The UEFA Champions League (All-In-All)

25th May 2013, was the day for the UEFA Champions league final, it was the 21st final in the current Champions league format and the 58th in total including the past European Cup finals. Wembley will be holding it for the 7th time. This final was also the fourth final to be played on Saturday; Wednesday evening was previously the typical night for the finals.

The champion's league started amidst expectations from club officials and supporters to be highly exciting and controversial. The game really lived up to expectations from my own perspective from the group stages to the final game. I must confess I loved this season's championship to the fullest, with the joy, tears, disappointments, tactical mistakes from players and coaches.

Let me feed you from day one of the season to the final game. The draw for the group stages got some fans hopeful whiles it made others doubtful of them qualifying to the round of 16. Group D was named leagues for the 2011/2012 football season. Let's go down memory lane with the draws and matches until 25th May 2013.

GROUP A GROUP B GROUP C GROUP D

FC Porto Arsenal AC Milan Real Madrid

Dynamo Kiev Schalke 04 Zenith St. Petersburg Man City

PSG Olympiakos Anderlecht Ajax

Dinamo Zagreb Montpellier Malaga Borussia Dortmund

GROUP E GROUP F GROUP G GROUP H

Chelsea Lille Celtic Galatasaray

Shakhtar Donetsk Bayern Munich Barcelona Man United

Juventus Valencia Benfica FC Braga

FC Nordsjaelland BATE Spartak Moscow FC Cluj

I was startled by the brave performance of FC Braga against Man United both with the home and away fixtures. Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, and Malaga displayed spectacular showmanship on the field of play despite not being consistent on the European platform for some time now. The first two teams to top the group after their home and away encounters qualifies to the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions league. At the end of a vigorous and entertaining group stage encounters Porto and PSG qualified for Group A, Arsenal and Schalke 04 (Group B), AC Milan and Malaga (Group C), Real Madrid and Dortmund (Group D), Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus(Group E), Bayern Munich and Valencia (Group F), Barcelona and Celtic (Group G), Manchester United and Galatasaray (Group H) respectively. The draw to know who is playing who was held in Nyon, Amsterdam, and the draw was as follows:

Galatasaray vs. Schalke 04, Celtic vs. Juventus, Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich, Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan vs. Barcelona, Real Madrid vs. Manchester united, Valencia vs. PSG, FC Porto vs. Malaga. After a fierce competition between the teams for a spot in the quarter-final, only four slots are available for grab. As the saying goes, survival of the fittest, but it was survival of the wise and brave with the champions league matches. Barcelona coming from 2-0 defeat from the first leg to win 4-0 against AC Milan on the second leg to qualify for the next round of the competition, the other matches were also hear throbbing but with the Barcelona game, everybody thought it was over but a technical blunder by the Milan coach cost the team a place in the quarter-final stage.

On the 15th of March 2013, the draw for the quarter-final was held with Dortmund vs. Malaga, Galatasaray vs. Real Madrid, Juventus vs. Bayern Munich and Barcelona vs. PSG. The round was an improvement on the previous round with excitement and suspense at the end of the first leg, with whoever wins the second leg qualifies for the semi-final. At the end of the second leg, Dortmund, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich booked their place in the semi-final with three matches away from lifting the most prestigious trophy in Europe.

It was all Spain and Germany affair in the semi-final, on the 12th April 2013, the draw ended with Barcelona playing Bayern Munich while Real Madrid faced Borussia Dortmund. Barcelona suffered a thrashing 7-0 defeat in aggregate to the obviously superb team Bayern Munich. In another Spain-Germany encounter, Real Madrid was defeated by Dortmund in 3-4 aggregate. After playing each other in the group stage, they met again in the semi-final, making their overall encounter this season to four with Dortmund winning two, losing one and drawing one.

The Spain teams were beaten beyond consolation, Robert Lewandowski scoring Real Madrid four goals in one match coming short of one goal to equal Lionel Messi's five goals in one match against Bayern Leverkusen last season.

It's was an all Germany affairs in the UEFA Champions League in Wembley, London. It was the best fair played final in recent times, with both teams playing fantastic football from attack to defense. At the end of the day the best and the most deserved team won.

Arjen Robben had a typical final performance on the night, squandering chances but the only difference was he finally saw the goal post this time, unlike in the 2010 and the 2012 finals against Inter milan and Chelsea and the 2010 world cup final againt Spain respectively.

The season has ended with Bayern Munich as champions of Europe after 12 years with their fifth trophy equalling Liverpool and AC milan. Till we meet again, hope you have enjoyed yourself.