There remain a few days before New Year. So it’s a good time to sum up all things of year 2009, to look back and remember all the good and bad happened. I’m not going to list every football event; just ones that matter to me (different Bayern stuff mainly), so maybe something big (like CL Final for example) will stay behind.
January.
I should say Bayern had a good start in 2009. I felt like everything was going to improve. We started with encouraging win against Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal. After the victory Hoeneß said: “We were simply terrific today. That was football the way you want it to be played. We knew the team was in good shape, and the mood is great”. The Media praised the team, unfortunately the praise came too early.
January brought us the news about three-year deal with Ivica Olic. When the first rumours about Olic appeared in December 2008, I thought it would be great if we make it. When I watched the UEFA Cup match between Hamburger and Aston Villa, in which Ivica scored twice and did a lot of work (as he always do), I was so excited just to think that we could sign him. So, in the end I was really glad he said ‘yes’, ‘cause Olic is incredible player, I knew him since he played in CSKA, and “every team needs” a player, who always shows 100% performance.
We got the official statement about Podolski’s return to Köln. On the one hand it was good news ‘cause it was unbearable to see sufferings and moans of Lukas and not see him playing. On the other hand I didn’t (and still don’t) want him to be in Köln. I think he can’t progress there.
In the end of January Leverkusen has took Toni Kroos on an eighteen-month loan. It obviously was good for him. Another half year on the Bayern bank and probably we could forget about him. Fortunately, he got real practice in Leverkusen and everyone can see now how talented he is. Let’s hope he’ll come back home and will be a star in Bayern.
February.
In February Bayern showed that we would do what we’ve been doing so well in the first round – loosing points without a good reason. I remember my frustration after the lost against Köln in home match and Daum’s comment after the game: “Winning away to the team I believe will finish as champions is always special. <…> I hope that was Bayern's last defeat – and I mean that seriously.”
Chelsea sacked Scolari. It was quite unexpected. But he had been doing wrong. Here in Russia it was a really huge news, ‘cause his place took Russian national football team trainer Guus Hiddink. Everyone talked about his ability to combine two works and whether he would leave national team or stay. I looked positively at the thing. I’m glad Guus could manage this challenge and make things right in Chelsea.
March.
On the 4th of March Bayern said goodbye to DFB-Pokal. We lost 4-2 against Leverkusen. It was a bitter lost. At some point (after Lucio and Klose had scored) it seemed like we had a chance to turn the match, but we could not and final goal by Kießling was… I don’t really know… It’s awful when your team is trying to equalize and instead your opponent scores, such a disappointing moment.
March had good things too. In Bundesliga we won matches against Hannover, Bochum and Karlsruher, not the strongest teams but we was on second place in one point only behind the leader (it was Hertha Berlin, strange how quickly things could change).
Bayern set a new record in Champions League with 12-1 aggregate victory over Sporting. It was nice. In the Bayern vs Sporting match Thomas Müller scored his first goal for the Bayern squad. Really good start. After such a win we could look forward quite optimistically despite the terrifying name of our next rival. If the first CL draw (when we got Sporting) was really lucky for FCB, we leveled our lucky/unlucky meter when we got Barcelona. Klinsmann said: “It’s a cracking draw! Coming face-to-face with the best team in Europe and the world at the moment is a terrific challenge for us all. Their team is packed with top class players. Our challenge is to go out there as equals and fight them all the way.”
April.
April started with a bang lost against Wolfsburg. Bayern played terribly. What has been done in our penalty area, it just can’t be described. We were such a feeble team! “We have to swallow this bitter pill for now. We could have taken a giant stride forwards today, just as Wolfsburg have now done. We’ve missed our chance, and now we’re three points behind the leaders.” It was the first bitter pill we had to take in April.
As Rumminigge said the match against Barcelona was “a massive humiliation”. Those days I was in hospital, it was really boring, I had nothing to do and it was like I’s on another planet. I had to use the liveticker to follow the match. Maybe it was for the best, I just can’t imagine how bad I would feel if I had watched it. Later when I’ve returned home I watched the match, but I was already prepared.
Beside the fact we’ve got such a shocking and unpleasant lesson, that match gave us another Number 1 – Rensing was sent to the bank. I still think it was a big lame move. Rensing wasn’t a perfect goalkeeper. Obviously, it was difficult for him to take the place of Kahn, but who can do it? He was bad in the beginning of the season, but he got better, he could progress. It was so unfair for Klinsmann to make that change. He found the guilty one so cleverly. But was it fault of Rensing our defense line was doing worse than if we had not it at all? Of course, Butt played better, with more confidence, but as my friend says “the is a big difference playing after Kahn and playing after Rensing, (almost) everyone would be badly criticized in the first case, and you don’t need to be too smart to become a hero in the second one.”
“In the light of recent results, the board is concerned that the club may not achieve its minimum targets for the season, and has accordingly resolved to take appropriate action.” They sacked Klinsmann. I won’t sum up what he had “achieved.” I like him and it’s too frustrating to remember all his faults. He just couldn’t fit Bayern. Heynckes was appointed as head coach and Gerland as his assistant, Scholl started to coach the Bayern reserves.
May.
Firstly, about non-Bayern stuff. There was an awful semifinal match in Champions League. I mean the second leg of Barca vs Chelsea opposition, the referee work to be exact. Why we had to watch this I don’t know. Why UEFA didn’t do anything about it after, I don’t know as well. A sending off the field without good reason, not awarding penalty kicks, what was the referee doing on the field? No one could change the result, it may be sad, but it’s okay in the end. I’m okay with Barca victory, it one of the best team in the world, you can’t deny it. But the referee didn’t manage his task, he did awful mistakes, so he should be punished, not be defended. We can talk any crap about he was doing wrong for the both sides so it equalized it, or Barca deserved this victory ‘cause its performance was better, the fact is we all know the judgement in football is not good often (too often, I should say) and nobody (here you can read FIFA or UEFA) will do anything about this. Unfortunately later we had another example of how badly system works.
Another disappointing thing for me was the UEFA Cup Final. I should start with Hamburger vs Werder semifinal. When I’ve learned the draw I had mixed feelings. From the one point in any case we get a German team in the final (and it’s good, ‘cause I like German Football League), from the other it would be better if it was the Final. Funny, but the teams have met each other three times in such a short period, with final result 1 to 2. Sadly, we had a fans-throw-something-on-the-field interference, which made its little contribution in the second leg (here we can remember the big red ball, that “scored” a goal against Liverpool). Anyway, Werder was in Final and didn’t win. Sad story and thas final I’ll remember with the almost crying face of Naldo.
Back to Bayern. With Heynckes’es experience we got a result. We didn’t win the Bundesliga, but we played well, we hadn’t lost a match, we had qualified in CL. So the warm farewell was deserved. I was surprised when Heynckes signed a contract with Bayer later, but I’m glad he did it, and I’m glad he doing good now. I’m still very grateful for the time he was our coach.
May brought to us some new things. On the 13th of Mai club confirmed the deal with Louis van Gaal. What he is like and what he’ll do were the hot topics. Mario Gomez declared his desire to join Bayern at summer. “Bayern is something special. I want to go all-out with this club in the league next season, and I’m really looking forward to playing in the Champions League.” And the new Bayern home kit was released in the end of May, very cute I think (not a big news but I really like the kit =D).
June.
In June I watched Confederation Cup, I didn’t really care who was going to win. It just was interesting to see what we will get next summer (roughly, but anyway) and I like national teams play. In general, June was quiet month. The break before the next chapter.
The half-time whistle.