London: Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp is such a bouncy character that not even a Champions League final defeat can really get him down, but the decision not to send off Bayern Munich defender Dante in Saturday's 2-1 defeat did rankle.
Dante was already on a yellow card when he kneed the impressive Marco Reus in the chest to concede an obvious penalty but Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli did not reach for his pocket.
Ilkay Guendogan converted the 68th-minute spot-kick to equalise Mario Mandzukic's opener on the hour but Arjen Robben grabbed Bayern's winner a minute from time.
"I saw it in the game and I was sure you can give a second yellow card and when I saw it on television I thought you had to give it," Klopp told a news conference when asked about Dante's escape....
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10:54 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Bayern Munich's shock 2012 Champions League defeat in Munich was a dark chapter in the club's history but it sowed the seeds for their fifth European triumph at Wembley stadium on Saturday. Bayern grabbed a dramatic 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund with an 89th-minute winner from Dutchman Arjen Robben to clinch their first European Cup since 2001 after losing both the 2010 and 2012 finals. It could not have...
10:38 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Borussia Dortmund's pain of losing the Champions League final 2-1 to bitter rivals Bayern Munich is acerbated by the knowledge they may never have a better chance to win the trophy again. Arjen Robben's 89th-minute winner limited Dortmund's opportunities to respond, but there is a sense Dortmund's opportunities of playing another final is limited, too, as the team faces the prospect of losing its best players. Mario Goetze has...
10:23 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes's career looked over a few years ago but the 68-year-old veteran capped a third spell at the Bavarians on Saturday by becoming only the fourth manager to win the European Cup with two different teams. Heynckes joined Ernst Happel, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Jose Mourinho with two Champions League trophies from two clubs after Bayern beat German rivals Borussia Dortmund 2-1 to add to his...
08:34 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Bayern Munich winger decided the final of Champions League with an 89th minute strike and maintained that his winner was predicted prior to the game. Robben revealed that his match-winning goal that sealed Bayern Munich's 2-1 Champions League final victory over Borussia Dortmund was foreseen by fans before the game. Robben, who missed a penalty in extra-time for Bayern in last season's showpiece against Chelsea was quick to point...
03:17 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Jupp Heynckes is leaving Bayern Munich having set the bar for Pep Guardiola as high as the Wembley Stadium arch. In England's national stadium Saturday, on the penultimate step of Heynckes' farewell tour, the retiring coach delivered Bayern's fifth European Cup with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga trophy has been collected after a record-breaking season, and Heynckes can sign out next Saturday by completing the treble...
02:55 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Arjen Robben buried the demons of finals past with a last-gasp goal to give Bayern Munich the 2012-13 Champions League title with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley on Saturday. Dortmund were the superior side during a captivating yet goalless first half, forcing Manual Neuer into a succession of saves - though opposite number Roman Weidenfeller was also called into action more than once....
02:11 AM, May 26, 2013
London: Arjen Robben scored in the 89th minute on Saturday to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 win over German rival Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final, ending four years of frustration for his team in Europe's biggest tournament. Robben ran on to Franck Ribery's backheeled flick-on in the area and calmly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to give Bayern its first Champions League victory since 2001. The...
01:10 AM, May 26, 2013
Kolkata: Veteran Indian batsman Rahul Dravid, who provided inspirational leadership to the beleaguered Rajasthan Royals this season, has decided to call it quits from the IPL with the upcoming Champions League Twenty20 being his last assignment for the franchise. "At 41, 12 months is a long way away. Luckily we have qualified for the Champions League (in October) which is a few months away. You know, I think that would...
01:19 PM, May 25, 2013
London: Bayern Munich are trying to downplay being the favourites, while Borussia Dortmund are eager to play up their chances to pull off the upset. Even before the start of Saturday's Champions League final, the German rivals are at odds in their approach to the biggest game in club soccer. Bayern are approaching their third final in four years with the self-assured calm of a team in control after a...
10:04 AM, May 25, 2013
London: Bayern Munich are unfazed by the need to be more clinical in attack against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday and avoid another Champions League final defeat having lost the showpiece match twice in the past three years. Midfielder Thomas Mueller, who at 23 will be in his third final after losing in 2010 and 2012, said his team mates were not panicking because experience had taught them the key to...
08:53 AM, May 25, 2013
London: The Europa League, long regarded as the impoverished relation of the glitzy Champions League, was boosted on Friday by UEFA's announcement that the winners would qualify for the elite competition from 2015. In an attempt to increase the prestige of its secondary competition, UEFA also said 16 teams rather than the current six would qualify directly for the group stages. "I have thought about this for a long time,...
10:07 PM, May 24, 2013
Paris: The big surprise about the Champions League final on Saturday isn't the teams - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, both superb. It's that it took so long for such an all-German contest to materialise. With the largest economy and population in Europe, modern stadiums heaving with fans, financial backing from industrial giants, an impressively run league with a fat balance sheet and mostly profitable clubs and a web of...
10:25 AM, May 24, 2013
Berlin: The absence of injured midfielder Mario Goetze has weakened Borussia Dortmund ahead of the Champions League final at Wembley stadium against Bayern Munich on Saturday, Bayern playmaker Bastian Schweinsteiger said on Thursday. The 20-year-old Goetze, who will join Bayern at the end of the season in a surprise deal worth a reported 37 million euros, has been nursing a muscle injury that has ruled him out of the biggest...
05:48 PM, May 23, 2013
London: Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are bitter rivals, yet in tactical terms they offer variations on the same theme. Both press their opponents high up the pitch, can move the ball from defence to attack with bewildering speed and play with a 4-2-3-1 formation featuring wide players on each flank and a lone striker. Dortmund, however, are more lightweight and lean towards a more counter-attacking style....
11:40 AM, May 23, 2013
London: An internet search for "Arjen Robben cuts inside" produces more than two million items, one of them a recent tweet declaring: "That was the 10,000th time Robben has cut inside and shot with his left foot - so predictable". Yet, when the Bayern Munich winger bears down the right in Saturday's Champions League final, Borussia Dortmund's defenders, if they follow in the misdirected footsteps of so many before them,...
11:11 AM, May 23, 2013
Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze will miss Saturday's Champions League final against Bayern Munich after failing to recover from a hamstring injury, leaving the team without one of their best players. Dortmund confirmed on Wednesday that Goetze will not be fit in time to face his future club at Wembley Stadium in London. It would have been the 20-year-old Goetze's last game for Dortmund before his 37-million euro switch...
09:05 PM, May 22, 2013
Malaga will be free to compete in the Europa League next season after UEFA announced on Wednesday that the European ban imposed on the Spanish club had been lifted. The Costa del Sol club, who reached the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League, had been given a one-year ban by UEFA due to financial irregularities but had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). UEFA's decision came after...
03:45 PM, May 22, 2013
Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze pulled out of training on his comeback from a hamstring injury Tuesday, putting his participation in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in doubt. Goetze took part in individual jogging exercises in the morning before joining the team session in the afternoon, but he could only complete an hour with teammates before withdrawing. German magazine Kicker reported that Goetze's injured right hamstring that...
11:09 PM, May 21, 2013
Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund's central defender Mats Hummels is expected to recover from an ankle injury in time to play in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. Hummels twisted his right ankle in the 2-1 home loss to Hoffenheim in the final round of the Bundesliga on Saturday. Team doctor Markus Braun says Hummels being on the field Saturday at Wembley is "absolutely realistic." Hummels told Sport Bild magazine the...
04:11 PM, May 20, 2013
