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Your support makes all the difference.As they made their way from the Bernabeu dressing rooms to the team bus late on Wednesday night, the Bayern Munich players were wearing T-shirts proclaiming them to be "Champions League finalists 2012".
While everyone else had been talking up an all La Liga affair in the final, or one that pitted Jose Mourinho against his former players at Chelsea, the German club had already printed their merchandise. Now that super-confidence – only increased by home advantage on 19 May – stands between Chelsea and the European Cup.
The determination to become the first team to reach the final in their own stadium in the Champions League era was apparent in Bayern's unshakeable comeback from two early Real Madrid goals. They grew as their opponents began to shrink and no one more so than Bastian Schweinsteiger who is still not properly fit and was largely bypassed in a frantic first half but who was most vocal as the game wound down to spot-kicks and was fearless in his execution of the winning one to put his club in their ninth final.
In the other semi-final, Chelsea seemed to beat Barcelona by sheer determination. A battle of wills against Bayern will not be so easily won. They will be without defenders Holger Badstuber and David Alaba, and Luiz Gustavo will be missing from midfield, but his absence will be covered by Toni Kroos stepping back and allowing Thomas Müller to return to the starting XI.
Kroos was everywhere at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, bobbing between deep midfield and the space behind striker Mario Gomez. Alongside him will be Schweinsteiger, and beyond them a fearsome attack of Franck Ribéry, Müller, Gomez and Arjen Robben.
Against a Chelsea defence that will miss John Terry, have Jose Bosingwa at right-back and neither David Luiz nor Gary Cahill 100 per cent fully fit, Bayern look frightening. But they will miss Badstuber at the other end and not for nothing were they requesting yesterday that the seven suspended players should be allowed to play. That most of the bans are defensive ones could result in a final to make neutrals forget they had ever hoped for a Munich clasico.
Mourinho had been gracious in defeat. "I would like to mention a great gesture from Mourinho," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes. "He came into our dressing room after the game to congratulate all the players; that shows his class."
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