By Myles Palmer
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Bayern Munich 1 Valencia 1
Bayern win 5-4 after sudden death penalties
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Real Madrid versus Arsenal would have been a far better game!
This was the dullest European Cup Final since Forest-Malmo in 1979 – worse than Steaua Bucharest v Barcelona.
There was no football played because all the strikers were dummies, cheats and donkeys.
Ref Dick Jol gave Valencia a soft early penalty for handball and Mendieta buried it.
Effenberg took a dive over Angloma’s knee to get another pen within five minutes but Scholl missed it, hitting the legs of Canizares.
Effenberg equalised just after half-time, another ridiculous penalty decision, an inadvertent handball by carboni after sub Jancker fouled him.
Abysmal forward play by both sides – Elber a lazy , diving cheat, Carew a clumsy blunt instrument, Juan Sanchez utterly anonymous, Scholl more peripheral than he has ever been in his entire career, Kily Gonzales having a nightmare, and Aimar utterly clueless, the baby I always said he was in both previews of the Arsenal games.
Do I ever get sick of being right, you might ask?
Well, I was wrong about Valencia’s attack. I thought Valencia would lose, but I reckoned they would play a lot more footbal, even against the stifling cobweb of bodies that Hitzfeld placed in their path.
Baraja, Carew, Aimar and Sanchez were boys, not men, so Valencia just faded into grey oblivion in extra time. Bayern were not much better.
I sat there moaning and saying : How did we lose to both of these?
Bayern and Valencia played like losing semi-finalists.
This prestige game needed a Rivaldo, a Shevchenko, a Figo,a Vieira or Zidane to light it up.
But there was only Kahn, who made those three priceless saves in a seven round shoot-out.
God, Bayern are dull. They need new blood. They need six new players.
BAYERN MUNICH: Kahn, Sagnol, Lizarazu, Kuffour, Andersson, Linke, Salihamidzic, Scholl, Elber, Effenberg,Hargreaves. Subs: Dreher, Sforza, Sergio, Tarnat, Jancker, Zickler, Santa Cruz.
VALENCIA: Canizares,Angloma, Pellegrino, Ayala, , Carboni,Mendieta, Baraja,Kily Gonzalez, Aimar, Carew, Sanchez Subs: Palop, Deschamps, Djukic, Zahovic, Vicente, Albelda, Aurelio.
23rd May 2001