Bayern then beat Basel, Marseille and Real Madrid to reach the final, while Chelsea knocked out Napoli, Benfica and defending champions Barcelona.

Bayern took the lead late in the second half through Thomas Müller,[6] but Didier Drogba equalised for Chelsea five minutes later to take the game to extra time, in which Arjen Robben missed an awarded penalty, Petr Čech saving the low drive.

Chelsea also represented UEFA at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup, entering at the semi-final stage; however, they were beaten 1–0 by Corinthians in the final.

[9] On each previous occasion, a European Cup final held in Munich had produced a first-time winner of the competition (Nottingham Forest, Olympique Marseille and Borussia Dortmund).

[10] During the match, the stadium was illuminated in green and turquoise to represent the official UEFA emblem of the Munich final, as the outer shell of the Allianz Arena can change colour.

Chelsea won the FA Cup by defeating Liverpool 2–1 thus were chasing a double,[16] while Bayern lost the Final of the DFB-Pokal 5–2 to Borussia Dortmund.

[17] Both clubs had lost their most recent Champions League final – Bayern in 2010 to Inter Milan 2–0 and Chelsea in 2008 in an all-English clash with Manchester United on penalties after a 1–1 draw.

Ten of the Bayern 18 had earlier been in their squad that lost the 2010 final, although only four started both games: Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller.

[citation needed] The UEFA Champions League Anthem was performed by German tenor Jonas Kaufmann and violinist David Garrett.

[27] An official public screening of the final took place at the Olympiastadion during the match,[28] with capacity for 65,000 fans, including a section for Chelsea supporters.

Bayern kept pushing Chelsea to the limit but missed sitters from Mario Gómez, who sent his shot over the bar; and Robben, who was blocked at the last second by Gary Cahill.

Bayern took the lead in the 83rd minute, when Toni Kroos crossed in to Müller, who headed the ball down into the ground, causing it to bounce over Čech and in off the crossbar.

However, on 88 minutes, Chelsea won their first corner kick of the match, and when Juan Mata swung it in, Drogba got to it first and powered a header past Manuel Neuer at the near post for the equaliser.

[7] In the second half of extra time, Olić attempted to set up Van Buyten instead of taking a shot and the ball rolled wide of Čech's far post.

Goalkeeper Neuer took Bayern's third penalty, and Čech went the right way again but was unable to keep his opposite number's low shot from creeping past him into the bottom-left corner.

On 9 September 2023, the two clubs played a legends match at Stamford Bridge to benefit The Chelsea Foundation and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

The match was also in memory of former Chelsea and Italy player Gianluca Vialli, who had died at the Royal Marsden Hospital on 6 January of pancreatic cancer at the age of 58.