UEFA Champions League: Bayern Munich And Inter Milan Compete To Complete Treble

Were it not a World Cup year, the number of stories surrounding Saturday's Champions League final would make it as anticipated a match as last year's Barcelona-Manchester United match.  That's a high standard, considering fans across Europe spent an entire club season in anticipation of that meeting.  Suffice to say, few anticipated Internazionale and Bayern Munich would make it to Madrid.

In addition to their recent shortcomings in Champions League, Internazionale had sold their best player in the offseason.  They were drawn into a difficult group, and like last year, barely advanced before drawing a tough English team in the Round of 16.

Bayern's struggles at the season's onset made it seem they had taken a step back from the team that had finished second in Germany and was eliminated by Barcelona in last year's quarterfinals.  Close calls in group play and the Round of 16 against Fiorentina had them advance to face Manchester United in the quarterfinals, where they were big underdogs.

Yet both have made it to Madrid, having won their leagues and their domestic cups, guaranteeing that, for the second year in a row, the Champions League winner will complete a league-cup-Europe treble.  Internazionale held-off Roma in both the Coppa Italia and the Serie A, winning their fifth consecutive league title.  Bayern outlasted Schalke in the Bundesliga before defeating holders Werder Bremen in the DFB Pokal.

If the clubs' on-field successes weren't enough to captivate ahead of the final, consider the tangential angles.  Each club's star attacker - Arjen Robben for Bayern, Wesley Sneijder for Inter - returns to the venue that cast them off last summer, neither Dutchman considered star enough to be part of Real Madrid's new Galacticos.  Bayern coach Louis van Gaal, the man who mentored José Mourinho during their time together at Barcelona twelve years ago, faces his student, who has become one of the best coaches on the continent.  And Mourinho may be coaching his last match at Inter, rumored to move to the Santiago Bernabeu this offseason.

But as important as those angles are the two players who will be absent.  Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery continues to serve a suspension for a red card drawn in the semifinal against Lyon.  Nominally Bayern's left-sided balance to Robben, the Frenchman's absence means Munich will rely even more on the Dutchman, who will be facing his former coach.  Hamit Altintop will get the start on the left.

Robben's at his most dangerous when he is cutting-in from the right wing, onto a left foot that has seen Munich past Fiorentina and Manchester United.  When he cuts in, he would normally run into Internazionale's Thiago Motta, the Nerazzurri central midfielder.  Like Ribery, Motta is suspended, having seen red in the second leg of Internazionale's semifinal against Barcelona.  To replace Motta, Mourinho is expected to start Javier Zanetti in midfield, with Cristian Chivu getting the call at left back.

Internazionale's main goal scoring threat is Diego Milito, the Argentine striker who has scored the most goals in Serie A over the last two years.  Milito will stress a Bayern central defense that's considered a relative weakness, though Mark van Bommel's presence in midfield could help cut-off a Milito supply line that starts with Sneijder.

Within these match-ups are two battles between countrymen.  Before they leave their clubs to join their national teams for the World Cup, van Bommel will be tasked with disrupting Sneijder while Martín Demichelis will have to contain Milito.

This will also be the last match of the European club season before we switch gears and focus on the World Cup, as if we have not already.  For all the talent, match-ups and angles, this year's Champions League final has little of the anticipation of last year's.  With nations finalizing their teams for South Africa, fans are already looking toward June 11, depriving Bayern and Inter of the attention they deserve.

As such, the winner of Saturday's final will likely be overlooked, especially in the shadow of last year's Barcelona team.  It's an unfair fate, considering the winner of this year's Champions League will have a resumé to rival any champions - perhaps slightly better, considering the team they vanquished will have been so close to their own treble-winning greatness.