2013 UEFA Champions League Final

Venue

Wembley Stadium, England's national stadium and home of the England national football team, was announced as the venue of the 2013 final on 16 June 2011. Having hosted the 2011 final, Wembley made history for being the first stadium in the tournament's history to host the final twice in three years. Discussing the short time between the two finals, UEFA President Michel Platini explained that the final would be in celebration of 150 years of the Football Association's existence. It was the seventh occasion that Wembley hosted the final after hosting the 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1992 and the 2011 finals of Europe's premier club competition.

The original Wembley Stadium hosted five European Cup finals. The 1968 and 1978 finals were both won by English sides: Manchester United beat Benfica 4–1 in 1968 and Liverpool defeated Club Brugge 1–0 in 1978. Benfica also lost in the 1963 final, beaten 2–1 by Milan, while Ajax won the first of three consecutive European Cups at Wembley in 1971, beating Panathinaikos 2–0. In the 1992 final, Spanish club Barcelona defeated Italian side Sampdoria 1–0 in the final match played as the European Cup prior to the following season's introduction of the current Champions League format.

First opened for the British Empire Exhibition in 1923, the stadium was originally known as the Empire Stadium. That year, it hosted its first FA Cup Final, when almost 200,000 spectators attempted to watch the match between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United. Wembley played host to all of England's matches at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, including the 4–2 victory over West Germany in the final, and at UEFA Euro 1996. The original stadium was closed in 2000 and demolished three years later, to be replaced by a 90,000-capacity arena, which opened in 2007. The new stadium hosted the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final, which pitted Barcelona against Manchester United in a re-match of the final played two years previously. Barcelona claimed their fourth European title as they ran out 3–1 winners.

Background

This was the first time in the history of the Champions League (and European Cup) that the final was contested between two German sides. There were three previous Champions League finals between two clubs from the same country: 2000 (Spain), 2003 (Italy), and 2008 (England).

It was Bayern Munich's 10th European Cup/Champions League final, third all-time behind Real Madrid (12) and Milan (11). They won four of those finals: in 1974, 1975, 1976, and most recently in 2001. The 2013 final was Bayern's third final in four years; they lost in both 2010 and 2012 (as the first team since 1984 to reach the Final held in their home stadium), adding to previous final losses in 1982, 1987, and 1999.

For Dortmund, this was their second Champions League final, with them winning their first title in 1997. The next season as defending champions, they defeated Bayern in their only previous meetings in European competitions, winning 1–0 on aggregate in the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, before being eliminated 2–0 on aggregate in the semi-finals by Real Madrid, managed by Jupp Heynckes, who took over as Bayern coach in 2011.

In 2003, Bayern provided a €2 million loan without collateral to the nearly bankrupt Dortmund which has since been repaid. Domestically there has been a heated rivalry between Bayern and Dortmund in recent years. In 2011–12, Dortmund won the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal with Bayern finishing runners-up in both competitions. In 2012–13, Bayern bested Dortmund for both trophies, as well as the DFL-Supercup. Just before Dortmund's Champions League semi-final, it was announced that one of their homegrown stars, Mario Götze, would make a €37 million transfer to Bayern for the upcoming 2013–14 season, a move that some felt would have put more distance between wealthy Bayern and the rest of the Bundesliga. The final 2012–13 Bundesliga game between the two clubs was a 1–1 draw marked by acrimony as Bayern's Rafinha was sent off for elbowing Dortmund's Jakub Blaszczykowski, sparking an argument on the touchline between Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp and Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer. The press has used terms like 'power shift' and 'changing of the guard' after Dortmund and Bayern eliminated Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, in the Champions League semi-finals.

Road to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.

Ambassador

The two-time Champions League winner and ex-England international Steve McManaman was appointed as the official ambassador for the final.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was directed by Kevin Spacey's executive assistant and The Prince's Trust ambassador Hamish Jenkinson and his business partner Jonny Grant, who had previously directed the 2011 opening ceremony, also at Wembley. The ceremony, also titled "Battle of Kings", was produced by Films United. It was directed and produced by Grigorij Richters and his producing partner Alex Souabni. Both were the former filmmakers-in-residence of Kevin Spacey and Jenkinson at The Old Vic Theatre in London. The film focused around the story of activist and fundraiser Stephen Sutton, who was part of the group of performers.

Match ball

The match ball for the final was the Adidas Finale Wembley, which featured the same "Starball" panel configuration as the last three finals. The ball was predominantly white, with each star in blue with yellow patterning and a purple border. Six of the 12 stars featured designs recalling the six previous times that the European Cup final had been held at Wembley Stadium. The ball was unveiled on 30 January 2013 and was used for all knockout stage matches in the 2012–13 competition.

Ticketing

The international ticket sales phase for the general public ran from 11 February to 15 March 2013. Tickets were available in four price categories: £330, £230, £140, and £60. Due to the high demand for tickets, allocation was determined by a lottery.

The two finalist clubs were allocated 25,000 tickets each. Borussia Dortmund received 502,567 requests for tickets, while there were approximately 250,000 orders for tickets from members of Bayern Munich. Both clubs used draws as a means of awarding tickets.

Related events

As is the annual custom, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women's Champions League trophies were presented to the host city at a special ceremony at Banqueting House, Whitehall, on 19 April 2013. Receiving the trophies from UEFA President Michel Platini were the Minister for Sport and the Olympics Hugh Robertson and the Mayor of London's commissioner for sport, Kate Hoey. Representing the previous season's competition winners were John Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Čech, Fernando Torres and Branislav Ivanović of Chelsea, and Lotta Schelin of the Lyon ladies' team. Also in attendance were final ambassadors Graeme Le Saux and Faye White, who had escorted the trophies from Stamford Bridge to Banqueting House via London's public transport system, and David Bernstein, the chairman of The Football Association.

The UEFA Champions Festival was held at the International Quarter, Stratford City, next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, from 23 to 26 May 2013.

The 2013 UEFA Women's Champions League Final was held at Stamford Bridge on 23 May 2013 between Wolfsburg and Lyon. Wolfsburg won the game, with Martina Müller scoring the only goal. This ensured that for the first time ever the same nation won both the men's and women's European club titles in the same year.

Team news

Borussia Dortmund's Mario Götze, who would join Bayern Munich in the summer, missed the match with a hamstring injury that had kept him out since the semi-final second leg against Real Madrid. Right-back Łukasz Piszczek did play, however, despite being due for hip surgery, while centre-back Mats Hummels recovered from a sprained ankle in time to play. Bayern Munich were without defender Holger Badstuber, who was expected to be out for 10 months with a knee injury, and Toni Kroos, who had yet to recover from an injury sustained in the quarter-final.

Summary

Dortmund were the dominant team in the first half-hour of the match, with intense pressing towards Bayern. Neuer made five important saves in the first 35 minutes, including two off shots from Lewandowski and one from Reus. Bayern later took the initiative, and scored the first goal in the 60th minute, when Mandžukić finished left footed the combination of passes by Robben and Ribéry, the ball going past Schmelzer on the goal line from three yards out. Shortly after, Dante raised his foot in the penalty area and caught Reus in the stomach; Gündoğan scored the resulting penalty shooting low into the right corner and sending Neuer the wrong way. Robben scored the winning goal with a weak low shot pushing the ball past the onrushing Weidenfeller with his left foot from eight yards out, after a back-heeled pass from Ribéry with a minute left in normal time.

Post-match reactions

Borussia Dortmund's manager Jürgen Klopp commented that the long season caught up with Dortmund. "It was late in the game and from the 75th minute it was very hard for us after a tough season, but we deserved to be in the final and we showed that tonight" he said. Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels said the game was really close and very disappointing, and that they were the better team in the first 25 minutes but missed the goal that was needed. Bayern Munich's manager Jupp Heynckes said that "We have achieved something unique".