Before anyone gets all upset about Bayern Munich playing the Champions League final at their home stadium (oops, too late), can we get one thing straight -- anyone who puts forth some proposal that UEFA should move the match elsewhere is stupid.
Haters Gonna Hate: Bayern Munich Hosting The Champions League Final Is Awesome
Bayern Munich is hosting the Champions League final and if you have a problem with it then you’re wearing blue or have a lot of problems yourself.
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Yes, Bayern Munich will play the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena, which is their home stadium. Yes, while Chelsea do get an allotment of 17,500 tickets, the rest of the stadium will be wearing red and singing in German. Yes, Chelsea will be at a disadvantage because of it. And yet, that’s life. Things happen. Shut up.
Champions League final hosts are picked years in advance. That Bayern happened to advance to the final in the year that they were hosting the final is just their good fortune, and our good fortune as well because the atmosphere will be cracking. To move the final now, as some have suggested, is ludicrous.
Is the final only supposed to be moved when it is a team’s home stadium? How about if it is in the same city? Had Chelsea, or Arsenal, or Tottenham made it to the final last year at Wembley would it have been necessary to move the final too? Hell, Manchester United probably have more fans in London than Manchester anyways. Where were people crying foul last year? Barcelona certainly weren’t when they were lifting the Champions League trophy.
People have already been moaning about Bayern Munich playing at home in the final, but were they proposing that the World Cup final be moved in 2006 had Germany won their semifinal match? What is the contingency plan for Brazil in 2014 if the Seleção make it to the final? Where was the bitching when England won the 1966 World Cup at Wembley with the help of a questionable goal that very well may have been given to The Three Lions because of the thousands in the stands yelling at the referee?
Even in the European Cup there have been teams playing at home. Real Madrid won at home in 1957, Inter MIlan won at home at 1968 and A.S. Roma lost at home in 1984. Yes, Roma lost. Home field does not guarantee a win, despite what people will try to convince you of in the next month.
Bayern is going to have an advantage in the final and that is just how it goes sometimes. It took the perfect confluence of events for this to happen: Bayern hosting in the right season; overcoming the Group of Death; a deficit against Basel in the Round of 16; a crazy, insane, mind-boggling penalty shoot out at the Bernabeu, where Bayern played 30 more minutes than they did at home and took the penalties.
A lot had to happen for Bayern to play at home, so this was no gift, and guess what? It is going to be awesome. The Allianz Arena will be abuzz and the only people complaining will either be wearing Chelsea blue or hate puppies and rainbows.
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