Champions League: IT was a glowing recommendation for Bundesliga football this Saturday as German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund went head to head at Wembley in England.

Bayern suprisingly went into the final as huge favourites among most critics, despite Der Klassiker results in the last few years, as Dortmund was seen as the side that Bayern would finally win the Champions’ League final against, after failing twice in three years.

It was Dortmund, started spritely, however, stifling the likes of Franck Ribery and getting the ball to their playmakers like Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus. The first good chance went to them in the 14th minute as Reus and Lewandowski pounced on a loose ball before Lewandowski fired, only for Neuer to tip over. A minute later they were back at it as Jakub Blasczykowski was set up for a one-and-one with Neuer, but was denied once more by the German number one.

The first half went much like this, with Dortmund in the ascendency, Neuer pulling off big saves, and Robben being wasteful at the other end. The Dutchman would have been having flashbacks to his profligacy 12 months earlier against Chelsea as he was repeatedly through on goal, only to be thrice thwarted by Roman Weidenfeller. It was a half typified by spurts of Dortmund supremacy and Bayern counter-attack with Reus flourishing in the central role, good news for Borussia given that deserter Mario Gotze will be playing his football at the Allianz next season. Bayern’s best chance came to Mario Mandzukic, who was largely absent otherwise, when he connected with a Robben cross to head at goal, only for Weidenfeller to save once again.

It was Mandzukic connecting with another Robben cross which finally broke the deadlock in the 60th minute however. The winger looked to have taken a one step too far in getting to the byline however the chance had not gone as his curled cutback found Mandzukic for the tap-in.

The comeback came as Dante, who largely had a torrid time dealing with the pace and guile of Lewandowski and especially Reus, clumsily took out Reus for the 68th-minute penalty. Dante could easily have got his second yellow card after picking up his first for another foul on Reus, however the Brazilian stayed on the field and Gundogan converted the penalty.

From then on it was end-to-end stuff, with Bayern slightly superior. Thomas Muller had a shot cleared of the line by Neven Subotic and Dortmund counter-attacks continually ended fruitless.

It was Arjen Robben, however, the man who missed a penalty in extra time against Chelsea last year, who ran on to a deft flick from Ribery and coolly slotted past Weidenfeller to break Dortmund hearts and send the red half of Wembley into ecstasy.

Thus, Robben and Bayern found redemption for their previous shortcomings and the 2012-2013 Champions’ League trophy now resides in Bavaria.

One week to go

La Liga: With one game week to go in the La Liga season, Barcelona made their last major triumph, bettering derby rivals Espanyol 2-0.

There were goals from Alexis Sanchez and Pedro Rodriguez, who will both be worrying about their future after Barca announced the signing of Brazilian star Neymar on a five-year deal.

Valencia, meanwhile lifted themselves into the last Champions’ League place with a 1-0 win over Granada with a lone goal from a typical Roberto Soldado poaching finish.

Real Sociedad 3 — Real Madrid 3

Atletico 0 — Mallorca 0

Malaga 3 — Deportivo 1