Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan: The Road To Madrid

Two teams at the top of their games will meet at the Bernabau Stadium this Saturday. Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have both secured domestic doubles and with neither team having ever won the treble before history must be made in Madrid.

Inter qualified for the Champions League courtesy of winning Serie A whereas Bayern Munich are not the reigning Bundesliga champions and qualified with a second place finish last season.

There was little in the early stages of the competition to suggest that either team would be contesting the final as they both struggled in the group stages.

Group Stages

Bayern Munich were in Group A along with Bordeaux, Juventus and Maccaba Haifi. Inter received a more favourable draw, finding themselves us against Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev, as well as the reigning champions and tournament favourites Barcelona.

Bordeaux were the surprise package of Group A, beating Bayern Munich both home and away to leave the German giants on the brink of elimination. They travelled to Juventus for the final group game knowing that they needed to win to avoid a humiliating first round exit from the competition. Bayern Munich defeated Juventus in style, scoring three second half goals to run out 4-1 winners and qualify for the knock out stages in second place.

Despite being drawn in a comparatively easy group Inter struggled to put increasing pressure on their under fire manager Jose Mourinho. Three points from the opening three group games was not a particularly impressive return for Mourinho's men. They were outclassed at the Nou Camp by Barcelona in a 2-0 defeat had to defeat Rubin Kazan in their final fixture in order to progress.

They did so thanks to goals in either half from Samuel Eto and Mario Balotelli.

Round of 16

Finishing second meant that both teams were given tough tasks in the first knock out round. Bayern Munich were up against a Fiorentina side who had qualified ahead of Liverpool while Inter faced a tough test against a team Mourinho built—Chelsea.

Bayern Munich were hugely fortunate to win the first leg at the Allianz Stadium 2-1 with a last minute goal from Miroslav Klose which was quite clearly offside.

Inter put themselves in pole position to progress when Esteban Cambiasso struck in the second half to give them a 2-1 lead to take to Stamford Bridge.

The second legs were not without incident. Fiorentina went 2-0 up before Mark Bommel pulled back a goal in the 60th minute to leave the tie level on aggregate. Stefan Jovetic restored Fiorentina's two goal margin in the 64th minute but Arjen Robben responded almost instantly with a magnificent strike to send Bayern Munich through on the away goals rule.

Despite having home advantage Chelsea never looked like scoring against a well marshalled Inter defence and Samuel Eto effectively ended the contest when he scored the only goal of the game after 78 minutes.

Inter had the easier of the quarter final fixtures finding themselves up against CSKA Moscow. Bayern Munich faced English opposition in the form of Man Utd. Despite conceding an away goal in the first five minutes of the first leg Bayern Munich staged an admirable fight back with a deflected Frank Ribery strike in the 78th minute and an Ivica Olic winner deep in injury time.

There was no such drama at the San Siro as a 65th minute strike from Diego Miito gave Inter a one goal lead to take to Moscow. A Wesley Sneider goal six minutes into the second leg was enough to see Inter through to the semi finals, having not conceded a goal in their past three Champions League matches.

There was more drama for Bayern Munich at Old Trafford as Man Utd surged to a three goal lead, only for Ivica Olic to pull a crucial goal back just before half time. Once Man Utd had been reduced to ten men by the sending off of Rafael, Bayern Munich were resurgent and Arjen Robben scored another superb goal in the 74th minute to make the score 3-2. Man Utd were unable to bounce back and for the second consecutive round Bayern Munich were dependent upon the away goals rule to progress.

Semi Finals

Inter were up against Barcelona for the second time in the competition. Barcelona were the tournament favourites and took an early lead in the first leg at the San Siro through Pedro. Inter Milan responded with a display of fine attacking football to score three goals through Sneider, Maicon and Milito.

Bayern Munich also played the first leg of their tie, against French champions Lyon, at home and won 1-0 thanks to a second half Arjen Robben goal. The game was marred by the first half dismissal of Frank Ribery who will be suspended for the remainder of the competition.

Barcelona were hoping to blow Inter away in the Nou Camp but once again the Italian team's rearguard stood firm. Thiago Motta was sent off early in the second half after a bit of theatrics from Sergi Busquets and Gerard Pique scored late in the game but it was too little too late for Barcelona with Inter winning 3-2 on aggregate.

Lyon would have felt they were in with a good chance of progressing after only losing by a single goal in Munich. Accomplishing their task became a lot more difficult when Ivan Olic grabbed a vital away goal midway through he first half and the Croatian striker scored another two in the second half to complete his hat trick and book Bayern Munich's spot in the final.

Final

This Saturday night Bayern Munich and Inter Milan meet at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. One of these two great teams will win an unprecedented treble, the other will go home empty handed.

The process whereby the top teams in Europe are whittled down to just two is complete. Now the two best teams in club football will face one another for the ultimate prize.

Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

Kick off: 20:45