Champions League Final date set!

It was a breath-taking set of games that saw Chelsea overcome defending champions Barcelona while Bayern were able to keep their hopes of future glory with their penalty defeat of Real Madrid. Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Barcelona is the 3rd loss in a row for the Catalan in a season where they have now been kicked out of the Champions League and look as if they will be losing their domestic title too. Similarly, today Josep Guardiola announced that he will step down as Barcelona's coach this summer when Tito Vilanova, Guardiola's assistant, will replace him. That was after Barcelona lost to Chelsea 2-3 on aggregate. Despite going ahead 2-0 by the 43rd minute, Barcelona finished the 1st half 2-1 up. Sergio Busquets provided Barca their breakthrough in the 35th minute while Andres Iniesta was the man on target in the 43rd minute. Ramires returned fire for the London-side in the 1st minute of stoppage time of the 1st half. John Terry's 37th minute sending-off was disgraceful though it did allow the Catalans to build something of a lead for themselves. With that in mind, the number of opportunities Barcelona had which went unfulfilled was disappointingly high: a total of 17 compared to Chelsea's 7. Despite this standing at the half, one felt that Barcelona had done the best they could. The fact that they proceeded to not score a single goal throughout the 2nd half is simply remarkable. Ferrnando Torres' 2nd minute of stoppage time goal in the 2nd half was a god-send for Chelsea and exactly what Barcelona couldn't handle. Over in Madrid, Real were similarly upset at home by their visiting German competition despite holding a 2-0 margin by the 14th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the two goals for the home team including a penalty strike in the 6th minute and a goal from play 8 minutes later. Arjen Robben's 27th minute penalty gave Bayern what was essentially an equalizer: 3-3 on aggregate. However, through the remainder of the 1st half and all of the 2nd there were no more goals. Both sides had similar numbers of chances but it was all for nothing as the game progressed through extra time to penalties. Here was how it happened: David Alaba converted his attempt to make it 0-1 for Bayern from the beginning. Cristiano Ronaldo actually had his shot blocked in the penalty exchange with Bayern's keeper Manuel Neuer guessing correctly to force the ball from goal. Mario Gomez effortlessly converted his shot to make it 0-2 for the Germans. Kaka's shot for Madrd was once again blocked by Neuer who had a simply phenomenal evening in the shoot-out. While Toni Kroos missed his effort for Bayern to win it all then and there, it was still 0-2, Xabi Alonso scored Real's first penalty to make it 1-2 before Philipp Lahm had his shot saved by Spain's Iker Casillas. When Sergio Ramos rocketed his shot over the bar, one felt that it was up for Real - and indeed it was! Bastian Schweinsteiger struck home from the penalty spot with Casillas going the wrong way on the next shot to cement Bayern's position at the Final that will take place in Bavaria on May 19th. Look for it!