Bayern Munich surprise themselves in reaching final (Feature)

By Barry Whelan May 18, 2010, 6:06 GMT

Berlin - The most important result of the season for Bayern Munich may have Girondins Bordeaux 2 Juventus 0.

Had Juventus matched Bayern's victory over Maccabi Haifa that same evening, the Germans would have been long out of the Champions League. And there is a good chance that Louis van Gaal would have soon been out of the door at Saebener Strasse.

It had been a turbulent month for Bayern in November. Two defeats in the Champions League to Bordeaux following a goalless draw with Juventus in the Allianz Arena meant Bayern's European dreams were close to over.

Their Champions League fate was no longer in their own hands, and with the team also falling behind in the league the inevitable talk of a 'crisis' was doing the rounds.

Van Gaal had arrived at Bayern after winning the Dutch league title with AZ Alkmaar. His pedigree was beyond doubt after a Champions League title with Ajax and success at Barcelona. But perhaps his reputation as a disciplinarian had gone before him.

According to the Bild newspaper, Bayern players did not take easily to van Gaal's strict ways which even extended to the players' table manners. The Dutchman was also criticised for his team selections after using 18 different line-ups in 18 games.

'Is it over on Saturday?' Germany's respected Kicker magazine headlined ahead of the Bundesliga match with Schalke in early November. Bayern drew that game but van Gaal was not out of the firing line.

An indication of the turmoil within the club were the heavy fines it slapped on Philipp Lahm for a newspaper interview in which he criticised the club's perceived lack of a philosophy and on Italian Luca Toni - since loaned out - who had left the stadium early after being substituted during a match.

Later that month, with the players apparently still uncertain about their coach and suffering from a collective loss of confidence, some statements from the board indicated the management would be taking stock during the winter break unless performances improved.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Bayern Munich came from behind to hit four goals and send Juventus crashing out of the Champions League in a night in Turin which proved to be a turning point in the season.

Then Bayern came back from the brink of defeat in knock-out-round ties against Fiorentina and Manchester United, both won on the away goals rule before the Germans eliminated Olympique Lyon on a 4-0 aggregate in the semi-finals.

Almost to their own surprise, Bayern are now in the final in Madrid and on the verge of winning a fifth European Cup or Champions League title, the first since 2001.

The Bundesliga title won in the end with a five-point cushion over Schalke 04 and the German Cup, after an impressive 4-0 victory over Werder Bremen in the final on Saturday, is already theirs. A treble unprecedented in club history beckons. Nobody is questioning van Gaal now.

The players have long warmed to the ways of the coach who has shown in the team's recent triumphs that he also knows how to let his hair down. He has received no end of plaudits from the board who must indeed be relieved that all has turned out well following the ultimately unhappy Juergen Klinsmann regime.

All bodes well for Saturday's encounter with Inter Milan in Madrid for European football's top crown, especially giving the manner of Bayern's demolition of Bremen in the cup final.

'The game reflected a natural extension of our form in the second half of the season. Right now we are playing football of the highest quality, as our opponents have to admit,' said president Uli Hoeness.

'The team is a better footballing side than that of 2001. At the moment we are dominating the domestic opposition, which we didnt do then. Where we show our class is in our mental strength as well as our footballing skills. I am extremely proud of the team, but also of everyone in the club. Now we have won the double and we have nothing to lose in Madrid. We will do all we can to achieve the impossible.'

Van Gaal had always insisted his team changes at the start of the season were forced upon him in view of injuries in the first half of the season to key players such as Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.

Robben has been a match-winner of several occasions, justifying a 25-million-euro (32 million dollars) fee to Real Madrid. Up front, Croatian Ivica Olic, a free transfer from SV Hamburg, has also scored key goals.

Van Gaal's first team now more or less picks itself, and it is noticeable that while the German national team's two main strikers, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose, have largely been consigned to the bench, there have been no public murmurings of dissent.

A feature of van Gaal's first season has also been his willingness to put his trust in younger players, including midfielder Thomas Mueller and defender Holger Badstuber whose first seasons in the first team have put them in Germany's provisional World Cup squad.