The Champions league semi-final starts today and the four semi-finalists Realmadrid, Manchester City, Athletico Madrid and Bayern Munich will definately be ready to lock horns in order to qualify for the finals.Athletico Madrid will be buoyed coming into their game against Bayern after knocking out defending champions Barcelona.Expect Manchester city to also have a go at Realmadrid over the two legs.Here is our review of the games.
Manchester City vs Realmadrid
Manchester city are making their debut in this stage of the Champions league and have so far improved on their outings this year compared to the previous years.Their good performances started in the group stage after they topped a group with Sevilla and Juventus thereby avoiding the power houses in the round of sixteen.Juventus who came second in that group were knocked out in the round of sixteen because they were paired against a superior Bayern munich,something Mancity avoided.They’ve also done very well to get to this stage by knocking out Dynamo Kiev, and most recently, French Champions Paris Saint Germain. Realmadrid on the other hand have also done quite well,knocking out AS Roma impressively in the round of sixteen and coming from 2-0 down to win their champions league quarter final tie against Wolfsburg.
Both teams go into this game with impressive wins over Stoke City and Rayo Vallecano and are expected to have a go from the blast of the whitsle.Realmadrid were buoyed with the news, Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema are fully fit for this game,Kompany has admitted he is 100% and ready to go for Manchester city.Madrid are definately going to hope their strike partnership BBC get the job done and Manchester City will be looking towards De Bruyne and Aguero to rekindle their partnership to purnish the Realmadrid defence.I expect a tough game with both teams scoring in this one.Over two legs though,i feel Realmadrid will come out on top with the experience of this level on their side.
Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich
This is definately one game to watch as i feel the men on the bench, Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone will determine the outcome of this clash.If there is one thing Diego Simeone has taught us,it is to never ever write off his side and he’s proved it time and time again.Expect Guardiola to have watched more than a hundred of videos of this Atletico side in order to stop their doggedness.Expect Simeone to stand up to whatever challenge Guardiola might be bringing.If Guardiola leaves the Allianz Arena without winning the Champions league,it might not be a success story for him as he inherited a side that won the Champions League before he came and he was supposed to replicate that but he has gotten knocked out in the semi-finals in his past 2-3 semi-finals in the Champions league so the pressure is slightly on his side.
It will definately be a very tough game and the good news is both sides have a full squad to choose from apart from Robben for Bayern munich and Godin of Atletico who are still struggling for fitness.Expect Lewandowski, Muller and Ribery to run the show for Bayern while Griezzman will definately be the key man for Athletico Madrid.This tie might be short of goals as both sides are dogged defensively.It promises to be an exciting game in the race for the final in Milan.