick to put his Chicago Blackhawks side back in the Stanley Cup finals with a quick one time release past Quick for a 4-3 victory.

In the Eastern conference e finals, Boston faced the daunting task of taking on the Second seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, where it was predicted that Pittsburgh was far too strong for the Bruins and they`d knock them off in 5 games maybe.

However “NO ONE”! could have predicted the outcome of this series at all, as Game 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh was won by an organised, hard working and efficient Boston side, as they restricted the Penguins shots and was making the most of their chances that the Bruins had made ,as they took Game 1 with a shutout of the Pens in their own barn.

Game 2 saw the Bruins crushed the home side with a stunning 6-1 victory at the Consol Energy Center , as they took a commanding 2-0 series lead back to TD Gardens in Boston.

TUUKKA RASK

As the series moved to Boston the series was all but ended when Boston won a thrilling and exciting Game 3 in Double Overtime to see off the Penguins 2-1 and so made Pittsburgh lose heart .

It was now all but left to put the final nail in the coffin in game 4 as they swept this attacking Penguins side and with the forwards they had capable of firing goals in like Jerome Iginla, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, All these forwards were kept quiet by Zdeno Chara and back checking forwards and not forgetting Tuukka Rask , who was a revelation in the nets for the Bruins and his run in these playoffs has been a mirror image to Tim Thomas performances back in their Cup winning season.

ZDENO CHARA

This upcoming STANLEY CUP FINALS will see “Speed v Strength”. As Chicago will use their quickness to try and frustrate the Bruins, while Boston will use their physical play to stop Chicago fast play and rely on Rask and the forwards to do their duty and hope their power play can click too. 

Chicago had their points spread around the team in these playoffs , while Boston had David Krejci lead the Offensive leaders in these playoffs with 21 Points and 9 goals, along with team mate Nathan Horton scoring 7. The Blackhawks had Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell joint top for Chicago on 8 goals apiece. 

So this should be a very entertaining and intriguing series to say to the least, all we need now is for the puck to drop as we await the countdown to the series start now.

Belle Vue get back to winning ways

BELLE VUE  ACES  49 

PETERBOROUGH  PANTHERS  41

Ace star :Matej Zagar

Belle Vue returned back to winning ways after their dreadful display at Perry Barr last Wednesday night where they were thrashed by the Birmingham Brummies . Only Matej Zagar and Craig Cook put up any kind of resistance for the Aces, So Monday saw the Aces at home to face the Peterborough Panthers for the 3rd time this season with Belle Vue holding two victories over the East Anglian side this season, having previously beat them down on their travels at the East of England Showground a few months back.

Belle Vue almost got the perfect start in the opening race when Matej Zagar was continuing his good form this season , as he launched out of the gates along with his team mate Artur Mroczka. The Aces looked to be heading to a 5-1 score line when Mroczka hit a rut and moved out wide towards the fence allowing Dane and ex-Ace Kenneth Bjerre to pass up the inside of him and make it a 4-2 instead.

In the reserves race another former Aces rider in Patrick Hougaard made his return, As he wanted to prove a point, as he has had a woeful season this year and was terrible earlier in the season when the Panthers came to town last.

But in recent weeks there had been signs of getting back to the old Patrick as he got a maximum against the Poole Pirates not long ago.

Hougaard is currently on loan to the Panthers from Belle Vue for the season and the young Danish rider made a fantastic gate with his team mate Dakota North in heat 2, had it not been for North doing a wheelie down the back straight then Peterborough would have took maximum points, As it was the Aces pair of Kauko Nieminen and Ales Dryml passed to make it a shared heat as North lifting relegated him to the back.

Heat 4 saw a horrific crash involving Hougaard, The Dane was took to hospital following a tumble he took with his team mate as Peterborough once again made the gate and his front wheel caught the back wheel of partner Kenni Larsen who came across him, which led to Hougaard clipping Larsen back wheel and bounced on the track, against the fence and leading him to be motionless on the track as he was knocked unconscious from the crash. 

Paramedics rushed to him along with riders and the ambulance was immediately called for by the track people working on him, he was loaded into the back of the ambulance after a 10 minute delay and it was another bit of bad luck for the poor Danish rider.

In heat 6 Zagar was left to fend for himself as his Polish team mate Mroczka was having yet another stinker of a meeting for Belle Vue, Matej Zagar chased down Kenni Larsen for 3 laps getting closer and closer till he eventually passed him up the inside, sending the hosts fans into raptures as the Slovenian rider then went on to win the race and keep the 6 point lead for the hosts, with the score at 21-15. 

Dakota North was then forced to take 4 races on the trot, as he came in for Ryan Fisher who broke the tapes and so North was drafted into the line up as he his fellow reserve Hougaard was withdrawn due to the crash earlier.

North won with ease as Nieminen followed behind him, with Magnus Zetterstrom struggling in 3rd place trying to stop Linus Sundstrom from getting through, but the Swede out raced him to the line and so gave the Panthers their first heat advantage of the night picking up a 4 - 2.

In the following race North was proving to be useful reserve as he took the next race as well with Mroczka and Dryml packing into the minor places for a 3-3.

His good work came undone though, as he came last in his 4th race in a row which saw Kenni Larsen picking up the win for the Panthers and Aces Craig Cook and Kevin Wolbert grabbing second and third place after they both passed the Aussie.

Jason Attwood the Aces team manager , then made a change as he took out Artur Mroczka for Ales Dryml and the move paid off. As the Captain and Zagar got an easy 5-1 to make the score 34 - 26 for the hosts. Both riders had ridden together on Saturday night in the World Pairs so they had a good idea of how to team ride.

Craig Cook then won heat 12 with that man Dakota North there once again , as the Aces took a 4 - 2 heat win with Dryml grabbing third place and made it a ten point lead, meaning Peterborough chance to do a tactical was too late now.

In the penultimate race, Dakota North finished off his night with a win as he and Sundstrom got a 4 - 2 and saw them trailing by 8 points. This gave the Panthers a good chance of getting something from the meeting, as if the away side loses by 7 or under you gets a bonus point.

It came down to Cook and Zagar to avoid a heat loss for the Aces to take all 3 points on offer. And that`s just what they did, as Kenneth Bjerre took the race win to deny Zagar a maximum , but Cook had a good go at Bjerre for the 4 laps chasing him down but just couldn`t find the speed to pass him. Belle Vue took all three points on offer and seen them move above the Poole Pirates in the table and face the challenge of the reigning champions in the Swindon Robins next week at home.

BELLE VUE  ACES 

1. Matej Zagar: 3 3 3 3 1* =13+1
2. Artur Mroczka: 1 0 1* =2+1
3. Craig Cook: 2 3 1* 3 2 =11+1
4. Kevin Wolbert: 1* 1 2 0 =4+1
5. Magnus Zetterstrom: 1 0 2 R =3
--------------------------
6. Kauko Nieminen: 2 2 1* 2 =7+1
7. Ales Dryml : 1* 3 2 2* 1=9+2

PETERBOROUGH  PANTHERS

1. Kenneth Bjerre: 2 2 3 2 3 =12
2. Nicolai Klindt: 0 0 0 0=0
3. Ryan Fisher: 3 exct 0 0 =3
4. Linus Sundstrom: 0 1 1 1=3
5. Kenni Larsen:2 2 3 1* 0 =8+1
-------------------------- 
6. Dakota North: 0 1* 3 3 0 2 3 =12+1
7. Patrick Hougaard: 3 f=3 withdrawn

"ZORRO" & ACES Clip the Eagles wings

Pic from: MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS.CO.UK

BELLE VUE ACES 54 - 34  EASTBOURNE EAGLES 

Monday evening saw the imperious Belle Vue Aces turn on the style as Maximum man Magnus Zetterstrom nicknamed "Zorro" in Speedway circles, notched up a full house as the rampant Aces thrashed the Eastbourne Eagles at Kirkmanshulme Lane on Monday night winning 54 - 34.

Eastbourne travelled up north with a guest pairing of ex-Aces in the the shape of Morten Risager and Kevin Doolan in their side, as replacements for Adam Shields who has chosen to quit speedway once again due to problems and the injured Russian rider Denis Gizatullin.

Belle Vue were hoping to get back to winning ways after they had lost to Lakeside a couple weeks ago, so a win at home was crucial due to the sides around them in the league had ridden more matches than the Aces, as they have found themselves nearer the bottom of the league after a Miserable month of May for the Manchester outfit.

Weather for the meeting was sunshine along with blue skies and with the tractor going round spraying the track with water, it was hoped to keep the dust down as it was a very warm evening and apart from that it looked a good track once again.

In the Opening heat it saw a shared heat as the Eastbourne pair of Bjarne Pedersen & Lukas Dryml make the start, as both got out of the gate and on a 5-1, That was till Dryml fell whilst in second place. Matej Zagar and Artur Mroczka took the opporunity to get by for a 3-3 and with another 3-3 in heat 2 it took the 3rd Heat to finally see a side gain an advantage in the contest.

Sadly for the Aces it was the Visitors who went in front, as after Timo Lahti and Simon Gustafsson scored a 4-2 heat win with Simon Gustafsson coming under Craig Cook for the race to the line and and made the score line 10-8 in favour of the Eagles.

Belle Vue responded and then took control of the meeting from then on, as in the next heat Magnus Zetterstrom made the gate and was joined up front by his team mate Ales Dryml, as he out raced Cameron Woodward down the back straight getting the drive ahead of the 3rd & 4th bend on the first lap.

Dryml did well to hold off the advancing Woodward for the whole race as he was all over the Aces Captain, but the Czech man held on in doing so helped his side take the lead in the meeting with a 5-1 race win. In the following race it saw Craig Cook & Kevin Wolbert score another a big 5-1 as they beat the Eagles Bjarne Pedersen and Ales Dryml brother Lukas, as they got a maximum heat advantage and saw the Cumbrian rider Cook, clock the quickest time of the season on the Belle Vue track in a time of 58.4

Heat 6 Saw GP Star Matej Zagar pull off a magnificent move as he went round Cam Woodward on the 3^rd bend and had the cut back under Kevin Doolan on the 4^th bend, as he powered to the front and clocked up an impressive 58.9 in the race too considering he was in 3^rd place for the first lap, it also seemed the Slovenian had certainly got to grips to the Belle Vue Circuit this season as it was reminiscent of ex World Champion Jason Crump in the way he carved through the field too. However it was Polish rider Artur Mroczka having yet another inconsistent meeting as he rode well in couple of races then finished last and looked like a novice at other times too.

It was Seventh heaven for the home side, as the Aces grabbed yet another Maximum heat advantage, With Zetterstrom speeding round the outside of Gustafsson and got him on the 3rd bend of the opening lap and with Zorro pulling away, his team mate Kauko Nieminen passed fellow Finnish rider Timo Lahti for second place and as they entered the last lap.

Simon Gustafsson then hit a bump and slid off towards the safety fence and looked at one point as if the Swedish rider would stay down and try to force a re-run, seeing as his team mate was in last place. He tried to get off the track and reach halfway across the track before the red lights came on for the race to be stopped, in the interest of safety.

The referee awarded the result to the Aces with yet another 5-1 coming home to the hosts, and they were building up a good lead as it was 10 points the lead at this stage as it was 26-16 and they were flying, no pun intended!

Things got even better as Arthur Mroczka came to the party finally as he made the gate and took off into the sunset as Morten Risager tried to put a challenge together, but the Danish reserve for Eastbourne couldn`t put anything together in way of a challenging the Pole, While at the back the Dryml brothers battled out who would scored the 1 point as Ales held off his brother trying to pass him and held on to 3^rd spot as they extended the lead to 12 points now.

Heat 9 saw the Australian Cam Woodward get a jet propelled start from the gate leaving the other riders trailing in his wake, as the field was a bit spilt with Doolan nowhere at the back as his team mate won the race to give Eastbourne only their 3rd heat win of the match.

Belle Vue struck back in what was a bitter sweet heat for the Aces, As the pair of Zagar and Mroczka were on a 5-1 together and looked in no danger as Lahti was no threat at all, Mroczka messed up on the final bend as went too wide and let Lahti happily swoop up the inside of him as he raced him for the line and beat Artur to make it a 4-2 instead of a maximum 5-1.

Artur wasn`t happy at all ,as he came round shaking his head and no doubt was using some colourful language in his native Polish.

That then brought out Bjarne Pedersen going for double points as he donned the black and white helmet colour in Heat 11.

Pedersen had got out the gate alongside Zorro and it was the Swede that managed to get the drive ahead of Bjarne coming out of turns 1 &2 as managed to hold off the Eastbourne number 1 rider, so for 4 laps held a good good racing line blocking him off and stopped him getting the 6 points, Belle Vue managed to limit the damage for a 4 - 4 heat score line.  

Eagles management made the decision to put Simon Gustafsson in as their final double points rider in the next race, This time around it worked to some extent, as they got a 5-3 heat advantage out of it. Craig Cook had made a great gate and the rising British star held off Gustafsson on the back straight getting the drive and never looked back as he held on to the lead and was never challenged after that. Kevin Doolan took the third minor place as they got their first heat advantage since heat 3.

Heat 13 saw a re-run ,as in the first attempt it was deemed Matej Zagar was a bit too quick for the referee liking from the gate, however as the red lights came on Zetterstrom reared up and nearly had the bike hit him as he went backwards.

Magnus Zetterstrom does a flip!

In the re-run, The Eagles pair of Pedersen and Woodward got out before the Aces did, however Magnus Zetterstrom passed them both coming off bend 2 as Zagar cruised past both Eagles as well to set up a 5-1 for the Aces and thanks to Zorro he guided Zagar round to which the Slovenian slowed and let the Swede get the win and take full points to make the score 54-34.

Heat 14 Timo Lahti was kicked out for moving twice in a row as his back wheel was spinning while the tapes were down, which isn`t allowed and so the referee put the red lights on to disqualify him and in came Kevin Doolan to replace him in the race.

Kauko Nieminen and Kevin Wolbert both made a great start ahead of the Eagles and then Wolbert lost 2nd place to Doolan, till he stormed up the inside of Doolan and got into back in second position with a fantastic move indeed.

Heat 15 saw the nominated riders race and had the Eastbourne pair of Bjarne Pedersen and Cam Woodward ride against the home pairing of Matej Zagar and Kevin Wolbert.

Zagar shot out of the traps and went off, Wolbert had two near crashes as he nearly hit the fence when he hit a rut on the 4th bend and scraped the air fence and did the same next lap on the 4th again trying to gain on the Eagle rider, How managed to stay on was amazing as Woodward took second place and relegated him to the back ,so the meeting finished like it start off with the a share of the points and the Aces won the meeting with an incredible 20 point difference in the score line.

Belle Vue: 

Matej Zagar 12+2, 

Magnus Zetterstrom 12 (MAX) 

Craig Cook 8 

Kevin Wolbert 7+3

Kauko Nieminen 6+1 

Ales Dryml 6+1

Artur Mroczka 6

Eastbourne: 

Bjarne Pedersen 11

Cameron Woodward 6+2

Kevin Doolan (G) 6+1

Timo Lahti 6

Simon Gustafsson 5

Morten Risager (G) 3+1

Lukas Dryml 0

Below average Sport Podcast

This edition contains 2 friendlies between CITY v chelsea OR bits i remember!

Champions league, Pellegrini, 

The British and Irish lions tour,

NHL Playoffs update and MANCHESTER PHOENIX NEWS!

Along with guest co-host 

Mark from:  Theangrybudgie.blogspot.com!

Bayern Champions of Europe

  

BAYERN MUNICH    2    -   1     BORRUSSIA  DORTMUND

pic from: Yahoo sports

Arjen Robben scored a late goal to crown Bayern Munich as the Champions of Europe, as they beat their main rival all season in the Bundesliga in Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at Wembley. It was Dortmund that was the best side as they came out of the traps flying.

Bayern struggled to keep up with the fast paced game that Dortmund were playing as their defence was being terrorised by the Reus and Lewandowski upfront for the Yellow & Black shirts.

pic from: metro

Bayern had to try and soak up all the pressure that was being put onto them, as the first chance fell to Lewandowski as his curler from just outside the area was on target and Manuel Neuer had to tip his effort over the bar for a corner.They had equally another good chance, as from the resulting Corner the ball was whipped in the area and came to Blaszczykowski, whose first time shot was down to the goalkeepers bottom left corner but Neuer made yet another good stop to avoid Borussia from leading.

Bayern weren`t in the game at all as when they had possession there was always 2 to 3 Dortmund players hassling the Munich players and dispossessing them easily and was it clearly getting to frustrate the men in red shirts.

The men in the Yellow & Black stripes had another chance, as this time it was Reus that went close as they broke down the middle of the pitch and a pass found Reus who ran in unchallenged towards goal and let a shot go with the Munich keeper once again called into action as he made a save that went for a corner kick.

Dortmund continued the peppering off Bayern`s goal as Bender had the ball in the box as his shot went through a couple of legs with a curling low shot that beat the defenders but not the keeper, as he made a very good save to keep the score at 0-0.

Neuer had made more saves in this one game alone than he had in possibly the group games combined, he seemed to enjoy the challenge as Weidenfeller in the Dortmund goals had  just been a spectator as he watched his side play fantastically well without scoring.

pic from: yahoo sports

On 26 minutes clearly the frustration was showing now for Bayern Munich, as Franc Ribery lashed out at Lewandowski with a elbow that caught the Polish striker  Lewandowski in the head and that move seemed to kick start Bayern in attack as they started to play better then.

Bayern finally found some attacking threat as Mandzukic gets a header from a perfect cross but he couldn`t beat Weidenfeller in nets as he tipped it over for a corner kick.

Dante was then given a yellow card for bringing down Blaszczykowski and Munich were right back in this contest now.

Arjen Robben then had a great chance for Bayern as the Dutch midfielder was put through one-on-one with Weidenfeller, but the shot stopper came out to narrow the angle and made a good block on the shot and had Robben`s teams mates infuriated with him as they were left unmarked and the better option for him was to pass across. This was quite an open game as chances started to fall end to end for both sides as it made for an enthralling final and a very entertaining Champion’s League final indeed.

Neuer made another save from Lewandowski as the striker avoided his marker and got in the box but as he tried to fire from a tight angle, Neuer closed the man down and gathered the ball.

pic from: flickr.com

It was approaching half time and Bayern or Robben wasted yet another chance as a long ball was sent up field and as the ball evaded Hummels in the Dortmund defence, the Dutchman then poked the ball forward and Weidenfeller got the brunt of the ball against his chops.Robben had a chance to set up a Bayern attack, but he couldn`t get his cross over as Subotic pressured him and could only win a corner for his side.

Half time was signalled and so we both sides went into the break deadlocked at 0-0 as this All-German final was an exciting end to end game of football with plenty of moments and the second half was sure to follow suit with both sides nicely poised level.

Second half of this final got under way and saw the game become stop start with play being slowed down, as fouls were traded between sides and made for a slow start to the second period of play, but the tempo of the game seemed to help Bayern out, as the constant fouling was disrupting Dortmund face paced approach to the game.

Bayern had their first attack on goal as a corner was flicked on to Mandzukic, and his header on goals didn`t have much on it and was cleared away.

pic from: goal.com

Finally the breakthrough came in the 60th minute when Franc Ribery found Arjen Robben who rounded the keeper and passed across goals to the waiting Mandzukic and the striker tapped home for an easy goal that gave the Bavarian fans in red behind that goal something to cheer, as they took the lead much like last year in the Champions League final.

Bayern nearly doubled their lead a couple minutes later on when a fantastic ball across the pitch found Thomas Muller who took control of the ball but his strike on goal was sadly lacking in power.

pic from: Dailymail

Borussia Dortmund was then awarded a penalty after Dante attempted clearance missed the ball completely and found Reus stomach instead. 

Guendogan was the man given the job to try and put the team on level terms again and he did so, as he dispatched his penalty past Neuer for 1-1 and made it game on again.

Both sides had chances with Hummels blazing a shot over high and wide for Borussia Dortmund, Then Bayern should have made it 2-1 when a ball across the face of goal was cleared off the line by a sliding Neven Subotic from the oncoming Arjen Robben.

  

Robben and Grosskreutz were then both given yellow cards each as they had a disagreement over Grosskreutz trying to get a foul for his side, Which eventually saw the referee dish out the yellow cards to both players.

 Lewandowski then scored an absolute screamer from 30 yards out in the top corner which unfortunately for him the Polish striker had been flagged already for offside.

Weidenfeller then produced a great save off a Alaba strike from 20 yards out to keep the scores level, Bayern came again when Muller beat the offside trap as he ran down the middle of the pitch. As he headed goal wards he was coming under pressure from Subotic and his attempted pass to Mandzukic was hit heavily to him and ended up hitting the side netting instead

Lewandowski was lucky to stay on the pitch as he trod on Jerome Boateng ,as the German defender screamed in agony over the incident and saw Klopp the Dortmund coach have a little word with him to cool down his striker as he was lucky to stay on the field.

pic from: reuters

He then had another crack on goal, as this time Schweinsteiger blasted a fierce strike from 20- yard which the Dortmund keeper yet again pushed away for a corner kick and the German Champions were edging it now.We headed into the final 10 minutes of this all German Champions League final with it nicely poised at 1-1 and unsure as to where the winner would come from. Bayern had a couple of chances as Weidenfeller had to be alert to the danger as he pushed a ball round for a corner, and from the corner Schweinsteiger shot high into the gods of Wembley stadium with an effort.

Then after all the shots the Dutchman had missed and failed to put home he finally scored what turned out to be the winner, as with 88 minutes gone on the board a long ball was kicked up field to Franc Ribery and his back heel found Arjen Robben who scuffed effort went in to make it 2-1 for Bayern Munich and had some of the Dortmund players floored with the goal as they couldn`t believe it.

pic from: Getty images

The Munich fans behind the goal went ballistic with joy and was a different feeling from last year`s final when they conceded a late goal so this year they got the late goal to make up for the heartbreak of losing on home ground.

Three additional minutes were added but nothing came of them and so as the whistle went Bayern players and fans alike celebrated winning the Champions League trophy and seeing them secure the Second part of their historic treble this season.