It sets up the possibility of either a Madrid derby or Guardiola facing his future employers in the Milan final on May 28.
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Real Madrid plays Manchester City and Bayern Munich will face Atletico Madrid in Europe’s Champions League semifinals.
Real Madrid won by 3:0 courtesy a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo at the Santiago Bernabeau after they were defeated 2:0 by Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena in Germany.
With a maximum of five English clubs allowed in the competition, a first ever win for City along with Liverpool winning the Europa League would mean only the top three in the Premier League qualify for next season.
Outgoing Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says there is no one left for his side to fear in the Champions League now that Barcelona have been eliminated. “They have very big players, maybe they are the most important team in the world, but we also have very good players and we know that if we play how we play every week to have the chance to win”, he said.
Real won the first clash 3-2, while the return game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Liverpool’s reward for seeing off Borussia Dortmund in a thrilling quarter-final tie sees them face high-flying La Liga side Villarreal. Vincent Kompany has been ruled out of the Chelsea match but Pellegrini is hopeful his captain will be fit to start at St James’ Park as the defender prepares to return from his fourth calf injury of the season.
“Madrid is always the favorite, it will always be like that”, Zidane said.
City, in the final four for the first time in their history, will meet Zinedine Zidane’s side at the Etihad on Tuesday, April 26 before making the trip to the Bernabeu on Wednesday, May 4.
“In this moment I think they are playing the semi-final of the Champions League and they still have options in the Spanish league, so as always it is a team that is involved in all”.
“It was a very close game, which decided qualifying that year”.
The Europa League final will be played at Basel, Switzerland, on May 18.
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Bayern and Atletico faced each other in the 1974 European Cup final, which the Germans won 4-0 following a replay. “Atletico Madrid have shown we are strong enough to go into this series of games, and we will keep showing the same strength we have shown all season”.
