Just three days after Arjen Robben missed a penalty kick that might have won the Champions League final for Bayern Munich, his club hosted his national team -- the Netherlands -- for a friendly in the same stadium that housed his nightmare. And though some of the 33,000 fans in attendance at the Allianz Arena were forgiving, others booed Robben's every touch of the ball after he entered the match as a second half substitute for the Netherlands, who lost 3-2.

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has insisted that his side's penalty shoot-out defeat to Chelsea at the Allianz Arena on Saturday evening was a more bitter pill to swallow than the nightmare 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United in 1999.

Thirteen years ago in Barcelona, Bayern led 1-0 heading into stoppage time before two quick goals from the Red Devils led to a collapse of massive proportions for the Munich outfit.

Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has played down recent comments from Michael Ballack and Petr Cech that the Bundesliga side will have an emotional advantage as the host of Saturday's UEFA Champions League final.

Schweinsteiger could help Bayern win a maiden historic home Champions League final against Chelsea, with former Bayern and Blues midfielder Michael Ballack recently insisting that playing at the Allianz Arena would fuel up the Bavarians.

By Max Grieve

Jupp Heynckes was, to a point, playing the fool, but there was a grim undertone to his comments. "I have watched and coached in the Spanish League," he declared earlier in the week. "I know how hard it is to beat Barcelona. And now I'm left to wonder if Barça can't beat Chelsea, how can we?

Eintracht (red/black shirts) plays FC Bayern in an U-19 game

Hi everybody, I'm back! Yes, it has been a while since I've written anything new for the blog and I won't bore you with the reasons for my prolonged absence. It's also been a while since I went on an Away Day to Frankfurt am Main and wanted to share with you the joys of celebrating promotion with my favourite German club Eintracht Frankfurt.

Chelsea interim manager Roberto DiMatteo is excited about facing Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final next month but has warned that the German giants can prove to be trickier opponents than Spanish champions-elect Real Madrid due to their home advantage.

The Madrid side was considered a heavy favorite to meet holders Barcelona in an El Clasico final on May 19 but Bayern and DiMatteo's men flipped the script on the La Liga sides, booking a surprise final date of their own.

Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes was in celebratory mood during his press conference that followed a thrilling 3-1 penalty shoot-out win over Real Madrid and sent the Bavarians into an evenly matched final against Chelsea at home on May 19.

Not many predicted that the Blues and Bayern would successfully pass through their respective semifinal ties against Barcelona and Real to reach the big final at Allianz Arena next month.

2 giants, 1 objective

Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich - A classic. 90 minutes remains in Mourinho's quest to ignite Madrid's everlasting dream of winning a 10th Champions League title. A trophy which Heynckes conquered for Los Blancos in 1998, ending a 32 year wait.

Real Madrid's recent La Liga success in beating Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou notably give a strong sense of confidence for Jose Mourinho's side ahead of their upcoming Champions League's second tie against Bayern.

Mourinho himself stated that considering his squad's performance this season, getting into the final would be something they deserved and obviously will target after already looking home and dry in clinging the league title.

TweetReal Madrid will be looking to overturn a 2-1 deficit when they host Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu in the second-leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final Mario Gomez's last gasp strike at the Allianz Arena gave the Bavarians a deserved 2-1 win in the first-leg which coach Jupp Heynckes' will seek to either [.

Real Madrid became the unwilling victims of an incident on Tuesday, when mysterious thieves crept into the Bayern Munich visitors' dressing room and stole three boots belonging to Mesut Ozil, Karim Benzema and Ronaldo. Of course, it's not so funny when you're actually in the situation and kick-off is only moments away.

Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has promised his side's Champions League semi-final first-leg against heavyweight rivals Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Germany will be "spectacular" (Bayern Munich 8/5 draw 12/5 Real Madrid 17/10 – live soccer betting prices).
The Bavarians welcome Spain's capital club off the back of an impeccable home record in Europe so far this season and unbeaten sequence at home against the nine-time winners of the competition.

Successfully maintaining their four points gap with Barcelona in La Liga after beating Sporting Gijon on the weekend, Real Madrid are set to really test their strength against Bayern Munich this Tuesday evening.

Jose Mourinho' side will try to step aside their poor record meeting against Bayern in Germany, as Mourinho claims that history won't be a determining factor for Los Blancos in that clasch, considering their ambition in getting through the semifinal is bigger.

UEFA Champions League Semi-Final (First Leg)
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid : 20.45CET

Nothing screams "BLOCKBUSTER" more than the Champions League semi-final showdown between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. There have been a handful of Bayern-Real playoffs in the last decade, but tonight's edition will be exceptionally gripping because both sides are simply desperate for the win.

Champions League action resumes tomorrow with some very interesting fixtures. Real Madrid travel to Nicosia to play surprise package APOEL while Bayern Munich will be in France for a crunch fixture against Olympique Marseille.

Madrid who are one of the favourites to make it through to the final, have a rather easy fixture against Cypriot side APOEL.

On the day Steven Gerrard scored a hat-trick to demolish Everton, Mario Gomez went a step further and scored four times within a 23-minute period to lead Bayern's 7-0 rout of FC Basel at Allianz Arena.

Despite his stellar finishing last night, the dominant striker is in no mood to celebrate just yet, suggesting that the Bavarians have a lot more to accomplish over the next two months.

Bayern Munich proved that their 7-1 victory over Hoffenheim over the weekend was no fluke as they thrashed Swiss club FC Basel 7-0 to move into the quarter finals comfortably.

Bayern's victory was the biggest win in a Champions League knockout stage match after they bettered their own record set in 2009 at the same stage of the tournament when they beat Sporting Lisbon 7-1 at the Allianz Arena.

I was born in Chicago, the youngest of three, and a son of German parents. My father was a diplomat and stationed at the German consulate in the Windy City. As was the case with his career, we moved to a new city in the world every three to five years. These cities included countries such as Italy, USA, South Africa, Estonia, and, of course, Germany.

The race for the Bundesliga title is getting very interesting with each passing week as Bayern Muinch, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke all notched up wins to ensure that there was no let up in the league standings.

All three teams are level on 40 points with fourth place Borussia Mochengladabch only a point behind.

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich angered their supporters yesterday with news that they would be making a spectacular signing before the transfer window closed only for the fans to later find out that it was a marketing gimmick.

Apparently, Bayern was trying to gain interest for their new app by creating intense speculation as to who the signing would be.

Two goals from Patrick Herrmann and another from highly rated forward Marco Reus guided Borussia Monchengladbach to a 3-1 win over Bayern Munich, cutting the Bavarians' lead atop the Bundesliga table to a single point.

Bastian Schweinsteiger struck late in the match for Bayern, but that was too little too late for the visitors, who could be joined at the summit by defending champions Borussia Dortmund over the weekend.

NOTICIAS

There's nothing a little mid-match Tango won't do for you just ask Valencia's Pablo Hernandez! The striker was highly instrumental in Los Che's 4-1 Copa del Ray win over city rival Levante last night setting up the goals and missing a few for himself.

When I first started watching football as a child in the mid-1980's FC Cologne (1. FC Köln) was one of the traditional powerful clubs of the Bundesliga. Cologne was the first champion of the Bundesliga in 1963/64 and in 1978 won the "double," which to this day is the pinnacle of success in the Rhein city.

Marco Reus, the rising star in the German Bundesliga having helped Borussia Mönchengladbach to a respectable fourth place during the winter break, will be leaving the club at the end of the season to play for Borussia Dortmund.

It was announced today on Mönchengladbach's website that the player will remain at the club for the 2011-12 season before signing a five year deal with the current German champions Dortmund for a transfer fee of 17,5 million Euros.

Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has advised his club against buying rising star Marco Reus. The 22 year Borussia Mochengladbach player has been the centre of attention for a number of clubs including Arseanl who had shown an interest in him early last month.

Surprisingly, the reason why Schweinsteiger is opposed to Reus's move is because Reus is a direct rival for his position in the team.

Mario Gomez (left) is the top scorer in the Bundesliga this season

FC Bayern München secured the tag of Herbstmeister (autumn champions) in Germany last night. Despite going down to ten men following Franck Ribéry's red card on the half hour mark, FC Bayern were seldom troubled by visiting 1.

By Geoff Reid

Group A
Manchester City vs Bayern Munich from the Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Arguably the hardest group on paper when the groups were drawn, the visiting Bavarians may have thought they'd have a harder time in this section, but already on 13 points and undefeated, they've already wrapped up the group.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, the man who guided Bayern Munich to the domestic treble as recently as 2008, believes that the German giants are only a shadow of themselves without key playmaker Bastian Schweinsteiger, thus boosting Manchester City's hopes of Champions League progress.

In order to qualify for the Round of 16, the Citizens must get a result from Bayern's visit to the Eastlands next week while also hoping that Napoli fall to Villarreal.

Europe's premier footballing competition the Champions League resumes today with fixtures that could mark the end of the journey for 16 teams. All teams will be left with one group match after this round of fixtures however, many will not want to take any chances on their qualification to the next round.

Bayern Munich's Croatian striker Ivica Olic has threatened to leave the club if his role as a super substitute does not change soon. Olic has made only 5 appearances for the champions this season totaling a meagre 72 minutes of play.

The 32 year old striker has had an injury plagued career the past 2 years which have resulted in him falling down the pecking order in the eyes of coach Jupp Heynckes.

It was a weekend to forget for a number of European sides who suffered shocking losses. In England, the news of the day was Sunday's 6-1 home drubbing of Manchester United by city rivals Manchester City.

Across the continent, things were not too good for Bayern Munich, Lyon, Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus.

By Geoff Reid

Group A
Napoli vs Bayern Munich from the Stadio San Paolo, Naples
The Italian hosts are currently the best side in Serie A, according to Bayern head coach Jupp Heynckes. He believes that Napoli do not play the traditional Italian way, and instead of setting up a side to be broken down and hit on the counter, they're a team with a lot of attacking options and have shown that so far this season.

The Croatian Eagles will play host to Bavarian SC at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in a semifinal of the Wisconsin Open Cup at Croatian Park in Franklin.

Sunday's winner advances to play the Milwaukee Kickers in the state final at Oct. 30.

If the Croatians qualify, the Kickers will host the match at Uihlein Soccer Park; the Bavarians will host if they advance.

Schalke fans might want to skip this. Everybody else, who has seen enough of Bayern players in Lederhosen and WAGs in Dirndls, can skip this as well.

It's Oktoberfest time in Munich again and Bayern paid a visit. As they do every year. And either Bayern are already operating on a level, where a 0-0 draw away at Hoffenheim equals a horrible defeat, or they really would have rather spend their day someplace else.

Bayern Munich are a legendary team for the supporters of the notorious club, and football fans around the world. In recent times the German side have been very successful. They've won the Bundesliga title a total of 22 times, the DFB-Pokal 15 times, the DFB Liga-Pokal 6 times, they've been the UEFA Champions League winners on 4 occasions, the runners up in the European Cup on 4 occasions, and managed to claim the Europa League once back in 1996.

Manchester United and Manchester City started their UEFA Champions League campaigns with 1-1 draws against Benfica and Napoli, respectively.

Both Manchester sides have maintained a perfect record in the Barclays Premier League so far this season but unfamiliar opposition had them trailing before they equalized and settled for a point each.

By Geoff Reid

Group A
Manchester City vs Napoli from the Etihad Stadium, Manchester
This is going to be a special match for both clubs, as it's the first time they have both taken part in the European Cup in many, many years, and the first time under the reformed Champions League.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has urged his side to stay focused on the long season ahead rather than getting carried away with their dominant 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

Mancini enjoyed from the touchline as his star-studded squad ran rampant against the Spurs thanks to four goals from Edin Dzeko and another from Argentine striker Sergio Aguero.

Photo by cardanlight

On September 11th last year, I sat in the AWD Arena in Hannover and watched an enthralling 2-2 draw between Hannover and Bayer Leverkusen. After two wins from their opening two games, there was a sense of confidence amongst the swelled ranks of Hannover fans.

After a humiliating 8-1 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich last weekend, FC St. Pauli's drop to the second tier of German football was confirmed. A horrid run of ten games has seen the club gain only a single point, and any hopes of a miracle escape were crushed by the rampant Bavarians.