Brazil Won Confederation Cup 2013

Brazil have won the Confederations Cup after thrashing World and European champions Spain 3-0 in a one-sided final at a raucous Maracana Stadium.

Fred scored twice and Neymar once for the rampant hosts while the stunned Spaniards endured a miserable night, missing a penalty and finishing with 10 men.

The final got off to an incredible start when Brazil took the lead after just 95 seconds, Fred alertly lashing the ball into the net from close range as he lay on the ground, a cross to the back post having bounced off Neymar.

Brazil began the game at a ferocious pace and should have doubled their lead a few minutes later but Oscar shot wide after a lovely flick from Fred.

Paulinho then drew a decent save from Iker Casillas with a clever lob and the Brazilian players thought Alvaro Arbeloa was lucky to escape with just a booking after he pulled back Neymar.

Spain had an early penalty shout waved away and threatened again when Julio Cesar kept out a low shot from Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres heading the subsequent corner over the bar.

But the Spaniards were looking unusually vulnerable at the back and Fred should have added to his tally, only to be denied by Casillas after latching onto a good pass from Neymar.

Luiz saves the day

David Luiz then saved the day for Brazil at the other end, sliding into the goalmouth to brilliantly clear a Pedro shot which seemed certain to find the corner of the net.

And Brazil made the most of their escape, doubling the lead just before the break when Oscar patiently waited for Neymar to get onside and then released him with a neat pass, which Neymar brilliantly smashed into the roof of the net.

The jubilant Brazilian fans were loving the action and were sent into raptures again just two minutes after the interval when Neymar dummied Hulk's pass and Fred steered the ball into the corner of the net, Casillas only able to get a hand to the shot.

Jesus Navas came off the bench for Spain and quickly won a penalty when he was tripped by Marcelo but Sergio Ramos's spot-kick was just wide of the left-hand post.

The entertainment was unrelenting in a hectic contest as both sides continued to attack and Casillas had to charge out of his goal to foil Hulk, before Marcelo shot into the side netting.

Calamity for Spain never seemed far away and they were down to 10 men with just over 20 minutes left when Neymar ghosted past Gerard Pique, who brought his man down and was red-carded for his trouble, the referee deciding he was the last line of defence.

The proud Spaniards kept fighting and came close to a consolation goal in the final 10 minutes but Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar capped a perfect night for the hosts by pulling off a pair of superb saves to deny Pedro and David Villa.

Bayern Munich wins Champions League 2012/2013

With minutes left to play and the biggest game in club football once again in his hands, Arjen Robben made sure he didn't miss this time.

Robben found redemption at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, scoring the winner in the 89th minute of the Champions League final to give Bayern a 2-1 victory over German rival Borussia Dortmund — ending four years of frustration for his team in Europe's biggest tournament and erasing some of the painful memories of his penalty miss in last year's final.

"I don't know how many times I dreamed about it," Robben said. "Everybody I spoke to before the game I said, 'Today is going to be the night and we're going to do it.' To do it in the end is an unbelievable feeling."

This was a win that was long in the making for both Robben and Bayern, not only because of the stubborn challenge from a Dortmund side that refused to accept its status as underdog in the club's biggest game in 16 years. Bayern had lost two of the last three Champions League finals, including the gut-wrenching defeat in a penalty shootout to Chelsea last year in its own stadium in Munich.

Robben missed a penalty in extra time in that game, a mistake that stung the Bayern fans so much that many temporarily turned against him. This time, when he carried the European Cup toward the thousands of celebrating red-and-white fans and raised it over his head, there was nothing but undivided adulation in return.

'I don't know how many times I dreamed about it. Everybody I spoke to before the game I said, 'Today is going to be the night and we're going to do it.' To do it in the end is an unbelievable feeling.'—Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben

"There are so many emotions, especially after where we came from. Last year was such a disappointment," Robben said. "We've spoken about it. The last four years, we've been in the final three times. It needed to happen but you still have to do it."

In a game that featured a slew of chances for both teams, Mario Mandzukic put Bayern ahead in the 60th minute at Wembley Stadium before Ilkay Gundogan levelled from the penalty spot eight minutes later, after defender Dante fouled Marco Reus in the area.

Robben had missed two great chances in the first half, reviving memories of last year and even of the 2010 World Cup final, when the winger missed the Netherlands' best chance when he came one-on-one with Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas and missed.

Even Bayern great Franz Beckenbauer, the club's honorary president, said on TV during halftime that "evidently in the big games he just can't score."

But this time, he could.

Robben ran onto Franck Ribery's backheeled flick-on in the area and calmly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to give Bayern its first Champions League victory since 2001. Bayern lost to Inter Milan in the 2010 final.

"That's three finals and of course you don't want the stamp of a loser, you don't want that tag," Robben said. "It was a sense of 'finally.' It was unbelievable, I can't describe what's going through my mind."

Robben also set up the first goal for Bayern, taking a pass from Ribery and drawing Weidenfeller out toward the touchline before squaring for Mandzukic, who could hardly miss from a few yards out.

But the lead didn't last long. Dante clumsily clattered into Reus in the area, and Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli pointed to the spot. Gundogan sent Manuel Neuer the wrong way before calmly slotting his spot kick into the right side of the net.

'Disappointment'

But Dortmund seemed to tire toward the end, and Bayern had a couple of good chances before Robben's late winner.

"It's hard to deal with the disappointment right now, especially if you concede the goal in the 89th minute," Dortmund defender Mats Hummels said. "In the end we had become a little tired and Bayern took advantage."

The European Cup title caps a spectacular season for Bayern, which broke a host of Bundesliga records in running away with the German league title — finishing an unprecedented 25 points ahead of second-place Dortmund.

It can still complete a treble, as it faces Stuttgart in the German Cup final next Saturday.

Regardless of that result, coach Jupp Heynckes will leave the German powerhouse in perfect style. Heynckes, who is stepping down at the end of the season, won his second Champions League trophy after leading Real Madrid to the title in 1998. He will be replaced by Pep Guardiola next season, but the former Barcelona coach will have a hard time improving on this Bayern side — which dismantled the Spanish giants 7-0 on aggregate in the semifinals.

"It's incredible what the team had achieved in the last few years. And today we were finally rewarded. We had to overcome a lot of setbacks," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said. "There was so much pressure, it was enormous. After you lose two finals, if you lose again you don't know if you'll get another chance. The pressure was so great, I've never felt so much pressure before. The international titles were missing, we never won a big international title for this generation."

For Dortmund, it's another bitter runner-up finish to its main rival, having seen Bayern end its two-year hold on the Bundesliga title.

"We are very proud to have given them a good contest," Weidenfeller said. "But we didn't manage to win. We gave our best. We'll be back next season."

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2013/05/25/sp-soccer-champions-league-final.html