Last Saturday, Madrid celebrated the meritorious League with the austerity of the Carthusian Order. With extreme modesty and in solitude. Almost as if he hadn’t accomplished anything. Among other reasons, the club justified, because the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals appeared four days away. The institution that has the greatest obsession – and success – with the European Cup is seeking the 18th final in its history after the 2-2 scoreline a week ago in Munich. In front of him he is challenged by the closest thing to him (chasing the 12th final), the old and proud Bayern, defeated in the Bundesliga a decade later but threatening with the orejona on the horizon, owner of a battery of attackers that does not allow distractions. At the top, Harry Kane, scorer of 44 goals this season and wanted by Carlo Ancelotti last summer to relieve Karim Benzema.
The elimination of the rule of the extra value of goals in the opposite field turns the Bernabéu duel (9:00 p.m., Movistar) into a final to reach the final in London on June 1. “There is no optimism. We are very excited and aware of the difficulties we may encounter,” Carletto warned this Tuesday about the feeling that floats in the local environment that, after overcoming the suffering with City in the quarterfinals, the worst is over.
“We are the two most dangerous teams in Europe in transitions,” said the Italian coach, who called for “balance” and “intensity” from his players. “We want a game with rhythm, up and down. In the first leg, we could have done better defensively,” recalled Ancelotti, whose lineup only presents, a priori, the doubt of Tchouameni or Nacho to accompany Rüdiger in the center of defense. If you choose the Frenchman, Camavinga would come out in the middle. If the finger is pointed at the captain, Tchouameni would occupy his natural position in the pivot. After a campaign of medical hardships, Madrid arrives at the big night with the only loss being David Alaba. The goalkeeper against the Bavarians will continue to be Lunin. “Courtois will have to take his time to reach the best version,” said Ancelotti, who aspires to his sixth Champions League final (four titles).
Thomas Tüchel will not continue at Bayern, but a pass to the final would make him the only coach to achieve it with three different teams (he previously did it with PSG and Chelsea). The German, a strategist who landed in Spain in the afternoon satisfied with having carried out two tactical sessions, foresees a “complex” meeting, with “different waves and phases”, which he sees above all as an opportunity. “We are not playing to enjoy the semi-final, but to advance to the final,” he stated pragmatically and uprightly after taking a walk around the Bernabéu (he trained in the morning in Munich), dressed in a black suit while he kept looking up, towards the empty amphitheater. “Now everyone has to speak with their inner voice,” he said after dedicating a talk to his players in the middle of the grass. “We don’t talk to you about the myth of Madrid so as not to complicate it even more,” he explained before rewinding his life and commenting on what Emilio Butragueño meant to him when he was a child.
Rodrigo Jiménez (EFE)
Regarding the first leg, he recovers Serge Gnabry at the top (he already played an hour on Saturday in Stuttgart) and Matthijs de Ligt at the back, who has been training normally since Sunday, a key return to remedy the team’s defensive weakness. In the first leg, the mistakes of his replacement, Kim Min-jae, weighed down Bayern (Vinicius missed the first goal and gave Rodrygo the penalty in the second). “Body language is important. We are going to have a very stable defense,” said goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, a 38-year-old fox. “We must have confidence in ourselves. We can’t be scared. We have to turn trust into something positive. We had the opportunity to win in Munich, so we will also have the opportunity in Madrid,” said the goalkeeper. The loss they will suffer with the first leg will be Raphaël Guerreiro, injured against Stuttgart.
Madrid reaches the penultimate season of the tournament with four consecutive draws (1-1 with Leipzig at home, 3-3 and 1-1 with City, and 2-2 in Munich) and a single victory in the knockout phase , waiting for a resounding and rounded performance. His great banner until now has been infinite resistance at the Etihad. “We are two games away from lifting it again and in the locker room we know it,” said Dani Carvajal, whose history in the competition (five crowns) turned the phrase into a warning to the world.
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