Bayern Munich will be hoping that the old adage ‘third time’s a charm’ rings true as they prepare for their Champions League Final against Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund. Having lost out to Inter Milan in 2010 and then losing on penalties to Chelsea last year, the German champions will be desperate to overcome a Dortmund side that has developed a fearsome reputation in Europe over the past year. 

Wembley Stadium is a fitting venue for the first ever all German Champions League Final but there is a wealth of international footballing talent in both teams; big spending Bayern can rely on the likes of Mario Mandzukic, Dante and Thomas Mueller, whereas Dortmund’s comparatively meagre budget  has seen them nurture players like Robert Lewandowski, Mats Hummels and the soon-to-be Bayern bound Mario Gotze into some of the most coveted players in Europe.

Dortmund may be considered underdogs but manager Jurgen Klopp is confident his side will perform in the “perfect place against the perfect opponent”. However, they will undoubtedly miss the talents of Gotze who won’t feature against his future club due to a groin injury.

One of the key battles in tonight’s final will be between Robert Lewandowski and Bayern’s centre backs Dante and Jerome Boateng. Dortmund’s Polish front man has tormented opposition defences throughout the competition with his clever movement and incisive finishing; Manchester City, Malaga and especially Real Madrid all failed to deal with him and consequently paid the price.

Without the clever wide play of Gotze to support him, Lewandowski may find himself having to work more to create chances but he can also rely on Marco Reus and Jakub Blaszczykowski for ammunition in what is likely to be his final game for the club.

Another key tussle will take place in the centre of the pitch. Both teams posses a number of world class central midfielders and their contest for the engine room may decide who goes on to lift that illustrious trophy. The evergreen Bastian Schweinsteiger will look to pull the strings for Bayern with his almost faultless distribution but he will have to contend with his compatriot Sven Bender.

The more defensively minded Bender excels at shielding the Dortmund defence by breaking up opposition play and with Nuri Sahin and Iker Gundogan alongside him, their midfield posses both passing ability and defensive stability.

The Bundesliga fixture that was billed as the dress rehearsal for tonight’s final ended in a 1-1 draw, which seems rather appropriate as there doesn’t seem to be much that separates the two teams on the pitch. Off the pitch, however, it is the battle of big spending Bayern and their big name internationals against Klopp’s well built side of bargain buys and home grown talent.

There may not be an English team in this year’s final but at least we have the privilege of hosting what is sure to be on the more memorable conclusions to the Champions League.

Jurgen Klopp

So an era has ended with Sir Alex Ferguson bringing down the curtain on an incredible career, with one Glaswegian taking over from another. David Moyes is the choice of Manchester United – a steady hand on the tiller who will already be planning what to do with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Wilfried Zaha.

But let’s imagine that things are still up in the air, a parallel universe if you will, where Ferguson has shocked the Glazers and left them with a decision to make. One man currently awaiting a Wembley date should be taken fully into consideration. That man is Borussia Dortmund’s Jürgen Klopp.

Before anyone maintains otherwise, Klopp would have undoubtedly considered the move, despite the position he is currently in. While he would publicly maintain he can continue to evolve a Dortmund squad and point to the record he has of doing it and succeeding, how many more key players can he afford to lose before the pack of cards come tumbling down.

The similarities between the two managerial careers are astounding too. They both had their first real success turning lower league clubs of smallish towns into top-flight teams. Both Ferguson and Klopp sent their respective clubs (St. Mirren and Mainz) to the almost unheard of heights as a stable top-flight club.

Not only that, they both left those clubs in the kind of shape to continue to thrive without them as St. Mirren qualified for the UEFA Cup three times in the 1980s and then won the Scottish Cup in 1987 to make it a fourth foray into Europe within a decade. Meanwhile, Mainz continue to challenge for European places on a yearly basis after Klopp left the club.

For both, the move sent them to fervently supported regional clubs on the fringes of their domestic scenes. Dortmund because of poor financial management after winning the 1997 Champions League and Aberdeen because of the stranglehold of the Old Firm. Both went on to win the league and then retain them despite these unlikely restrictions, and then go on to have successful European runs, in Sir Alex’s case, lifting the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

They also share one of the key Manchester United philosophies of generating their own young players through the youth system. At least one homegrown player has been in the United squad for 3,638 matches, while Dortmund have generated a swathe of young talent under Klopp akin to the ‘Fergie’s fledglings’ of the mid-90s.

One final key factor in Klopp’s favour is how comfortable he would naturally be with the fact that Sir Alex will retain a role at the club. This is simply due to the management structure operated in continental football, where there is a general manager above the head coach whose job it is to control finances and transfers. Those individuals normally become marginalised once a coach has the success that Klopp has enjoyed.

Ask most United fans what David Moyes’s main job will be this summer, other than just ensuring that the machine rolls on, and most would categorically state that it is to update a midfield held together by the final ‘Fergie fledglings’ – the retiring Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

Now, while there are many critics who spot the lack of depth outside the first XI at Klopp’s Dortmund, even they would not question it in a midfield area where he could field two sets of world class players, almost at the detriment of other areas of the squad.

Considering that, maybe having a midfield obsessed manager might just be what is needed for this midfield lacking side.#

Christian Streich could bring Champions League football to Freiburg with a win

The last weekend of the Bundesliga season has a huge ‘Champions League Play-off’ and a three team relegation scrap. Steve Moore has the low-down on Saturday’s Bundesliga conclusion.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAY-OFF

FREIBURG V SCHALKE

The Black Forest is about to host the biggest game of football in the region’s history as Freiburg host Schalke with Champions League football on the line.

It was looking like the opportunity for a last day decider was slipping through their fingers when Freiburg trailed Greuther Furth last week, presenting the relegated side with a chance for their only home win of the season. Two goals in the last 20 minutes however, gives them the chance to defeat Schalke and grasp Europe’s premier competition for the first time.

It would be an incredible achievement for a side that looked like they were preparing for life in the second tier when they sold Papiss Demba Cisse 16 months ago, with them cast adrift at the foot of the table. To stay up last season was an incredible achievement and the way they pushed on has been to the amazement of all observers and victory on Saturday would be a rather fitting cherry on this impressive Black Forest Gateau.

They have a chance too. Although player for player the Royal Blues are substantially a better team than Freiburg, especially with the potential for a fully fit and firing Klass-Jan Hunterlaar, but losing out would be typical of Schalke. This is the side that is famous for finding ingenious ways to miss out, finishing runners-up on six occasions without winning the Bundesliga and to finish the 50th Bundesliga by missing out on the Champions League with two defeats in their last two games.

EUROPA LEAGUE QUALIFICATON

EINTRACHT FRANKFURT V WOLFSBURG

A draw in Freiburg would open the door mathematically to make the Champions League with a seven goal win. This is doubtful for two reasons. They struggle to score goals in the first place and Wolfsburg are nine games unbeaten.

A draw would almost certainly be enough to secure the Europa League (that would mean a 12 goal win was needed by Hamburg) and with Wolfsburg having drawn six of those last nine games, it seems likely that a draw may well be the end result . Something that would be an incredible achievement for promoted Frankfurt.

HAMBURG V BAYER LEVERKUSEN

Were Wolfsburg to win, then a victory for Hamburg would take them into the Europa League. Despite the impressive season Bayer Leverkusen have had, third place is secure and they could well suffer from a lack of impetus in this one.

Hamburg’s Imtech Arena could become a real cauldron of noise if Wolfsburg were to take the lead and in those circumstances, it would be likely that the will to win may just overwhelm Leverkusen.

RELEGATION DOGFIGHT

BORUSSIA DORTMUND V HOFFENHEIM

Hoffenheim  have to win to stand any chance of playing top flight football next season and given how they have played all season, they well and truly deserve it. Playing a probable second string Dortmund side, resting for their Wembley date next week, if the likes of Roberto Firmino and Kevin Volland play to the standard they can for one afternoon, a win is not beyond the away side.

However, that seems unlikely at this late stage and Hoffenheim’s relegation would be enjoyed greatly by the majority of German football fans who see them as a village club run by a ruthless billionaire in Dietmar Hopp, unlike the typical German model.

AUGSBURG V GREUTHER FURTH

Relegated Furth had their last and possibly best chance of getting a home win in the Bundesliga last week and threw away a lead against Eintracht Frankfurt. As a result, Augsburg will see this as an opportunity to win, taking advantage of a side with nothing else to play for.

However, Furth have won their last two away games and have played unrecognisably better since they were officially relegated while Augsburg have lost their last two. Admittedly these were against Bayern Munich and Freiburg and they managed to hold Bayern for almost 70 minutes.

They know they need to get a better result than Dusseldorf to avoid the play-offs but a draw would almost certainly mean they at least avoided the bottom two. As a result, Augsburg should be expected to pick something up from this game. Whether it is all three remains to be seen

HANNOVER V FORTUNA DUSSELDORF

Following the issues with flares and pitch invasions involved in the Dusseldorf home leg of the play-off last season, everyone in the hierarchy of German football will be desperate for a Dusseldorf win in order for them to avoid the possibility of returning back to the play-offs again.

It will be interesting to see how much Dusseldorf react to the score coming in from Augsburg knowing that an equal result will keep them clear of trouble. They will surely go into the game looking to win, expecting Augsburg to do the same. That will be one difficult thing for them to manage to do as they have just one win in their last 13 and that was against Greuther Furth.

Kevin de Bruyne is on loan at Werder Bremen from Chelsea and makes the Bundesliga team of the season

With Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund contesting the Champions League Final at Wembley a week on Saturday the Bundesliga is, arguably, the most dominant of the European Leagues. Footy Matters Bundesliga correspondent Steve Moore picks his team of the season.

Goalkeeper: RENE ADLER (Hamburg)

Eyebrows may be raised here by the omission of Manuel Neuer, the German number one and goalkeeper of a side that has conceded just 15 goals in the league all season (with just an astonishing four away from home). However, there were several games this season where Bayern’s defence was so dominant anyone could have kept a clean sheet and there was a quote on the official Bundesliga Facebook page that has summed up the importance of Adler to their European challenge ‘Adler = Hamburg’s defence’.

Right Back: SEBASTIAN JUNG (Eintracht Frankfurt)

The 22-year old has already played over 100 times for Frankfurt and made such an impact in the early months of this campaign after promotion that he found himself named in the German  national squad by mid-November. There has been a slight  drop off in form post winter break but that is partially due to the poor play of the rest of the players around him, and also the off-field rumours of a summer move to a bigger club.

Centre Back: DANTE (Bayern Munich)

The lynchpin of Bayern Munich’s incredible defence this season. He was outstanding for Borussia Mönchengladbach last year and always looked a good signing to strengthen a weakness in the Munich back four. It is doubtful anyone could see how playing for the biggest club in Germany would catapult his game to such an elite level as to make a reasonable case for him being the best defender on the planet right now.

Centre Back: MATS HUMMELS (Borussia Dortmund)

The most naturally talented, dominant, and complete centre-half Germany have right now. His only weakness is that sometimes trusts his ability even more than he perhaps should.

Left Back: DAVID ALABA (Bayern Munich)

It is worth reminding yourself that David Alaba is still only 20. He has won the last two Austria player of the year awards before he had even played much at left back and now looks the most accomplished left back in the division by miles despite only really playing there for Bayern since last spring.  He will no doubt be a future Austrian captain and could well be one at Bayern too.

Defensive Midfield: ILKAY GÜNDOGAN (Borussia Dortmund)

Brought in to replace Nuri Sahin after his move to Real Madrid, the former Nürnburg man took a season to really fit in with Jürgen Klopp’s plans. This season, however, he has been a revelation and now keeps the returning Sahin out of the Dortmund side – his performances against Real Madrid in the Champions League had the whole of Europe purring. Those performances have been echoed in the league all season to such an extent that Germany now have their own Gerrard-Lampard debate, between Gündogan and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Defensive Midfield: JAVI MARTINEZ (Bayern Munich)

It would be easy to pick Schweinsteiger here, who himself has had another stunning season, maybe even one of his best. However, the work of Javi Martinez may go unnoticed but he has been the reason that this Bayern midfield has kicked on another two or three levels this season. He has patrolled and snuffed out, and been Bayern’s water-carrier to great effect; with him in midfield, the likes of Toni Kroos and Thomas Müller as well as Schweinsteiger himself have played with so much more freedom this season, in fact Martinez has been the making of Toni Kroos as a player.

Right Midfield: THOMAS MÜLLER (Bayern Munich)

Müller has been forced into a slightly wider position this term with Toni Kroos taking charge in the middle, somewhere he has played more regularly with the national team and has proved just how comfortable he is there with 12 goals and 10 assists. His speciality of arriving late at the far post to finish moves off by cutting into the area.

Attacking Midfield: ALEXANDER MEIER (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Toni Kroos and Mario Götze are both unlucky to miss out but it is hard to overlook the importance of Meier to Frankfurt’s successful campaign. When you have been the top scorer for a club from midfield in the second-tier and then catapult the side more than likely into Europe by scoring just as many times in the top-flight it’s impressive. Only Robert Lewandowski and Stefan Kieβling have found the net more times this season and that fully deserves to be recognised with a place in this team.

Left Midfield: KEVIN DE BRUYNE (Werder Bremen)

There are a lot of players as well as those I have already outlined who a lot of observers will consider deserve a place in this attacking trio more than the on loan Chelsea winger. Szabolcs Huszti has been impressive for Hannover, Franck Ribery for Bayern Munich, Rafael Van der Vaart at Hamburg, or either Jakub Blaszczykowski or Marco Reus in Dortmund. However, De Bruyne has been the one impressive element in a team that is just plain bad, is in freefall, and look destined for second tier football. He has as many assists as all those mentioned previously except Ribery, and has scored seven goals as well, doing it almost by himself.

Striker: ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI (Borussia Dortmund)

Both Stefan Kieβling and Lewandowski have 23 league goals, eight more than Mario Mandzukic and Alex Meier in joint third. While Leverkusen poacher Kieβling’s return to form is vital for a club returning to the Champions League next term, that is all he is, a poacher. Lewandowski brings absolutely every facet of forward play to his game. It is like choosing between Alan Shearer and Darren Bent. Not even the most fervent Bent fan will come down on that side of the equation.

Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar makes Schalke a different side

Steve Moore previews all the Bundesliga games that will be on English TV screens over the weekend (all times are when the games are shown on ESPN).

BORUSSIA MÖNCHENGLADBACH V SCHALKE (LIVE: 7:30PM FRIDAY)

Schalke opened up a three point lead on Eintracht Frankfurt in the race for the Champions League spot last weekend with an impressive 4-1 win over fellow challengers Hamburg.  It was quite possibly the best performance of the season from the Royal Blues and demonstrated just how important Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar is to the side with his movement and finishing making them look like a completely different side to the one playing in recent weeks while he has been out injured.

Victory would be vital for them as it would take their opponents out of the reckoning with games running out. Mönchengladbach do have decent home form however, winning their last three home games, albeit against two of the bottom three and the worst away team in the division. If they can overcome Hunterlaar though and produce a home win, it pulls them back to within two points of Schalke and brings everyone else in the race back into contention.

BORUSSIA DORTMUND V BAYERN MUNICH (AS LIVE: 9:45AM SUNDAY)

This may be the weirdest games between these two sides in a very long time. Both teams looking to rest players and not give anything away before the Champions League final. It’s almost a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ with 80,000 people watching. Dortmund boss, Jurgen Klopp even stated that he thought his probable reserve side would be ‘battered’ in this one.

HAMBURG V WOLFSBURG (AS LIVE: 12PM MONDAY)

Despite the 4-1 defeat to Schalke last week, Hamburg still sit just one point off a Europa League spot, on level points with Mönchengladbach, and were Schalke to have been beaten by them on Friday night, Rafael Van der Vaart and his side would see their outside chance of a place at Europe’s top table returning.

They face Wolfsburg though, who have catapulted themselves away from any semblance of trouble with just one loss to Schalke in their last nine games, undefeated in seven and playing with the sort of attacking verve that a team with the likes of Diego should be able to produce.

Just three games on ESPN this week but one non-televised game that is worth mentioning is:

WERDER BREMEN V HOFFENHEIM

Werder Bremen are a seriously big club in Bundesliga terms but make no mistake about it, they could well go down. Defeat to second from bottom Hoffenheim would put them only two points ahead of the club in the relegation zone with their final two games games against European chasing Eintracht Frankfurt and away to a Dortmund side who will be playing for Wembley places, picking up points elsewhere will be difficult.

Bremen are a club in crisis, with no wins in 10 and having dropped possibly their most talented player in Marko Arnautovic due to what can only be described as a late-night speeding incident. The clubs fans seem to be behind Thomas Schaaf’s decision in regards to the Austrian attacker but in such bad form, can the side actually afford to be without someone with his ability to create a goal out of nothing?

Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski

‘Powershift!’ That was the word reverberating around European football when Borussia Dortmund completed an historic double for the German game over Spain’s big two by defeating Real Madrid 4-1.

Nothing could be further from the truth though. While Bayern Munich may well be taking over the mantle of the best team in Europe, Dortmund go into the game in Madrid knowing that Wembley will be the final chance for this group of players to make a Champions League Final.

To many who observe German football at close quarters, Dortmund’s Europeam success is based on quality rather than quantity. They possess only 15 top class players, so they are already walking an injury and suspension tightrope except in central-midfield where they seem well set.

This season we have seen the lack of depth in the squad meaning they are only able to compete on one front.

Admittedly, having just won back-to-back Bundesliga titles, European success was always going to be the top target. Even so, they have needed a miracle of Solskjaer and Sheringham proportions to make the semi-finals and they have right-back Lukasz Piszczek playing with a hip problem requiring surgery because they don’t have a back up at full-back.

Recent events suggest the squad will be reduced even further in the summer. While Mario Götze leaving for Bayern may not have such a big impact on the starting XI thanks to the highly talented Moritz Leitner, it is still another top drawer player leaving the club.

Jurgen Klopp will point out that this is part of Dortmund’s structure. Every year one big name is sold and they come back stronger. It happened with Nuri Sahin, it has happened with Shinji Kagawa, and now they will look for it to happen with Mario Götze.

Losing one name might still be recoverable, certainly for an assault on one front, if not on both domestic and European fronts, but this looks set to be the year that Dortmund lose at least two. The Dortmund board may be adamant that Robert Lewandowski will still be in North West Germany next season but his contract runs out at the end of next season and he has been very vocal that he will not sign another.

Dortmund may well be forced to cash in on Lewandowski this summer as a result. Dortmund do not have an adequate replacement for him with Julian Schieber having not been up to scratch since he was brought in.

That is not surprising though because Lewandowski is, what would be called in the football manager world, the complete forward – exceptional in every facet of forward play imaginable. Radamel Falcao is probably the only striker in the world game that can offer the same qualities, and Dortmund certainly won’t be able to compete in the market for the Atletico Madrid man.

With Lewandowski’s game all about being the lone forward rather than adapting his game into a partnership, this leaves the current tactical shape preferred by Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid as the place that would best suit both player and Dortmund (who will be desperate to send him anywhere but Munich).

Of course, the chances of this are about the same as the Portuguese boss still being in charge at the Bernabeu next season. Slim to none.

For Dortmund though, the magic dust is running out and the clock is approaching midnight on the magical period that has seen the revival of the 1997 Champions League winners under Jurgen Klopp into the team of the ‘football hipster’. It therefore seems appropriate that now they have gone mainstream, it is set to come to a crashing end. All that is left to find out is whether we get the fairytale Wembley finale.

Steve Moore previews all the Bundesliga games that will be on English TV screens over the weekend (all times are when the games are shown on ESPN).

GREUTHER FURTH V HANNOVER (AS LIVE: 9:30PM FRIDAY)

Furth are still looking for their first home Bundesliga win and they have just two games to do it. This one is a great opportunity for them to do so. Hannover’s away record is fundamentally abysmal and Greuther Furth will be a much more confident side purely for getting a 1-0 win away to rivals Nurnburg in what is commonly considered the oldest derby in Germany (as well as this only being the second ever edition of this derby in Bundesliga history).

On top of that, if Furth were to win and Augsburg lose, suddenly the gap to safety for Furth would be just six points and from talk of them being the second worst team in Bundesliga history, they could end up with a shot at safety, particularly with them playing Augsburg on the final day.

FORTUNA DUSSELDORF V BORUSSIA DORTMUND (AS LIVE: 9:45PM SATURDAY)

Talking of relegation, Dusseldorf are just three points ahead of Augsburg and have not won in their last eight games (even the win preceding that was against Greuther Furth). As a result, Dusseldorf might be celebrating Real Madrid’s goal in Dortmund more than anyone else in Germany. By keeping the tie alive, even by the smallest of margins, Dortmund will almost feel duty bound to rest players ready for the second leg.

Dortmund’s first team may be exceptional but the depth is nigh-on nonexistent in places and it will give their struggling opponents the slimmest of hopes to grab a crucial point in the survival fight.

BAYERN MUNICH V FREIBURG (AS LIVE: 11:30PM SATURDAY)

A team that won’t be expecting to get an easy ride thanks to the Champions League is Freiburg. Not only are Bayern almost home and hosed into the winner’s enclosure that is the Wembley dressing room on final night, but they are chasing every record in the books of German football.

Not that Freiburg would be too keen on the side Bayern would put out if they did rest a lot of the big names, considering the last two times they have done so, they have won 9-2 and 6-1 against sides who, like Freiburg, are chasing European glory.

SCHALKE V HAMBURG (LIVE: 4:15PM SUNDAY)

With Freiburg playing Bayern, Schalke will see this as a great weekend to extend their lead over them in the race for the fourth Champions League spot to more than the one point advantage they currently have.

It is imperative that they do so too, not only to recover from a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt that has thrown the European race wide open but also because defeat to Hamburg would see the club from Northern Germany leapfrog them despite currently sitting in eighth.

MAINZ V EINTRACHT FRANKFURT (AS LIVE: 8:30PM MONDAY)

Frankfurt, along with last year’s surprise package, Borussia Monchengladbach are the two other sides that are still in the Champions League qualification race. They sit level on points with Freiburg while Monchengladbach sit a point further back on the same tally as Hamburg.

With Freiburg likely to drop points and at least one of Schalke or Hamburg guaranteed to drop points, facing a Mainz side that has lost three on the bounce and as a result has very little to play for, is the perfect situation for Frankfurt to catapult themselves well and truly into the box seat.

With one of the magic three already gone, can Dortmund retain their other stars and become a European force?

After Borussia Dortmund’s 4-1 demolition of Real Madrid on Wednesday night, following Bayern’s 4-0 trouncing of Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals, some have hailed the dawn of a new German power shift, taking over from the two Spanish giants to become the best clubs in Europe for years to come. What these punters may have not realised however, is that there is one factor hindering this that has been commanding all the discussion off the field in the last few days.

For Dortmund, after all of their hard work in trying to cement their place among the European elite, are in grave danger of becoming a ‘selling club’. If they don’t make amends soon, they are in danger of having the limelight stolen back from them indefinitely. For a classic example of a team that so nearly conquered Europe, then sold key assets at crucial times, you need only look at one club. Arsenal, whose footballing philosophies Klopp has so admired, and partially utilised in the creation of this easy-on-the-eye Dortmund side.

The loss of the starlet of their academy, Mario Götze, to Bayern for a German record 37 million Euros is one that will drive a stake to the heart of the ‘Schwarzgelben’. The 20-year-old attacking midfielder was the proud protégé of his manager Jürgen Klopp, whom it seems has been personally annoyed that Götze was sold behind his back. In interviews regarding the transfer he has sounded quite bitter in alleging that ex-Barcelona maestro Pep Guardiola’s imminent arrival as manager at Bayern was the motivation behind his player’s move, rather than the vast success Bayern have enjoyed over Dortmund domestically this season. He has suggested, for example, that if he had been ’15 centimetres smaller and Spanish’ then his star man might have stayed put.

This echoes times when Arsène Wenger has delivered similar rants bemoaning the departure of his star players. It began with the Ashley Cole tapping-up saga and has continued ever since, culminating in Wenger in 2012 accusing Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy of destroying his plans to create a rejuvenated Arsenal side by jumping ship.

Then there is the case of Robert Lewandowski, BVB’s four-goal hero who ravaged the Madrid defence. There has been will-he-won’t-he transfer rumours linking him to also join Bayern throughout the whole season, and with the star striker’s performances in European competition, more foreign clubs have joined his long list of admirers. Now, with his agent saying one thing and his club saying the opposite, it is beginning to look like another of Wenger’s helpless situations last summer.

That came, of course, in the shape of Robin van Persie, where transfer speculation was so rife that a supposed deal was struck with Manchester City as early as mid-March. After a hefty transfer wrangle, of course, van Persie signed and helped win the title for Manchester United. The to-ing and fro-ing of the dealings made van Persie’s position at Arsenal untenable, and the same thing looks destined to happen in the case of Lewandowski this summer.

If Dortmund were to ever represent a long-lasting force for Germany in European football, Klopp and his chairman would have to be more resilient than Wenger and his. However, all the signs seem to show that it is already too late.

A final thought: what are the chances of Bayern announcing the signing of Lewandowski at a strategic time as well? Say, before the all-German Champions League final? Pep Guardiola would be rubbing salt into Klopp’s wounds before the two even got face-to-face.

With Bayern holding all the card then, in my opinion, a new German duopoly will end before it has even got started. However, under Pep Guardiola, a man used to managing the most dominant and feared team in Europe, there is absolutely no reason why Bayern can’t monopolise domestically and on the continent for years to come.

Pep Guardiola takes over at Bayern Munich in the summer - is he taking charge of the best team in the world?

A few weeks ago Bayern Munich took a gamble and rested several first teamers for a game against Champions League chasing Hamburg. With the title as good as won, they prioritised their Champions League quarter-final against a Juventus side who themselves are in comfortable control of their own domestic division.

Despite the second string outfit, including a first start of the season for their third choice striker Claudio Pizarro, Bayern beat Hamburg 9-2. Pizarro scored four and crazily Bayern seemed thoroughly angry about the two goals conceded,  even though the game was completely over by the time the first Hamburg goal went in. The second was just the 13th time the Bayern goal was breached in the league this season.

They went on to stroll past the Italian champions without ever really getting out of second gear, beating them 2-0 both home and away. They added two more league victories including a 4-0 demolition of Nurnburg, making it 13 league wins in a row since Christmas and 21 games since they were defeated in the Bundesliga. Their only defeat this season was to Bayer Leverkusen in October, and they have only drawn three league games all year, winning the Bundesliga title in record time.

Meanwhile, their Champions League semi-final opponents Barcelona scraped past Paris Saint-Germain, looking distinctly ordinary without Lionel Messi and prompting some, including ESPN summarisers Steve Nicol and Stewart Robson, to call Bayern Munich favourites for the tie. This against the side that most observers still call the best in the world.

It seems natural to consider therefore that Bayern Munich are now the most feared team on the planet.

On the face of it, player for player, you are still looking at the most talented group of individuals put together on the planet in the Catalan capital – Barcelona are basically Team Spain with Messi. Because of the Real Madrid players involved in the national team, the analogy may be an over simplification but is still an example of what kind of level we are talking about.

At their best, they simply outshine anything that Bayern Munich could put out. Some of the individual comparisons may come out in the Bavarian side’s favour (Dante v Pique perhaps) but  they simply don’t match up in terms of skill level.

Cracks have begun to be shown up in the meticulous Barcelona operation though. They have conceded 33 goals in La Liga this season, not a great number but it’s more than Malaga, Real or Atletico Madrid.

In Europe weaknesses have been exploited in Barcelona’s very particular system by average sides. Over two group games they drew 3-3 with Celtic, with the Scottish champions unlucky to lose the game at the Nou Camp. Neil Lennon’s side flourished by employing a simple system; keeping the ball for as long as they could on the rare occasions they had it.

Celtic accepted they would have far less possession and when they did have the ball, they put it straight upfield and attempted to force the likes of Pique and Maschereno into aerial battles.

Meanwhile, for anyone who saw the Bayern team against Chelsea in the Champions League Final last May, this is a completely different unit to the one that entered the Allianz Arena that night. The board at Bayern were already reacting to going two consecutive seasons without winning the league – considered a disgrace in those parts – and had identified the weaknesses and were moving to eradicate them.

Jerome Boateng had been found out at the back so they brought in Dante at centre-half, who had impressed for Borussia Monchengladbach last year. For Bayern he has progressed even further and is now expected to be at the heart of Brazil’s defence for their home World Cup and is considered by some to be the best defender in the world right now.

Beyond Mario Gomez they had nobody to play up front of any real standing and even Gomez had question marks against his name when it came to the biggest occasions. So they improved by not only bringing in Claudio Pizarro, but deciding Gomez needed pushing down the pecking order himself and adding probably the most impressive forward at Euro 2012, Croatian Mario Mandzukic.

They also lacked width if either Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery were injured or off form (which was often), so they added the exciting talent of Xherdan Shaqiri and to nobody’s surprise, Ribery and Robben stayed fitter more often and the poor games were fewer and farther between.

If that was not enough, they decided to splash out on Javi Martinez to upgrade on Luiz Gustavo as Bastian Schweinsteiger’s midfield partner. It was like getting two new players, with the Basque star being everything he was in Bilbao, and Toni Kroos moving further forward bringing the very best out of his mercurial talent that neither club nor country had found until this point.

This season, in the Bundesliga alone Kroos has six goals and eight assists in the 24 games he has played (one as sub). According to the league’s own website, he has created a staggering 149 chances in the process.

Barcelona have the more skillful and talented players and when on form they can rip you to shreds in a way even Bayern can’t match. However, there is no situation Bayern can be put in where they are unlikely to win, even if they play poorly. But if Barca play badly and the opposition execute their game plan, they are more than capable of beating them.

Put simply, Barcelona at their best can make world-class players look ordinary, but Bayern Munich are a side that can play poorly and still find a way to win. I know who I’d rather play against.

Wolfsburg will look to get over the defeat at Bayern by grabbing three crucial points away at Werder Bremen

Steve Moore previews all the Bundesliga games that will be on English TV screens over the weekend (all times are when the games are shown on ESPN).

WERDER BREMEN V WOLFSBURG (LIVE: SATURDAY 5:30PM)

Two sides who have real relegation issues as the season reaches its final stages. Wolfsburg saw a decent run of form stopped stone dead  in midweek as they were ripped apart by the unstoppable force that is Bayern Munich, losing 6-1. It is no disgrace to lose by that margin to a team that beat Juventus 2-0 both home and away despite Gianliugi Buffon saying that they had played ‘to the best of their abilities’. How they react to it will be key though.

For Werder Bremen, sitting just five points outside of the relegation play-off zone, that cup result  represents the perfect time to play a Wolfsburg team that are still distinctly average. Bremen need to take advantage as they are without a win in eight and with Bayer Leverkusen away next, failure to win this one would almost certainly mean that run will stretch to ten before a huge game against Hoffenheim.

BORUSSIA DORTMUND V MAINZ (AS LIVE: SUNDAY 9:45AM)

This game might well come down to how seriously Borussia Dortmund take this and whether they use this clash as a tune-up game for the Champions League Semi-Final. If they choose to rest players, Dortmund have already proven this season that they do not have the depth to cope in several areas of the park.

Mainz will certainly hope they rest players, as they sit six points off the Europa League spots. A victory in this clash will allow the small provincial club where Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp cut his managerial teeth to put themselves back into the mix despite just one win in ten before this clash.

NURNBURG V GREUTHER FURTH (LIVE: SUNDAY 4:15PM)

Greuther Furth have 15 points and could already be mathematically relegated by the time this game is played if Augsburg pick up a point in Monchengladbach. It is the end of an adventure for the Cloverleaves but it is unlikely to be a dramatic fall from grace with a squad that will be unlikely to lose many faces and will be fine to cope in the second tier.

They have been significantly better away from home though, both of their victories and all but four of their points have come somewhere other than the Trolli Arena. If they are able to give the away support some more joy by avoiding defeat in this one, it will just about signal the end of any fading hopes of a Nurnberg Europa League challenge.

STUTTGART V FREIBURG (AS LIVE: MONDAY 1:30PM)

This one is a repeat of the German Cup Semi-Final that was played during the week. Stuttgart came out on top of that one 2-1 in a game that saw all three goals scored in the first half-hour. In essence, it was a Europa League qualifier after Bayern Munich continued their stunning form in that destruction of Wolfsburg.

It makes the rest of the season a bit of a damp squib for Stuttgart, Cup Final aside, being nine points above the drop zone. As for the side from the Black Forest, they will be desperate for the three points, not just for revenge, but also to keep up the European challenge, for which the league is now their only mode of qualification.

All Change at Hoffenheim as Andreas Muller and Marco Kurz are sacked

Steve Moore previews all the Bundesliga games that will be on English TV screens over the weekend (all times are when the games are shown on ESPN).

HOFFENHEIM V FORTUNA DUSSELDORF (AS LIVE: FRIDAY 9:30PM)

This is simply a must win game for Hoffenheim; they sit four points behind Augsburg who occupy the play-off spot and nine points away from their opponents in this one. With Dusseldorf currently occupying the last spot in the division that guarantees safety, any hope that the club will survive could well die with a defeat in this one.

As a result, they have sacked both head coach, Marco Kurz, and sporting manager, Andreas Muller. It is a move that will either galvanise the side under new coach Markus Gisdol or disrupt all the foundations and kill off any semblance of hope.

It is unquestionably a baptism of fire for Gisdol, who has previously had a stint as Hoffenheim’s reserve team boss, but there are reasons for hope with Dusseldorf having gained just two points from the last five games. However, all three losses in that period came against top four sides.

EINTRACHT FRANKFURT V BAYERN MUNICH (AS LIVE: SATURDAY 7PM)

Bayern Munich need two points to win the Bundesliga title and considering that they have won 12 and drawn just one of their 13 away league games this season, conceding just two goals in the process, it seems almost certain to come this weekend.

This is despite Frankfurt being fifth and level on points with Schalke in the last Champions League spot. It seems highly unlikely that Frankfurt will score looking at both that impressive defensive record of the Champions elect and the fact that before last week’s 3-2 victory over bottom club Greuther Furth, Frankfurt had scored just one goal in six.

On top of that is Bayern’s attacking prowess, where last week they rested several players for a game against Hamburg, a team sitting just one point off the Champions League spots, even giving third choice striker Claudio Pizarro a game. Pizarro scored a hat-trick and Bayern won by the small margin of 9-2.

HANNOVER V STUTTGART (LIVE: SUNDAY 4:30PM)

Hannover have lost a staggering 10 out of 13 away games this season, whereas at home they have a record that compares favourably with all but the best teams in the country. As proven by the fact that, despite the dreadful away run, they sit just two points off of Europa League qualification and five off the Champions League.

At home, they really do play like the Champions League is a natural habitat for them, which is a scary proposition for Stuttgart, for whom a defeat would make it four in their last five games and if it was married with a Hoffenheim win over Dusseldorf, it might just set nervous fluttering at the Mercedes-Benz Arena with Stuttgart only two points ahead of Dusseldorf.

NURNBURG V MAINZ (AS LIVE: MONDAY 8:30AM)

Both these teams have only lost one of their last ten games, an even more impressive feat when those losses have come against Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively. On the other hand you could say that Mainz have drawn six out of seven and Nurnburg have drawn five of their last seven, so a draw looks on the cards.

A draw does neither side much good though. For Mainz, it will neither help them close the three point gap to a dream Champions League spot or do enough to stave off the hordes of teams looking at pinching the Europa League spot they currently sit in. One of those teams is Nurnburg who, with an 11 point cushion as far as safety is concerned, might be more willing to attack the four point deficit they have  to Mainz in an European push.

The Bundesliga Trophy

Steve Moore previews all the Bundesliga games that will be on English TV screens over the weekend (all times are when the games are shown on ESPN).

BAYERN MUNICH V HAMBURG (AS LIVE: 10PM SATURDAY)

There is nothing more that can be said about the unstoppable force that has been the Bayern machine this term. They already have more points than they achieved at the end of other title winning seasons, dominated everyone at both ends of the park, and they can clinch the title if they beat Hamburg, and Borussia Dortmund drop points in Stuttgart.

That will mean they will have won the title with an incredible seven games to spare, or to put it another way, they will have won the title in March.

For Hamburg however, this one is the game they will look to get out of the way before they make a potential assault on the last Champions League spot. As one of four sides separated by just one point, they know that even an expected defeat to Bayern would leave them a maximum of four points behind and with the Dortmund game being before this one, they can potentially play party spoilers without pressure of their own.

STUTTGART V BORUSSIA DORTMUND (AS LIVE: 8AM SUNDAY)

Victory for Stuttgart away to Eintracht Frankfurt before the international break was a vitally important one. This is particularly true as they came from one down to defeat the high-flying visitors, catapulting Stuttgart up to 12th whereas the defeat they were faced with at one down would have left them fourth bottom with Augsburg hot on their heels to pull them into the relegation play-off place after three wins in four.

As for Dortmund, winning this one would be more about professional pride in making Bayern wait another week for their celebrations than anything else. With a four point cushion over Bayer Leverkusen and a ten point gap to being brought into the qualification battle behind, all eyes in Dortmund are focused firmly on the English ex-pat region of Malaga and the Champions League quarter-final.

GREUTHER FURTH V EINTRACHT FRANKFURT (LIVE: 4:30PM SUNDAY)

Relegation is something that most of Furth has been resigned to since Christmas and despite an upturn in form with three draws in their last four games, the lose in the middle of that run was a disappointing 3-0 reverse to second-bottom Hoffenheim.

While they will use the rest of this season to prepare to be up the right end of the second division table next season, they will be desperate to win one Bundesliga home game before the season ends.

As for Frankfurt, the defeat at home to Stuttgart meant that they now find themselves level on points with Schalke and just one ahead of Mainz, Borussia Monchengladbach and Hamburg. Failure to leave the Trolli Arena with anything less than three points will therefore be debilitating not just to their hopes of a Champions League spot, but it could strike a bitter blow in terms of qualifying for Europe at all.

WOLFSBURG V NURNBURG (AS LIVE: 2PM MONDAY)

For the new Wolves boss Dieter Hecking, this will be his first meeting with Nurnburg since leaving them to join the Wolves during the winter break. As a result, the reception he will get from away fans is sure to be tasty, and they will be desperate to come away with three points from their former boss.

If Nurnburg could manage to do that, it would not only make them as good as safe, which is the primary objective for them in every top flight season, but also leave Hecking looking even more nervously over his shoulder. That is because, despite the fact that they sit seven points above the play-off spot, that would likely be greatly reduced with Augsburg hosting Hannover, who have the worst away record in the division.