It appears that Wembley is set to host the first all-German final in Champions League history next month after Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund appeared to gain massive advantages in their semifinal ties against mighty Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
Yes, there are 180 minutes to play yet but even with the amount of quality in the Spanish sides, it is quite a tough ask to claw back a 3-4 goal deficit, let alone in a semifinal scenario.
Real Madrid probably have some hope yet with that 1 away goal - but one would be clutching at straws to expect Real Madrid to win 3-0 at home against a Borussia Dortmund side who have visited the Bernabeu already this season and know what to expect.
I suspect that both German sides will be setting up their gameplans to score that killer away goal on the counter attack when they head to Spain next week. One reckons that if the Germans get the early away goal, Barcelona and Real Madrid will deflate quickly like a punctured balloon - they will be forced to go for all out attack and against two very efficient German sides, the result is unlikely to be 5 or 6 goals to the home team.
From the moment, the draw was announced, you had the feeling that the Germans would seize the initiative when they hosted the first leg even against two of the world's best clubs and sure enough, they did. But the clinical nature of their victories has been quite a surprise. Most pundits were tipping 2-0 victories to the Germans so for one of them to score 4 goals, let alone both, it has been quite a shock of massive proportions to the footballing world.
Or is it?
The fact is that in the last few seasons, the Bundesliga has made huge strides, knocking off the Serie A from the podium of top 3 leagues in Europe - testament to this is the Bundesliga nabbing what was Italy's 4th Champions League spot. The Bundesliga has some of the highest attendance records in world football and those numbers have continued to rise - this may attributed to the fact that the Bundesliga has a very high goals per game average.
While Bayern Munich have always been the side to beat in Germany and this season have clearly been the best side in the league, the trend in the Bundesliga in recent times has seen as many as 10 clubs in contention for the league title - Borussia Dortmund rose from a slump in the last decade to return to their place amongst Germany's elite clubs, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, Werder Bremen, Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg and even Hertha Berlin who have been relegated twice in the last 3 years have all competed late into the season for the Bundesliga title.
One wonders, if Germany's fairly strong and stable economy has meant Bundesliga clubs are in financially stronger shape than their Italian and Spanish counterparts. However, the academy systems at club level are also amongst the world's best, built on a philosophy to play football the way it should be played.
Hence, why the dour, efficient football we have come to expect from the Germans has long been buried into the book of myths and legends and why it has actually been rather pleasing to see Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund beat the supposed artisans of world football at their own game. Of course, it remains to be seen if the Final will be a full-blown attacking affair - the trouble when the Final is contested by two clubs from the same league is that both sides know each other so well, that in a big game situation, they tend to neutralize each other.
For German football, the future is bright and certainly for Bayern Munich who appear to have scored a coup with the signing of Pep Guardiola as manager from next season, and another in signing German starlet, Mario Gotze from their potential finalists - another ammunition to fire up the club from Germany's industrial Ruhr valley.
So El Derby it probably won't be in North London this time next month. But Nord v Sud, FC Hollywood v the coal miners from the Ruhr Valley should not be a bad substitute even if it is two Germans at the home of English football.
At least we don't need to worry about the English losing to a German side again here.
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