As Madrid celebrates an all-Spanish Champions League final, it was clear that the big decisions did not go the way of the big coaches this week. In Munich, Pep Guardiola needs to win the German Cup final to call his first season a proper success, given that the title was a minimum requirement.
That he has been without Thiago Alcantara for the crucial part of the season has not helped, but his decision to drop Javi Martinez for the start of the second leg looked flawed. His attacking formation left too many gaps for Real Madrid and by the time Sergio Ramos headed Madrid ahead, Bayern already looked physically and emotionally rattled. They were only a goal down after the first leg - why did Guardiola feel the need to rush the response?
The same was true of Jose Mourinho, whose call to pick Cesar Azpilicueta as the right-sided attacking midfielder looked vindicated when he set up Torres for the opener. But for those expecting him to keep it tight at 1-1 and go for a winner late on, as he did with success in the previous round against PSG, he pulled a surprise: taking off Ashley Cole and bringing on Samuel Eto’o only five minutes into the second half. It was Eto’o who gave away the penalty (not Mourinho’s fault) that put Atletico ahead. it doesn't happen very often, but they were two big calls, which the two big coaches got wrong.
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