The fight to reach the 19 May Champions League final begins tonight in the first leg of the semis between Bayern Munchen and Real Madrid. The Whites haven't lost a single game in the tournament and have only conceded one strike on the road, but the Germans are a quality and extra motivated side that wants to play the championship final at its stadium.
Real Madrid and Bayern Munchen meetings are the most frequent in the Europen Cup (18 times) and no other side has played as many semifinals as them, Real Madrid in particular (23). Whites and Germans have met in eight knockout stages, winning four each.Real Madrid's defence has been solid on the road throughout the competition and it's helped them have the best run in the history of the group stage. The Madridistas concede only 0.6 goals per clash and haven't lost any of their ten games so far.
Real have tallied 32 goals and are the second top scoring side in the championship. Cristiano Ronaldo has netted eight this campaign and has a total tally of 21, which makes him the team's fifth leading scorer in the European Cup. Karim benzema has scored seven strikes and is one of the best assist-men in the tournament (with Ribery and Gaitan) with five assists.
Jose Mourinho has taken the entire team with him to Germany for the match, including Castilla goalkeeper Tomas Mejias. Xabi Alonso, Carvalho, Lass and Altintop made the cut after missing the match against Sporting.
Bayern have won the title four times and want to play the final at Allianz Arena. Their players are making a great effort to achieve this objective and extra motivation may come from a recent draw and defeat in the Bundesliga that leaves them eight points behind table toppers Borussia Dortmund.
| REAL MADRID'S RUN IN THE UCL | BAYERN MUNCHEN'S RUN IN THE UCL | ||||||
| Round | Match | Round | Match | ||||
| Group stage (W1) | D. Zagreb 0-1 Real Madrid | Playoffs (1st leg) | Bayern Munchen 2-0 Zurich | ||||
| Group stage (W2) | Real Madrid 3-0 Ajax | Playoffs (2nd leg) | Zurich 0-1 Bayern Munchen | ||||
| Group stage (W3) | Real Madrid 4-0 O. Lyonnais | Group stage (W1) | Villarreal 0-2 Bayern Munchen | ||||
| Group stage (W4) | O. Lyonnais 0-2 Real Madrid | Group stage (W2) | Bayern Munchen 2-0 Manchester City | ||||
| Group stage (W5) | Real Madrid 6-6 D. Zagreb | Group stage (W3) | Napoli 1-1 Bayern Munchen | ||||
| Group stage (W6) | Ajax 0-3 Real Madrid | Group stage (W4) | Bayern Munchen 3-2 Napoli | ||||
| Last 16 (1st leg) | CSKA Moscow 1-1 Real Madrid | Group stage (W5) | Bayern Munchen 3-1 Villarreal | ||||
| Last 16 (2nd leg) | Real Madrid 4-1 CSKA Moscow | Group stage (W6) | Manchester City 2-0 Bayern Munchen | ||||
| Quarterfinals (1st leg) | APOEL Nicosia0-3 Real Madrid | Last 16 (1st leg) | Basel 1-0 Bayern Munchen | ||||
| Quarterfinals (2nd leg) | Real Madrid 5-2 APOEL Nicosia | Last 16 (2nd leg) | Bayern Munchen 7-0 Basel | ||||
| Quarterfinals (1st leg) | O. Marseille 0-2 Bayern Munchen | ||||||
| Quarterfinals (2nd leg) | Bayern Munchen 2-0 O. Marseille | ||||||
Bayern have won all five home games in the UCL this season (six if counting their clash with Zurich in the playoffs), scoring 17 strikes and conceding only three. Ribery, Muller and Robben are quality and dangerous forwards, while Mario Gomez is a killer striker with 11 goals in the bag that make him the second top scorer in the championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment