• Bayern Munich 2-2 Chelsea (aet; Bayern win 5-4 on pens)
• Ribéry 47 Martínez 120; Torres 8, Hazard 93
It came down to penalties, just as it had in the Champions League final a couple of seasons ago, only this time there was no happy sense of deja vu for Chelsea. They have made an art form of winning these occasions, sometimes against all the odds, but Romelu Lukaku was the only player not to score from 12 yards and Jose Mourinho will have to wait for his first trophy since returning as manager.
Lukaku had been unable to get his shot past Manuel Neuer, with the final of the ten penalties. David Alaba, Toni Kroos, Philipp Lahm, Franck Ribery and Xherden Shaqiri had all beaten Petr Cech whereas David Luiz, Oscar, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole had all scored in reply. It had been an epic night but in the end Lukaku came up just short.
Yet Chelsea can great take great dignity from defeat, especially after losing Ramires to a red card four minutes before the game went into extra time. Ramires had been sent off for his second bookable offence and, at the stage, a lesser team would have crumpled.
Chelsea simply shook their heads clear and braced themselves for a 30-minute back-to-the-wall operation. Eden Hazard put them back in the lead, in a rare breakaway three minutes into the first period and Cech, at fault when Ribery equalised Fernando Torres's goal earlier in the match, produced some brilliant goalkeeping during the late onslaught. Javi Martinez's equaliser arrived, cruelly, in stoppage time right at the end.
Bayern's first show of power came before the game had even started. The huge banner unfurled behind Neuer's goal displayed the five trophies they had accumulated last season. "Oana Basst No Nei," read the accompanying message. Translated: "Room for One More."
They subjected Chelsea to some prolonged spells of pressure, attacking with width and adventure, bringing back memories of how they had pinned Chelsea back in the Champions League final the season before last. Once again, Chelsea had to defend with great togetherness and look to catch refined opponents on the counter-attack, breaking forward with pace and purpose.
Their goal was a case in point. Eden Hazard's driving run, left to right, created a lot of the problems. André Schürrle was waiting on the right and Torres, running through the middle, did not break stride as he swept in the cross.
It was a lovely finish, bristling with the kind of confidence and sureness of touch that is not seen enough from Torres these days. At Old Trafford the previous Monday, when Mourinho left him out of the team to face Manchester United explaining that he wanted to "go for mobility," it had felt like a sorry reflection of the Spaniard's decline. This was a goal that reminded Mourinho he can still be a player of considerable use. Since the start of last season Torres has now scored 10 times in 17 European games. It is just a pity for him this scoring form does not extend to the Premier League, with only eight goals in 38 appearances during the same timeframe.
Bayern tend to regard going behind in matches as an affront and they responded well. Within a minute, Philipp Lahm had volleyed Mario Mandzukic's cross towards goal only for Cech to catch it. Bayern's fans will have harrowing memories of Cech's goalkeeping from 2012. Midway through the first half there was another reminder as he dived full-length to his left to palm Ribéry's shot around the post.
Ribéry was a difficult opponent for Ivanovic. The newly crowned European player of the year, like Arjen Robben on the opposite flank, was always comfortable breaking inside from the wing. Yet Chelsea's defence just about always stand up to the occasion on the big nights.
David Luiz, fit again to start his first match of the season, demonstrated not just why Barcelona have tried to lure him away from Stamford Bridge this summer but why Chelsea have consistently repelled their advances. Alongside him, Gary Cahill was just as impressive throughout the different waves of pressure. Cahill denied Bayern a probable equaliser with a brilliant, diving tackle to block Thomas Müller's shot shortly before half-time.
This was a challenging period for Chelsea but they did conjure up some promising moments of their own in the first half. Torres had the best of them, controlling another Schürrle cross, slipping past Dante and flashing his shot over.
Chelsea had defended with such conviction until half-time but Ribéry's equaliser was a soft one to concede. Ribéry struck his shot well enough but a manager of Mourinho's planning will be aggrieved that the Frenchman was simply allowed to wander in from the touchline and then take aim. More than anything it was a galling moment for Cech, completely out of keeping with the way he had played until that point. The goalkeeper's reflexes were slow, going for the ball with both hands but only able to get his fingertips to it and without preventing himself from being beaten at his near post.
Even then, Chelsea could have won the match in normal time. Branislav Ivanovic turned a late header against the crossbar and David Luiz had an even better opportunity shortly afterwards only for Manuel Neuer to turn away the header. Ramires saw red for a foul on the substitute Mario Gotze, having already been booked for a challenge on Ribery, and it was almost a shock when Bayern's defence obligingly opened up for Hazard to score Chelsea's second goal. Yet it was also true that Martinez's late strike, on the balance of play, was deserved.
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