LONDON: Until recent weeks, Bayern Munich has looked about as dominant as any side has in the modern era, sweeping to the Bundesliga title by mid-March and easily side-stepping most opponents in a bid to win back-to-back Champions League finals.
However, there has been a slight wobble from Pep Guardiola’s men since their crowning moment in Berlin last month. Their troubles over two legs against the weakest Manchester United squad in a generation suggested they are not indestructible in Europe, while defeat to Augsburg marked a first defeat in 54 matches in the domestic league.
But Bayern has built up so much credit in the last two years that to write the club off on the basis of a few weeks would be folly. Bayern remains the one club about which few doubts exist.
With stocks aplenty in the squad to deal with potential injury issues and the ability to pass its way around teams or similarly hit target man Mario Mandzukic from wide crossing positions, the team has plenty of angles of attack.
Bayern is still the team to beat, despite having drawn Real Madrid in the semifinal. Guardiola has shown a knack of getting one over Real Madrid before and will fancy his chances of doing so again.
Chelsea’s topsy-turvy Champions League story continues. In 2012, the Blues were underdogs, but went on to win the tournament. Last season, they were expected to challenge again, but couldn’t get out of the groups.
This time around, they were written off after losing the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain in the quarterfinals, only to stage another Stamford Bridge great escape.
On the face of it, the Blues still have problems throughout their squad, with Jose Mourinho seemingly finding regular fault with his strikers at a time when his back line has also looked occasionally suspect. But below that runs a spirit and will to win that has seen Chelsea excel before and could well see the club overachieve once more.
A semifinal clash with Atletico Madrid gives the team arguably the best chance it could have hoped for going into the last four, but Diego Simeone’s side is still a formidable prospect.
But, with Mourinho in Chelsea’s corner, the English side will believe itself to be well equipped to make it to a second final in three years.
The Atletico Madrid story is nothing short of phenomenal. Diego Simeone’s troops have exceeded all expectations thus far, both in Spain and across Europe, and now they are ready to make the last step towards greatness by reaching a Champions League final for the first time in 40 years.
Observers have bestowed much of the credit for the team’s extraordinary season thus far on Diego Costa, but the victory over Barcelona in the quarterfinals without the talismanic striker proved that the team is far more than just a one-man team.
With standout performances from the likes of Adrian Lopez and Diego Ribas over the course of the last-eight tie, the players have also shown that while the squad may be small in number, it is big in talent.
While many tipped Atleti to fall away under the weight of assaults at home and abroad, the club remains in the running on both fronts, and a continuation of that for six more weeks could well result in unprecedented success.
(Source: Goal.com