Dhaka,  Tuesday 14 Jan 2025,
08:49:48 PM

Madrid worried about Bayern in the "European Classico".

tarikul islam ।।The Daily Generation Times
30-04-2024 01:53:15 PM
Madrid worried about Bayern in the "European Classico".

Real Madrid is desperate to win the double crown by securing La Liga and Champions League titles. Although Madrid is far ahead on the way to the league title, in the last four of the Champions League, they have to overcome the difficult opponent Bayern Munich, which Madrid accepts as very difficult.Carlo Ancelotti's side travel to Bavaria for the first leg of the semi-final on Tuesday. Already, these two teams have faced each other the most in the history of the competition, which is why the duel between these two giants has been dubbed the 'European Classico'. Bayern have won 11 of their 26 meetings against Madrid's 12. That's why Madrid can be kept ahead.In the last decade, Madrid have been beating the German giants in the Champions League. Madrid, a record 14-time winners, have eliminated Bayern in the last three editions, including in the semi-finals in 2014 and 2018 and the quarter-finals in 2017. Real Madrid have returned home with the title in all three of these events. In 2017, Bayern went into extra time at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick.Ancelotti was the coach of Bayern at that time. Bayern fired the Italian coach after a few months. Madrid seized this opportunity. Madrid, more energized by Ancelotti, went on to win two more titles.
This time, Bayern lost their 11-year dominance to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. And because of this, the Champions League title has become more important for them.Leverkusen coach Xavi Alonso was Bayern's one-time star player. And now, under his leadership, Leverkusen has shown the achievement of winning the Bundesliga title for the first time.
Ancelotti questioned the poor refereeing in the 2017 quarter-final against Madrid. Ancelotti took issue with midfielder Arturo Vidal's red card and Ronaldo's offside goal.However, through this, Madrid once again proved how to defend itself in difficult situations and win the title in Europe. Six-time Champions League winners Bayern won the title again in 2019 after defeating Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in 2013. By contrast, Los Blancos have won five titles during this period.Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said last week that Madrid's success had made them hungrier. After the quarter-final win over reigning champions Manchester City, Xavi commented, 'When you keep winning one game after another, naturally everything becomes easier, everyone calms down, everyone has more confidence, more desire to win. will come down.'All this is encouraging Ancelotti's team ahead of the match in Munich. No other team outside of Spain has beaten Madrid more times than Bayern's 11 wins.
Bayern now have no choice but to win the Champions League title to overcome the painful memories of the season. The biggest strength for coach Thomas Tuchel's side is the form of English striker Harry Kane. The former Tottenham star has already scored his personal record 35 goals in the season."Bayern have had a difficult season," Ancelotti said. But right now, perhaps the best time is ahead of them. They have players like Kane who have already scored a lot of goals. Tomorrow's match will be tough, it will be a close fight. We are not looking at the match easily at all. But we always love to play such matches. Everyone in my team is very strong.Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was the hero with two penalty saves against City. However, it remains to be seen how much he can handle Kal Ken. Ancelotti says Belgian number one goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is fit and could play in La Liga next week. This means Lunin will need to gain momentum to secure a place in the first team in the second leg and potentially the final.The Ukrainian goalkeeper made a mistake against Barcelona on April 21. That's why Real have to digest the goal. Although in the end, Real left the field with a 3-2 victory.
With Karim Benzema leaving the team, youngster Judd Bellingham continues to prove himself in his place. Madrid's top goalscorer has already proven himself in all the big games this season.He scored three goals in three matches against Barcelona. Bellingham is now looking forward to proving himself against his former club in the European Classico.