Neal Collins soccer
After the fabulous nine-goal excitement of Liverpool’s Uefa Cup victory last week, Bayern Munich’s Champions League triumph over Valencia was one for the connoisseur.
This was a San Siro final that consisted purely of spot kicks. Some good, some bad, some brilliantly kept out.
But the abiding truth of football is this: justice will be done eventually. Two years ago we saw a lot of these same Bayern Munich players weeping after Manchester United’s amazing last-gasp double strike had snatched the trophy back to Old Trafford.
This time, after a roller-coaster ride that saw them go behind to a second-minute Gaizka Mendieta penalty, then miss a seventh-minute penalty of their own from Mehmet Scholl, they eventually levelled through a 49th-minute Stefan Effenberg penalty and came from behind in the penalty shoot-out too after Sergio’s awful opening miss. All very dramatic, despite the absence of scintillating football.
The hero? Oliver Kahn, the ageless David Seaman of German football. Three times he pulled out superb penalty saves in the shoot-out to lift the Man of the Match award, handed over by Pele after the whistle.
Some deride penalty shoot-outs. I love them. Is there anything more dramatic? The single-handed Kahn denial of Carboni’s spot kick was quite unbelievable, a Gordon Banks of a save.
And the Spanish had no answer to the German veteran, who finally won it when he denied Pellegrino’s 14th penalty of the shoot-out, an amazing 17th of the night.
Don’t be surprised if Bayern coach Otmar Hitzfeld turns his attention to Manchester United soon.
A German in charge at Old Trafford? You read it here first.