Behold the germans

The increasingly bitter rivalry between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund is about to come to a head, AFP reports.

The all-German Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich on Saturday marks the culmination of an intensifying and increasingly bitter rivalry.

In one corner stands Bayern; German soccer royalty, and the Bundesliga's dominant force of the past 40 years.

In the other corner stands Dortmund, which has captured neutral hearts with its humble, wise-cracking coach, Juergen Klopp, and a team committed to smothering opponents with breathless attacking soccer.

Dortmund upset the balance of power in Germany by winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012 - a run that included five straight wins over Bayern - only for the Bavarians to storm back and win the league in record-breaking style this season.

Although it finished a huge 25 points behind Bayern in the Bundesliga, Dortmund has demonstrated its pedigree in the Champions League, topping a group that contained Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax, and then routing Madrid again for good measure in the semifinals.

But while the final at Wembley should represent a tussle for total supremacy in German soccer, Bayern's recent acquisition of Dortmund's star playmaker Mario Goetze suggests the odds remain stacked in its favor.

As well as triggering the 37 million euro ($47.8 million) release clause in Goetze's contract, Bayern is also expected to win the race to sign Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski, who scored all four goals in his side's astonishing 4-1 blitz of Madrid in the semifinals.

Klopp said the news of Goetze's imminent departure hit him "like a heart attack", but he takes solace in his club's more organic approach to transfer dealings.

"What can I say? If that's what Bayern wants... It's like James Bond - except they are the other guy (the villain)," he said in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian this week.

"We are not a supermarket, but they want our players because they know we cannot pay them the same money. It could not be our way to do things like Real and Bayern and not think about taxes - and let the next generation pick up our problems."

Klopp has also accused Bayern of aping Dortmund's high-octane gegenpressing tactics, having likened the four-time European champion to a Chinese industrialist shamelessly copying the techniques of his rivals.

His comments prompted a stiff rebuke from Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

"When Juergen one day gets the pleasure of coaching Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, he will realize what it means and how much it is a completely different world," he said.

"Bayern have existed for longer than Juergen Klopp has been a coach and have always had their own style of playing."

Barbs have been exchanged between the teams with mounting regularity.

When Dortmund beat Bayern to the signature of German international Marco Reus last year, then-Bayern sporting director Christian Nerlinger sniffily remarked that the Ruhr Valley club had abandoned its "understated" approach.

And after Bayern beat Klopp's side in the German Cup quarterfinals in February, Bayern president Uli Hoeness claimed "the status quo" in German soccer had "clearly been restored".

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke subsequently admitted his respect for Bayern had "cooled", while the stormy 1-1 draw between the teams in the league on May 4 witnessed an angry touchline confrontation between Klopp and Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer, the former Dortmund player and manager.

Given the current animosity, it now seems extraordinary that Bayern gave Dortmund an interest-free loan of two million euros in 2004 to help it stave off the threat of insolvency. It was a gesture of pure solidarity, but from grateful beneficiary, Dortmund has grown into a feared rival, and Klopp says his club is no longer content to exist in Bayern's shadow.

(China Daily 05/24/2013 page23)