And Gareth Bale, the man whose deflected cross denied the Blues the chance of Champions League glory this season, says it was Real Madrid’s experience that told in the semi-final.
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However, Bale is expected to miss Madrid’s match against Valencia at the Bernabeu on Sunday and could potentially be out of the final league fixture against Deportivo de La Coruna.
His team are in the race for the La Liga title as well as being in the Champions League final.
Was Pep Guardiola a success of a failure at Bayern Munich?
“I would make Atletico slight favourites [in the final] because there’ll be no inferiority complex from the players”, he said.
Real Madrid will face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final for the second time in three years after overcoming Manchester City 1-0 in their semi-final second leg on Wednesday.
But since the arrival of Simeone, the former defensive midfielder who brought in hard-working players who passionately abide to his team-first attitude, Atletico has become a force. It was similar in the first leg. We didn’t deserve to lose this game, the goal was very lucky, a deflection into the top corner.
“Zidane is doing a great job”.
“We’re in the final and that’s the only thing that matters to us”. We’re all right in football and the path can be reached in several ways.
Madrid also has a much bigger fan base.
As the trio go into their penultimate matches of the season, Atletico Madrid are the only team that seem to have any easy tie away to already relegated Levante.
Arsene Wenger: It is still a very important game because part of the responsibility of being a professional is to prepare the future, and the future of Arsenal Football Club depends on this game.
With Real also making the final, Simeone and his troops will have the chance to avenge the heartbreaking defeat of 2014, where Atletico came within minutes of a major upset.
“Titles are just statistics”, Guardiola said on Tuesday, adding: “Of course I wanted to win the Champions League with Bayern and I tried my best to do that – I’ve given my life for this team”.
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Real have not beaten Atletico in the league since 2013 and were thrashed 4-0 last season at the Vicente Calderon, and lost 1-0 to them at home this term. “We can expect the same kind of game, and hopefully the same result”.
