UEFA Champions League Final Predictions

Saturday May 22, 2010
2:30 PM ET FOX

Bayern Munich +195
Inter Milan +135
Draw +220

FC Bayern Munchen and FC Internazionale Milano will do battle for club football’s biggest prize in the UEFA Champions League final to be played on May 22 at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid, Spain.

This will be the first final to ever be played on a Saturday.

Bayren and Inter have met five previous times with the most recent encounter coming in the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League group stage, where Inter’s Patrick Vieira’s equalizer in added-time ended the match in a draw.

The Bayern side is seeking its fifth European crown while Inter is hoping to hoist a trophy for the first time in 45 years. That hope will get some much–needed help from Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder, who after wining Seri A crown last Sunday and the coppa Italia title a week later in Olimpico, Roma, now has his sights set on completing a unique treble by winning the Champions League on Saturday. Bayern is also heading to Madrid looking for a treble after winning the Bundesliga crown and Germany cup a week ago. Winning the treble is a historical event, only five teams have done it so far, and if Bayern or Inter win it, they would be the first team of their country to win the treble.

It won’ be easy as Sneijder and company will face a resilient Bayern side that have already eliminated two other Italian hopefuls-Juventus and ACF Fiorentina. Bayren’s UEFA Champions League campaign got off to a slow start but steadily gained momentum. Louis van Gaal’s side improved throughout the knockout stages eliminating Juventus and Fiorentina, but also the likes of powerhouse Manchester United as well as Olympique Lyonnais.

Much like their opponents, the road to the finals started out a bit bumpy for Inter, drawing the first three matches. After squeaking out of the group stage however, the side toppled EPL champions Chelsea and then put on an impressive display of their own dethroning defending champions FC Barcelona in the semi-finals.

This year’s match up also carries with it some personal history between Bayren coach Louis and Inter’s José Mourinho–the latter having worked as assistant to Van Gaal at Barcelona between 1997 and 2000. Both men are past winners of the competition and each will join the exclusive club of coaches who have guided more than one team to European Champion Clubs’ Cup success if victorious in the Spanish capital.

Bayern has plenty of offense but their defense and midfield isn’t the strongest, leaving them vulnerable to Inter’s up front pairing of Samuel Eto and Diego Milito. Inter is also well organized at the back, and at times impenetrable, making Bayern’s job that much harder as they will be without winger Franck Ribery who is serving a three-game ban. The France international was shown a straight red card for fouling Lyon’s Lisandro Lopez in Munich last month. Bayern will hope that former-Chelsea Dutch winger Arjen Robben, can step into the role and help steer the side as he did on the latter stages of the tournament.

As usual in a finals game, the tempo will start slowly as each side waits for its opponent to attack. An early goal could easily decide the outcome. With a better defense and a more potent attack, I expect Inter to win this game in regulation time, 2-1.