Who will join Borussia Dortmund (BVB) on June 1 at Wembley in the Champions League final? Real Madrid or Bayern Munich? The course as well as the outcome of the first leg leaves all possible options. In Bavaria, on April 30, the two teams neutralized each other (2-2) after a match full of twists and turns, despite a clear domination of the Germans in the first period.
At the time of return, Wednesday May 8 at 9 p.m., the statistics nevertheless tip the balance in favor of the Spaniards, undefeated since April 2023 – in all competitions – in their Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Even Manchester City, the defending champion, failed to shake Casa Blanca in the previous round, after having shaken its foundations by leading the score (3-3 at the final whistle). In their lair, the Merengues have also qualified 23 times out of the last 24 knockout matches in the Champions League after concluding the first act with a draw. The Munich residents have not won there since 2001.
“The Whites are developing a resistance to defeat in any circumstance that makes them terribly difficult to face,” summarizes the Spanish sports daily Marca in a column. Their journey this season illustrates this dimension: Carlo Ancelotti's men are only one game away from Wembley... although they have won only one of their five meetings in the final tournament (against Leipzig in the round of 16 final first leg, 1-0).
Two clubs with a “great history”
In the running for a treble – winner of the Spanish Super Cup in January and crowned in the league on Saturday – are Real, with their fourteen crowns in the most prestigious of European competitions, really impregnable at home? “I am confident, because it is Real Madrid, we have this team, I trust the fans who will help us,” repeated the Italian coach of the Merengues in a pre-match press conference.
The fact remains that the Bavarians “did better than [Real] in the first leg”, at the Allianz Arena, recognized Carlo Ancelotti, and the situation will not be so simple. “The two clubs are similar, they have a great history and a lot of success in the Champions League,” continued the technician, who was on the German bench from the summer of 2016 to the end of September 2017.
Six-time winner of the Big Ears Cup, Bayern, led by its internationals Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala and English striker Harry Kane, is counting on the prestigious competition to save a season which saw them lose their throne in the Bundesliga, for the first time times since 2013, for the benefit of Bayer Leverkusen.
Thomas Tuchel, forced by the management of the club to leave at the end of the season, hopes to be able to count on the return of the boss of his defense, the Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt, to avoid the errors which brought the two Madrid goals to the 'Allianz Arena.
Enough to allow his troops to see London's Wembley Stadium again, in a perfect re-edition of the final of the 2013 edition, which saw the Bavarians win over Borussia Dortmund (2-1)? Response from 9 p.m.
