David Alaba reflects on Bayern Munich’s CL final defeat against Chelsea
David Alaba opens up about Bayern Munich’s painful defeat against Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final.
Bayern Munich will resume their Champions League campaign at the end of February. The German champions will travel to London on 26th February to play against Chelsea in the first leg of the round of 16 stage of the competition.
This fixture will revoke all the bad memories for Die Roten as they suffered a crushing defeat against Chelsea in the 2012 CL final. The defeat is more painful for Bavarian faithful as it came at their home turf in Munich.
It was a tense affair between the two European giants, but Chelsea held their nerves to win the penalty shootout. Bayern was able to take revenge against Chelsea in 2013 as they clinched a penalty shootout win in UEFA Super Cup.
David Alaba is one of the few members of the squad that played against Chelsea in 2012. Speaking to Daily Mail, Alaba recalled the defeat against Chelsea. He admitted that this defeat was painful, but it also acted as a motivation for them in the next season.
"‘It was painful. Not to be able to help the team, especially in a game like that, a Champions League final and then we didn’t win.”‘We deserved to win this game against Chelsea. You felt something in the team we are special, we can do something more. And when preseason started for the next season you could see how hungry every single player was and how we worked.”"
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Die Roten went a step further in the 2012/13 campaign and clinched the CL trophy against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium. Since then, it has been testing time for Rekordmeister in this competition. They have not gone beyond semi-finals in the CL for the past seven years.
Chelsea meanwhile has also struggled in the Champions League since winning the trophy in 2012. They have been out of the competition for a couple of years as they finished outside the top four in the Premier League. The squad is also completely different now as Frank Lampard, who featured in 2012 final, is now managing a young squad.
Lampard’s squad is young and lacks experience, but they do play an attractive style of football. Bayern will be favourites going into this game. However, on their day, Chelsea can create problems for any defense, so complacency cannot creep into Die Roten’s game.
Next. Bayern Munich look to start new winning run against Cologne. dark
Bayern has to play two Bundesliga games before the CL clash at the Stamford Bridge. Hansi Flick will have to make sure that his team goes into that game on the back of two victories in the league. Having good momentum ahead of a big CL clash always helps in having a psychological edge. Alaba and other senior players will not forget that night in Munich, so surely they will be looking to avenge that defeat in this round.