Old foes’ rivalry hits a new level

Hostility adds spice to Saturday’s first all-German Champions League final, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

There’s something that’s irresistible about Saturday’s match-up in the Champions League final at Wembley, what German football fans refer to as, “Fussballtempel”.

There is their intoxicating brand of football. Bayern Munich’s 7-0 slaughter in the semi-finals of Barcelona, a team their coach Jupp Heynckes still refers to as the best team in the world, hints at a shift in the balance of power from Catalonia to Bavaria; Borussia Dortmund has entranced neutral fans with the verve of its counter-attacking style of play, epitomised by Robert Lewandowski’s 59-minute, four-goal plunder of Real Madrid a few weeks ago.