Who would have thought the beautiful game could transform so definitively in such a short period of time?
A mere three years ago Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid looked unbeatable.
Spain dominated international competition, becoming the first country to win three consecutive major titles: the European championship twice and the FIFA World Cup.
Spanish players were highly regarded, with teams attempting to purchase possessive, holding midfielders to take the role as influential playmakers.
Clubs flocked to Spain to find Xavis and Iniestas of their own. Now, a remarkable shift in football prowess has seen this focus move to Germany.
The Champions League is a fantastic measure of the globe’s footballing power.
The competition pits the best of Europe against each other in a gruelling competition.
This year will see two German sides face-off, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, at Wembley, May 26th.
There is huge rivalry between these two Bundesliga sides. Dortmund advanced past Bayern in the Champions League in their previous meeting with a 1-0 aggregate win 15 years ago in 1998.
Bayern experienced its heaviest ever defeat in recent times to its nearest Bundesliga rival, losing 5-2 in the DFB-Pokal final last year.
For Bayern, their star-studded line-up will feature no less than eight current German internationals.
This includes national and club captain Philipp Lahm, along with defenders Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng; midfielders Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger; striker Mario Gomez; and goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer.
Add superstar Frenchman Franck Ribery and Dutch weapon Arjen Robben to this roster and it is a rather impressive line-up.
Manager Jupp Heynckes, or “Osram”, is currently in the final days of his third stint at the club, ironically making way for former Catalan mastermind, Pep Guardiola.
Heynckes previously won the Champions League as manager of Real Madrid in the 1997-98 season.
On the other side of the managerial ledger, Jurgen Klopp has brought newfound glory to the most populous area of Germany, with the club having struggled since the ‘Golden Age’ of the 90s after tasting Champions League success in the 1996-97 season.
Klopp guided Dortmund in his inaugural year of management, in defeating Bayern to claim the DFB-Supercup.
The following years brought a sixth and fifth place, respectively, before successive Bundesliga titles, including the highest points tally amassed by the club in a single season (2011-12).
Klopp has experienced great reward against rivals Bayern, achieving the club’s first ever domestic double last season.
Bayern are undoubtedly stacked with players of German international quality, although Dortmund have no shortage of their own.
With former German international midfielders Sebastian Kehl (current Dortmund captain) and Patrick Owomoyela, as well as current German players midfielders Sven Bender, Ilkay Gundogan, Mario Gotze, Kevin Großkreutz, forward Marco Reus, and defenders Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a German trial match.
The technically astute, well-organised play of both sides has seen them prevail against the previously dominant Spanish clubs.
This will be the first all-German Champions League final. One thing is for certain: we are in for one hell of a game.
Already we have seen moves to poach players from the “it” teams of world football.
Mario Gotze, a comparable player to Xavi and Iniesta – although slightly more robust, has signed for rivals Bayern from Dortmund.
Dortmund striker, Polish-born Robert Lewandowski is on Manchester United’s radar, who have enjoyed the benefits of former Dortmund player Shinji Kagawa this season.
The next question is whether these players would fit into a Premier League team mould, disputably the most popular football league in the world.
The German players’ solid, sturdier style of play might suit the physically-demanding EPL more so than that of the Spanish players.
The holding of possession, which proved so successful for the Spanish, has had a muted effect this season, with the David Silvas and Santi Carzorlas of the Premier League facing huge pressure from defenders, ultimately cutting down their time on the ball and nullifying their threat.
No doubt they have still had tremendous seasons in their own right, but these types of players still require the right players around them and an effective coach in order to have a decent and prolonged shot at glory.
At times the tactical greed to keep the ball can prove shaky and be particularly susceptible to counter-attacks. This is what we saw in both Champions League semi-finals.
The pressure applied to the ball ultimately resulted in mistakes, with the passing ability and accuracy of the German sides reaping massive benefits on the scoresheet.
It is not solely the offensive strategies employed by the Spanish that have begun to fade. The lack of organisation in their defence has become obvious, especially Barcelona.
This is reflected by the massive aggregate score line (7-0) against Bayern and the frailty at the back on display week-in week out.
Given they have been ravaged by injury, although even at full strength, the Catalan side have looked confused at best without the ball, attributing to the relinquishment of their stranglehold at the highest level of the game.
Looking ahead to next season, the outgoing move of Bayern manager Heynckes is an interesting one, with the German reportedly ‘bitter’ at the arrangement – and he has every right to be.
His replacement Guardiola will be an intriguing figure to keep an eye on, with the forgone exit of a conductor of a modern football revolution in Heynckes, and a presumed reverence back to the originally revolutionary style of Guardiola’s Barcelona side.
The incoming Bayern coach is faced with an interesting dilemma: does he conform to his players’ characteristics, or does he make his players conform to him?
Time well tell with next season proving to be a retrospective test of his time at Barca.
It could be argued that during his time there, Pep had the world’s best players in the primetime of their careers: think Messi, Xavi, Puyol, Iniesta, with a supporting role including David Villa, Pique and Dani Alves.
However once again, Pep will be gifted a cohesive, world-class side, meddling with the true legitimacy of this test.
The national Spanish might be helped by the fact that the masters of this style of play will soon be setting their sights on retirement, although this dismissal of their future success may be slightly premature.
Spain remain ranked number one for now, however with the next international tournament to be held next year in Brazil, it will be interesting to see whether the chokehold Germany currently possess in club football can continue until the World Cup finals and be transferred into the international arena.
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