By Mark Vincent Lincir

Sergio Ramos’ penalty kick just landed on my head as I was enjoying a cup of coffee on a gorgeous afternoon in my garden. How badly did he take his kick? I know that the stutter step messed him up, that’s why you should never do it!

But having the veteran defender take one of the first five kick still surprised me with a team so loaded with offensive talent.

Ronaldo, Kaka and Ramos missed and now the Champions League final has two teams that almost nobody predicted would be in it…Chelsea and Bayern Munich! Everybody, except me! I predicted that both teams would move onto the finals…if you don’t believe me, check out my facebook page Mark Vincent Lincir.

Why did I think that? I could feel the massive amount of confidence that Chelsea garnered from their 1-0 home victory over Barca last week and I knew that RDM would go into Nou Camp with a sound plan to sit back and absorb everything that Barca had for 90 minutes in order to get a result.

And that he did.

Forget about knocking Chelsea for playing “negative soccer” as so many people like to call it. What is so negative about advancing to the Champions League Final? There are no “style points” awarded in this game and at the highest level, it’s all about the results.

I love what RDM has done with Chelsea in the brief time he has been in charge. There is no doubt in my mind that he will get the full time job at the end of the season.

Barca had their chances. But an unbelievable penalty kick miss by Messi and an inability to break down a Chelsea backline that included all its players cost them a trip to the final. The biggest tactical mistake Barca made was by not taking more shots from outside the penalty box earlier in the game. That would have drawn Chelsea out of its bunker defense a little bit and probably opened up more room in the final third of the field for Barca to combine.

But it wasn’t until late in the game that defender Macherano took a well-struck shot from outside the box that any danger loomed from distance.

In the other semifinal, it was simply a case of Bayern’s precision and gumption that put them through. Real missed an unbelievable THREE penalty kicks! Maybe that is something that Jose doesn’t work on very much on the training ground?

In any case, the final will shape up to be a massive match between two clubs who are used to the world’s stage. I predict that Chelsea’s fairy-tale spring season will come to an appropriate climax on Bayern’s home turf…Chelsea 1-0.

Mark Vincent Lincir is the author of THE GIFT OF STOPPAGE TIME http://www.amazon.com/The-Gift-Stoppage-Time-ebook/dp/B007WVIPM0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335459123&sr=1-1