I don't have a habit of writing reports on games I only saw on TV instead of live at the stadium. Sometimes you see a game so great that you need to make an exception though. Yesterday was such an event when in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup, Getafe CF and Bayern Munich played a game that will be remembered for many years to come.
I am usually not much of a fan of the final stages of European cups and especially not of the Champions League. Moreover, I dislike the Champions League and rarely watch any CL game not involving my own favourites Rosenborg. The Champions League just does not match my own vision in football. I like to discover new teams, new stadiums, new players and sets of fans from far away countries, teams from places I have never been before and from leagues I didn't know well yet. The Champions League used to be great for that back in the days when it was still restricted to teams that had won their own domestic league. Nowadays however the nr 4 from England gets into the Champions League more easily than the actual champions of some smaller more amateur-esque league. This is totally unfair in my opinion. The set-up of the CL is made in a way only to protect the current status of the existing top teams: in the way the CL is set up, every year the same teams get into the final stages of the CL, so every year the same teams get richer and richer. The gap between them and the teams from other countries in Europe gets bigger and bigger which protects the existing top team status of the teams involved. This is totally unfair in my opinion and takes away the charms of European football. If you would let in only real champions, smaller teams from small leagues such as the Israeli, Finnish, Irish or Macedonian leagues (to name just a few) would participate and win some good money as well, this would allow them to grow further professional and further develop, buy better players and this would in its turn even attract more fans in general for the entire league of their country. But instead of helping the smaller teams to close the gap, the UEFA puts commerce first and kneels for every command of the existing top teams. Not only unfair, but also it makes the CL a rather boring tournament. Chelsea and Liverpool have played each other so often now already in the semi finals of the Champions League, and the other two semi finalists are also teams that rarely get eliminated prior to the final stages. The deja vu feeling is becoming so big that I have lost my interest in it.
Luckily for people like me who prefer discovering new teams from smaller and lesser known leagues, there is an alternative: the UEFA Cup. The tournament where small teams can still surprise, which is highly unpredictable, and where new teams enter the competition every single year. Last year for example we suddenly had 2 Israeli teams that survived the first round and still played in Europe after the winter. While giants like Ajax, Anderlecht and Bruges were already long out of Europe, tiny semi-professional Zulte-Waregem was playing Newcastle United as only surviving Belgian team in Europe. This year, European debutantes Getafe reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup while totally unexpectedly Zenit St Petersburg had already booked its semi-final ticket. You gotta love the UEFA Cup!
The question this year was however who would be able to stop Bayern Munich, if anyone would be able anyway... Bayern played a dramatic season last year in Germany and narrowly missed out on a top-3 spot. Apart from the humiliation this meant, this also included missing out on the Champions League for a year. Winning the UEFA Cup was more or less obliged if they somehow wanted this season not to be a completely wasted one in Europe. Bayern bought a lot of top class players in order to build a team that would assure to win the German league and shine in Europe, and would avoid a new embarrassment like last season. Star players like Miroslav Klose, Franck Ribery and Luca Toni all joined Bayern. Bayern's European campaign was one in which they freewheeled through every game they were really trying, including a 0-5 victory in Anderlecht and a 5-1 trashing of Aberdeen. But we also saw a Bayern that was sometimes taking things too easy, resulting in some less impressive scores such as 1-0 narrow win versus Braga, 2-2 draws versus Bolton Wanderers and in Aberdeen, and a 1-2 loss against Anderlecht.
Opponent Getafe is a lot less well known and a relatively new name in Europe. The team still played in the Spanish second division 4 years ago but without any real star players, the team managed to do very well in Spain since they promoted to the top flight, and their European debut this season brought them immediately into the quarter finals. Ironically, the powerful and traditional city rivals Real and Atletico have already been eliminated from Europe this season, so tiny Getafe was the last remaining Madrid-based team left in Europe. Oh the irony...
In the first tie of this quarter finals, Bayern took an early lead but then thought things would go a bit too easy. Result: Getafe equalised quickly enough and outplayed Bayern in the second half. A 1-1 draw in the Allianz Arena in Munich was the outcome, and this means Bayern would need to travel to Madrid on full strength and really go for it if they wanted to avoid elimination from Europe. Was Bayern not unstoppable after all? Or would the Munich giants set things straight quickly enough in the return game in Getafe's tiny stadium? Would Bayern freewheel through an away game again like they did in Brussels, or would the long and impressive international career of goalkeeper Oliver Kahn end in the tiny (10000 capacity only) stadium in the Madrid suburbs?
This game was interesting enough for me to get out of my home and seek a place in a cosy football orientated pub in Berlin's Mitte district, not far from Rosenthaler Platz and Torstraße. Should you ever be in the area: the pub is called FC Magnet and broadcasts games from all over the world on giant TV screen, an excellent football pub and with football fans forming 95% of their visitors. The pub this night was filled with people in FC Bayern jerseys obviously, I have not recognised any Getafe fan. I was lucky to make the decision to see this game, because it would turn out to be one I won't easily forget, one of those very few games that has everything that makes football such a beautiful game.
The game kicked off with Bayern fielding all its star players. Bayern also took the initiative immediately and this resulted in a first key moment after only 6 minutes: Miroslav Klose slipped through the defense and ran straight towards goalkeeper "Pato" Abbondanzieri. Attacker Ruben De La Red, who was as emergency rule fielded as a defender tonight, had no option to bring Klose down with a tackle from behind. The referee didn't hesitate: red card for De La Red (yes, that sounds silly !) and all of Getafe's good intentions and hopes seemed to have been smashed straight away. Getafe faced another 84 minutes with 10 men only. How would the tiny Spanish underdog survive the pressure of the Munich giants for such a long time with a player less on the field? The Madrid side escaped from an early second bow when the free kick resulting from that foul was kicked against the post by free kick specialist Ribery, Luca Toni controlled the ball and shot the rebound high into the net. The referee however spotted correctly that Toni used the arm to control the ball and the goal was disallowed.
Getafe escaped but much to my surprise we didn't see a Getafe side that, reduced to 10 men, decided to mostly defend its 1-1 from the first leg. Contrary to that, Getafe didn't let the red card break their moral and still tried to attack whenever possible. Sure, forced by the circumstances they had to leave ball possession to Bayern most of the game, but in fact Getafe gave away few chances and rarely got into trouble, and even tried to still counterstrike whenever an opportunity came. This paid off because Bayern had a lot of possession but the many crosses and shots from distance formed no serious danger to the Getafe defense and goalkeeper. Shortly before half-time the unthinkable happened: Romanian defender Contra received the ball on his own half and started an impressive run all the way towards the Bayern goal, a short dribble past two defenders followed and then he shot the ball high over Oliver Kahn in the top of the net. 1-0 for Getafe and the tiny stadium exploded with joy. Getafe was leading 1-0 at half time despite being reduced to 10 men after only 6 minutes, and what was even more impressive was that the lead was not even undeserved. You somehow felt this night was going to be special.
Bayern was now forced to attack even more in the second half and the first part of that second half the pressure finally made Getafe struggle. A lot of crosses followed (mostly by Ribery who, despite not playing at his usual level, was still one of the better players at Bayern) but the Bayern strikers didn't have a good day and wasted the opportunities given. Especially Italian goalgetter Luca Toni was not having his goal instinct he usually displays, with a header and a shot from close range both narrowly missing the goal. A Ribery free kick went past the defensive wall but Abbondanzieri saved without many problems. Getafe was struggling to survive but the storm calmed down and Bayern had to take a step back.
Getafe smelled opportunities now and the 10-men side very bravely chose to attack once again rather than staying focussed on only defending the 0 on the scoreboard. Braulio managed to escape from the Bayern defense and came face to face with Oliver Kahn, he managed to dribble the Munich goalkeeper but then somehow hit the ball totally wrong. A unique chance to score the 2-0 and finish Bayern off completely. Shortly after that same Braulio once again escaped and slipped through the defense and past Oliver Kahn, but forced to go to the backline and with the goal out of reach from such a sharp corner, he passed the ball backwards to a team mate who faced the open goal but saw his shot blocked by a tackling Bayern defender. Once again a gigantic chance missed and once again Bayern escaped from a certain elimination.
Getafe missing such chances gave Bayern a lifeline and remaining hope but the attacks of the Germans lacked precision. Until the 89th minute, when the Spanish defense could not clear the ball and Ribery volleyed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal from just outside the box. 1-1 and the brave Getafe saw their stunt slip out of their reach in the very last moments of the game. Extra times were needed and many feared that such a punch in the face would break the moral of the brave Spaniards who now had to survive another 30 minutes with 10 players only.
But the Spaniards proved everyone wrong and within the first seconds of the extra time Casquero shot the ball on goal from 20 meters, the ball was just out of reach for Kahn and bounced off the post into the net. 2-1 Getafe!! At this moment the game had already reached the status of a true epic, but the biggest drama was still to come. Less than 2 minutes later however, it seemed over and out for Bayern when Lucio made a huge fumble, leaving Braulio with a very easy task to fire the ball home from close range past Kahn. 3-1 and the European dream for "unstoppable Bayern" seemed over and out.
But remember the words of Gary Lineker: "football is a ball game with 22 players, and in the end the Germans always win". It didn't seem to be one of those cliches turning into reality though, as Bayern desperately chose to attack but the many crosses never had the precision to reach a player in the right position to score. It was Getafe goalkeeper Abbondanzieri, the Argentinian nr 1, who gave Bayern a lifeline and new hope when 5 minutes before the end a very easy long ball came straight at him. The goalkeeper however made a terrible mistake by letting the ball slip through his hands, presenting Luca Toni the easiest goal of his career by shooting into an empty goal. A terrible mistake right at the worst possible moment. The nightmare for Pato was not over yet and the dream of Getafe turned into a nightmare in the most dramatic and cruel way. In the very last minute of extra time Bayern needed 1 remaining goal, even Oliver Kahn (whose international career was over after tonight should Bayern not score that needed goal) went in front when Bayern was awarded a free kick. That free kick was dropped into the box, Pato left his goal but realised the ball was too far away, leaving Luca Toni with an easy header into the net. Pato ran back towards the goal line but could only witness the ball bouncing in the net.
3-3 and the dream was over for Getafe. What seemed to be a dream turned into a nightmare thanks to 2 Luca Toni goals. Toni, who played a really bad game however, but was still awake enough to thankfully accept two presents from the goalkeeper. This was the sort of game you remember for years. It just had anything you can possibly want in football: tension, sensational scorelines, beautiful goals (especially the first 2 Getafe goals), a red card, terrible goalkeeper errors, an incredible shock victory almost happening, a dramatic equaliser in the very last seconds of the game. This game had everything that makes football worth watching, the word "epic" suits this night perfectly.
But, as fantastic as such games may be, you really have to feel so sorry for Getafe. The underdog was reduced to 10 men after only 6 minutes and had to play with 10 players for another 124 minutes. When you face a giant like Bayern and, despite getting that red card, you still choose to attack rather than to built an iron wall in front of your own goal ... then you deserve the biggest respect, and the whole world will probably agree with me that we saw a Getafe side that was incredibly brave and deserves the utmost credit for playing in such a way despite that red card. In fact it is injustice to the full extend that they had to be eliminated in such a cruel way after having played such an incredibly brave game. Yes, that's part of football, but it was injustice and heartbreaking for anyone involved with Getafe CF. And you especially have to feel sorry for goalkeeper Pato, who made two of the biggest mistakes of his career right at the most unlucky times, throwing away a stunt victory for his team that would have been remembered for many years.
Bayern proceeds to the semi finals and meets Zenit St Petersburg from Russia there. Bayern is still favourites to win this UEFA Cup, but they are very lucky to still be in the race. Bayern escaped from elimination in the very last seconds of the game and only thanks to 2 goalkeeping errors. The relief with the Bayern players was so huge that they celebrated as if they just won the trophy. As Oliver Kahn, who probably never thought to experience this sort of game in the last months of his career, put into words afterwards: "In 10 years time nobody at Bayern will remember our games against Real Madrid and Manchester United, they will remember our game against Getafe."
In the other games of the day, Glasgow Rangers surprisingly beat Sporting Lisbon 0-2 and advances to the semi finals of a European tournament for the first time since 1973. PSV Eindhoven had a great 1-1 result in Firenze last week, but a dominant Fiorentina put things straight with a 0-2 victory in Eindhoven thanks to 2 beauties from Mutu (the first one being one of the hardest possible free kicks, and still very precisely into the upper corner of the net). Belgian star player Timmy Simons missed a penalty for PSV, illustrating the bad day PSV was facing. Zenit St Petersburg, who also missed a penalty in their home game, lost 0-1 versus Leverkusen but as the Russians won the first leg 1-4 their semi final ticket was already booked before their second leg even started.
We have one heavy favourite (Bayern) and one other favourite (Fiorentina) remaining, with two unexpected underdogs (Rangers and Zenit) joining them into the semi-finals. While the Champions League is once again repeting itself with always the same teams in the final stages, the UEFA Cup is as exciting as it can possibly get this season.
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