Bayern and Inter set for Bernabéu showpiece

Club football's biggest prize is at stake when two of the great names of the European game, FC Bayern München and FC Internazionale Milano, cross swords in the climax to the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League season in Madrid.

• The Santiago Bernabéu, home of Real Madrid CF, will stage the showdown between a Bayern side seeking their fifth European crown and an Inter team looking to lift the trophy for the first time in 45 years.

• Bayern go into the game seeking a third Italian scalp in this term's competition having already eliminated Juventus and ACF Fiorentina but Inter have their own reasons to believe, not least their impressive dethroning of the holders, FC Barcelona, in the semi-finals.

• The personal history between coaches Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho enhances the intrigue with the latter having worked as assistant to the current Bayern boss at Barcelona between 1997 and 2000.

• Both men are past winners of the competition and each will join the exclusive club of coaches who have guided more than one team to European Champion Clubs' Cup success if victorious in the Spanish capital.

Previous meetings
• This is the fifth match between Bayern and Inter, whose most recent encounter came in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage. Patrick Vieira's added-time equaliser earned Inter a 1-1 draw in Munich on 5 December 2006, cancelling out Roy Makaay's 62nd-minute opener.

• The teams that night were:
Bayern: Kahn, Sagnol, Lucio, Van Buyten, Lahm, Ottl, Salihamidžić (Deisler 79), Van Bommel (Demichelis 73), Schweinsteiger, Pizarro, Makaay (Santa Cruz 83).
Inter: Toldo, Zanetti, Samuel, Andreolli, Maicon, Vieira, Mariano González, Maxwell, Solari (Grosso 83), Ibrahimović (Crespo 46), Figo (Recoba 70).

• Bayern had won 2-0 at Inter on 27 September that year, courtesy of goals from Claudio Pizarro (81) and Lukas Podoski (91). Inter ended with nine men after the second-half dismissals of Zlatan Ibrahimović and Fabio Grosso.

• The lineups at San Siro were:
Inter: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Córdoba, Materazzi, Grosso, Zanetti, Figo (Mariano González 67), Dacourt, Stanković (Solari 77), Ibrahimović, Crespo (Adriano 77).
Bayern: Kahn, Sagnol, Lucio, Van Buyten, Lahm, Salihamidžić (Scholl 70), Van Bommel, Ottl, Schweinsteiger, Pizarro (Podolski 89), Makaay (Santa Cruz 82).

• Felix Magath and Roberto Mancini were the respective coaches for those ties in 2006/07 and it was Magath's Bayern who topped the group with Inter second.

• Bayern produced a spectacular comeback to defeat Inter in the clubs' only two-legged contest in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup third round. Aldo Serena (60) and Nicola Berti (71) gave Inter a 2-0 first-leg win in Munich on 23 November 1988. But Bayern struck three goals in eight first-half minutes in the return through Roland Wohlfarth (33), Klaus Augenthaler (37) and Jürgen Wegmann (40). Although Serena pulled a goal back just before the break, Bayern's 3-1 win carried them through on away goals.

• Jupp Heynckes was Bayern coach with Giovanni Trapattoni, a future boss of the Bavarian club, at the Inter helm.

Match background
• Bayern, winners most recently in 2001, are seeking to join Liverpool FC on five European Cup wins, and become the joint-third most successful club in the competition's history behind Real Madrid and AC Milan.

• Bayern's record in European Cup finals is four wins and three defeats:
1974: 4-0 v Club Atlético de Madrid, Brussels
(replay after 1-1 draw)
1975: 2-0 v Leeds United AFC, Paris
1976: 1-0 v AS Saint-Etienne, Glasgow
1982: 0-1 v Aston Villa FC, Rotterdam
1987: 1-2 v FC Porto, Vienna
1999: 1-2 v Manchester United FC, Barcelona
2001: 1-1 v Valencia CF, 5-4 on penalties, Milan

• Bayern also won the 1967 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and 1996 UEFA Cup final.

• Inter are hoping to secure their first European crown since Helenio Herrera steered them to back-to-back triumphs in the mid-60s. With a third win, Inter would join Barcelona and Manchester United FC on three European Cups.

• Inter's record in European Cup finals is two wins and two defeats:
1964: 3-1 v Real Madrid CF, Vienna
1965: 1-0 v SL Benfica, Milan
1967: 1-2 v Celtic FC, Lisbon
1972: 0-2 v AFC Ajax, Rotterdam

• Inter appeared in four UEFA Cup finals in the 1990s, winning in 1991, 1994 and 1998 but losing in 1997.

• Javier Zanetti was in the Nerazzurri side that lost the 1997 UEFA Cup final on penalties against FC Schalke 04 but lifted the trophy the following year with a 3-0 victory against S.S. Lazio, scoring the second goal.

• Bayern were 4-1 winners at Juventus in Turin in December to qualify for the knockout rounds at the Bianconeri's expense, finishing second behind FC Girondins de Bordeaux in Group A. They then squeezed past Fiorentina on away goals in the round of 16, following a 2-1 home win with a 3-2 reverse in Tuscany.

• Bayern subsequently edged past Manchester United FC in another away-goals success before beating Olympique Lyonnais 4-0 on aggregate in the last four.

• With four defeats en route to Madrid, Bayern have lost more games than any finalist since Milan, the champions in 2002/03 who suffered four reverses in the competition proper and another in qualifying.

• Like Bayern, Inter were runners-up in the group stage, finishing behind Barcelona in Group F. They have since ousted Mourinho's old club Chelsea FC and PFC CSKA Moskva before a 3-2 aggregate success against Barcelona in the semi-finals.

• Both clubs have played the same number of matches (28) against teams from the rival country, but Inter have the superior record:
Bayern v Italian clubs: P28 W9 D7 L12
Inter v German clubs: P28 W13 D8 L7

• Van Gaal has twice faced Italian opposition in the UEFA Champions League final. In 1995 his Ajax team overcame Milan 1-0, losing the following season's showpiece to Juventus after a penalty shoot-out. He did guide Ajax to victory against Torino FC in the 1992 UEFA Cup final.

• Inter's most recent encounter with Bundesliga opposition came against Werder Bremen in last season's group stage – they drew 1-1 at home and lost 2-1 away.

• Van Gaal and Mourinho have both won the European Cup before – Van Gaal with Ajax in 1995 and Mourinho in 2004 with FC Porto. Whoever prevails will become the third coach to have lifted the famous trophy with two different clubs, following Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld.

• Thirteen years separated Happel's successes with Feyenoord (1970) and Hamburger SV (1983) meaning Van Gaal would establish a record for the longest gap between European Cup triumphs if he emerged victorious. Hitzfeld's wins came with BV Borussia Dortmund (1997) and Bayern (2001).

• This is Bayern's tenth visit to the Santiago Bernabéu. Their record from nine previous matches there is W2 D1 L6.

• Mark van Bommel hit Bayern's second goal in the 88th minute of their 3-2 defeat at the stadium in a last-16 meeting with Real Madrid in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League. His strike set up an eventual away-goals triumph for the Bavarian side, 2-1 victors in the second leg.

• Bayern visited the Bernabéu twice in 1999/2000. They won 4-2 in the UEFA Champions League second group stage in February 2000, but then suffered a 2-0 defeat by Madrid in the first leg of a semi-final that they lost 3-2 on aggregate.

• The following season Giovane Elber's strike secured a 1-0 semi-final first-leg success at the Bernabéu en route to Bayern winning the trophy.

• Inter have won one and lost five of six previous matches at the Bernabéu.

• Inter have lost four semi-finals against Real Madrid after defeats in the Spanish capital, suffering spectacular reverses in successive UEFA Cup campaigns.

• In 1984/85 Inter's 2-0 first-leg lead disappeared as Madrid overwhelmed them 3-0 at the Bernabéu. The following season the Nerazzurri succumbed 5-1 after extra time in Madrid following a 3-1 home success. Final ambassador Emilio Butragueño was in the Merengues' lineup that day.

• Inter's only win at the Bernabéu came in the 1966/67 European Cup quarter-final against Madrid when a Renato Cappellini strike and Ignacio Zoco own goal earned a 2-0 second-leg success and 3-0 aggregate triumph.

Team ties
• Mourinho got the better of Bayern in the 2004/05 quarter-finals, although he was suspended for both legs of that contest. His Chelsea side won 4-2 in London before going down 3-2 in Munich.

• Two members of the Bayern squad have played in a UEFA Champions League final – Hans-Jörg Butt in Bayer 04 Leverkusen's 2002 defeat by Real Madrid and Van Bommel in Barcelona's 2006 victory against Arsenal FC.

• Samuel Eto'o played alongside Van Bommel in Barcelona's 2006 success, scoring the first goal, and hit the target again when the Azulgrana defeated Manchester United in last seasons's final.

• Lucio, meanwhile, was a team-mate of Butt in the 2002 defeat, scoring Leverkusen's goal.

• With a goal against Bayern, Eto'o would become the first player in the UEFA Champions League era to find the net in three finals. Only Real Madrid's Alfredo di Stéfano has managed the feat previously – he scored in five successive finals between 1956 and 1960.

• Arjen Robben played under Mourinho at Chelsea from 2004 to 2007, winning two league titles at Stamford Bridge.

• Esteban Cambiasso spent two years with Madrid's B team from 1996 to 1998 then, after four seasons on loan back in Argentina, joined the Merengues' senior squad from 2002 to 2004 before moving to Inter. Walter Samuel was there for 2004/05 while Wesley Sneijder spent two seasons at Madrid alongside Robben from 2007 to 2009.

• Cambiasso had a spot-kick saved when his Argentina side lost on penalties to Germany in the 2006 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals. Miroslav Klose had scored Germany's equaliser in a 1-1 draw that also featured the Bavarian side's Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

• The Bayern trio came unstuck in the semi-finals, however, against an Italy side that included Marco Materazzi.

• Two famous names of European football, Lothar Matthäus as a player and Trapattoni as a coach, hold the distinction of having won domestic titles with both Bayern and Inter.

• This is the third final between German and Italian teams – on both previous occasions the Bundesliga side prevailed:
1983: Hamburger SV 1-0 Juventus
1997: BV Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Juventus

• The Santiago Bernabéu has hosted three previous European Cup finals:
1957: Real Madrid CF 2-0 ACF Fiorentina
1969: AC Milan 4-1 AFC Ajax
1980: Nottingham Forest FC 1-0 Hamburger SV

• The stadium also hosted the 1964 UEFA European Championship final and the 1982 World Cup final when Italy beat West Germany 3-1. Alessandro Altobelli, then an Inter player, scored Italy's third goal in that final, the German consolation coming from Bayern's Paul Breitner.

• Bayern's record in penalty shoot-outs is:
5-4 v Valencia CF, 2000/01 UEFA Champions League final
9-8 v PAOK FC, 1983/84 UEFA Cup second round
4-3 v Åtvidaberg FF, 1973/74 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round

• Inter's record is:
1-4 v FC Schalke 04, 1996/97 UEFA Cup final
5-3 v Grazer AK, 1996/97 UEFA Cup second round
3-4 v Aston Villa FC, 1994/95 UEFA Cup first round
5-4 v Celtic FC, 1971/72 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-final

• This season's UEFA Champions League final is the first to be played on a Saturday.