Manchester City have been handed a huge advantage by being drawn at home for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, according to the stats. The first match at Heysel in Brussels ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time, before Bayern won the replay 4-0 thanks to two apiece from Gerd Muller and Uli Hoeness.
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Atletico Madrid general manager Clemente Villaverde reveals his excitement at the upcoming Champions League semi-final with Bayern Munich.
The Madrid team has been leading the rankings since the 2013-2014 season, with a total of 169,371 points, followed by Bayern Munich (159,921), Barcelona (158,371), Atletico Madrid (138,371) and Chelsea (136,056), reports Efe.
In being pitted against the 10-time winners, City will not face their incoming manager unless the Premier League giants and Bayern Munich progress to the final at the San Siro in Milan on May 28.
Fourteen hours on from their comeback victory against Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool got paired with Spanish club Villarreal in the Europa League semifinals.
Standing between them and a place in the final are a club who eliminated Barcelona in the quarter-finals, and Guardiola says that means they warrant plenty of respect.
City moved past Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals and have been drawn against Real Madrid in the last four of the competition, but Pellegrini said the trophy is there for the taking with Barcelona out of the picture courtesy of Atletico Madrid. The fans will enjoy the Champions League more the further we go.
“I’m happy about that fact and also happy to play a semi-final of this competition”.
Writing on Twitter after the draw was made, England global Sterling couldn’t hide his delight.
For City to have a shot at the final, it’s a given that the team needs to slow down Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It’s a semifinal like any other so it will be very, very tough”, Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said.
“We are going to play against them like we always do, playing and thinking like a big team and we are going to try to score the most amount of goals we can in the first leg. I hope this team will reach the final this year”.
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Pellegrini knows from first-hand experience just what the demands are at the Spanish club for sustained success. “The good thing is we play the return at home, that is always positive”.
