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- Bayern 🇩🇪 or Madrid 🇪🇸❓- Who Have You Got?
Bayern 🇩🇪 or Madrid 🇪🇸❓- Who Have You Got?
The odds suggest that the winner of this semi-final will win the Champions League at Wembley in June! 🏆⚽💥
Erik Jansson
April 30, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes
Bayern 🇩🇪 or Madrid 🇪🇸❓- Who Have You Got?
The odds suggest that the winner of this semi-final will win the Champions League at Wembley in June! 🏆⚽💥
Hey there MVP,
With Liverpool dropping more points, it looks like the Premier League is now down to a 2-horse race 🏇. Although they did their best to chuck it against Spurs on Sunday, Arsenal’s convincing first half performance in the North London derby shows they’ve got plenty of fight left in them. City kept it moving with a comfortable win over Nottingham Forest to reduce the gap to 1 point and a game in hand.
We’ve got all of the news from around the world of football and a selection of interesting games to keep an eye on. But this week we focus on the big Champions League semi-final between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Bayern haven’t lost a game at the Allianz Arena in over 3 years, while Madrid are looking to break their record of 11 games unbeaten in the Champions League. And don’t miss our insight on the touchline spat between Mo Salah and Jurgen Klopp.
Let’s get into it.
Today's game plan:
Don’t Miss This Game 🎯
This Week’s Shocker 🤬
Around The World 🌍
Games to Keep an Eye On 👀
Goat Trivia 🐐 & Meme of the Week 😂
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid | Tuesday | 20:00 IST
The Champions League is back on this week and the semi-final first-leg you don’t want to miss is tonight’s game taking place at the Allianz Arena. These teams have a lot in common: they’re both European heavyweights —Bayern have won Europe’s elite club competition 6 times, whilst Real Madrid have won it 14 times. And, both of these teams knocked out English clubs in the previous round, as Bayern overcame Arsenal whilst Madrid took revenge on Manchester City.
Although they’ve progressed to the semi-finals of the Champions League, Bayern Munich have had a bang average season so far. Yes, Harry Kane is scoring goals for fun in Munich, but the hot-headed Thomas Tuchel hasn’t got the best out of this group of players. No way near. Back at the start of the season, they were smashed 3-0 by RB Leipzig in the German Supercup, then they were knocked out of the German Cup by F.C. Saarbrucken (a team that plays in the 3rd tier of German football), and just last week they conceded their Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern announced that Tuchel would be stepping down at the end of the 2023/24 season back in February, long before they had lost the Bundesliga to Leverkusen. So, Bayern Munich’s season now rests on success in the Champions League.
On the flipside, Real Madrid are having a very good season. They won the Spanish Super Cup back in January by beating their old rivals Barcelona 4-1 and they are one win away from winning La Liga. Things are also going well for Madrid in Europe —they’re on a 10-game unbeaten streak. If they don’t lose to Bayern tonight, they’ll equal their record of 11 successive Champions League games unbeaten.
Form & Team News
Bayern come into the first leg of this semi-final on the back of a 2-1 win over Frankfurt in which Harry Kane scored both goals. The win was Bayern’s 4th win in a row, a streak that includes the crucial 1-0 win that knocked Arsenal out of Europe. That win over Arsenal means Bayern have now gone 15 games unbeaten at the Allianz Arena in the Champions League. That’s an unbeaten run that has lasted over 3 years –an impressive record that is sure to give Bayern confidence, even with Madrid coming to town.
Although Bayern will welcome Alphonso Davies back from suspension, a number of first-team starters are doubts for this match. Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry, Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt, and Konrad Laimer are all injury doubts. French winger Kingsley Coman is definitely out for this one as he’s still struggling with the groin injury that he picked up at the start of April.
Real Madrid are in good form. Carlo Ancelotti’s side are unbeaten in their last 6 games, with 5 wins and the one draw being the engrossing 3-3 draw with Manchester City. One of the wins was the 3-2 El Clasico victory which had Barcelona manager Xavi complaining about refereeing decisions. Whereas Bayern are strong at home in the Champions League, Real Madrid have been solid home and away. They come into this match having not lost in 10 Champions League fixtures. The last time Madrid put this type of unbeaten run together, was back in the 2016/17 season —that was the season that Madrid won their 11th Champions League trophy.
A large part of Madrid’s success this season has come from them avoiding major injuries to key players. Over the weekend, Madrid were able to rest some of their big players for the win over Real Sociedad. Ancelotti will have Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, and Ferland Mendy ready to start tonight’s game. The only players Madrid will be without are David Alaba and Thibaut Courtois who are out with injuries, and right-back Dani Carvajal who is suspended.
This Week’s Shocker…
Mohamed Salah and Jurgen Klopp got into a heated argument 🤬 on the sidelines during Liverpool's 2-2 draw with West Ham.
Clearly King Mo wasn’t happy about being named as a substitute for the game against West Ham. As he was about to be subbed on in the 79th minute, the Egyptian responded very negatively to Klopp.
We get that top players don’t like sitting on the bench, but disrespecting Jurgen Klopp in his final season at Liverpool? That’s a bit much from Salah, no? Will Liverpool look to cash in on Salah at the end of the season? Well and truly the end of an era on Merseyside.
Around the world
In the 1,056th game of his career, the Argentinian scored 2 goals for Inter Miami against Nashville SC, and in doing so, set the new record for the fewest number of games taken to score 830 career goals. The record was previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Goals from Acerbi and Thuram helped Inter secure their 20th Serie A title in what was a comfortable Derby della Madonnina win for the Nerazzurri.
Liverpool and Feyenoord have come to an agreement on compensation, meaning Dutchman Arne Slot can take on the Liverpool manager job at the end of the current season.
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen kept their unbeaten season going over the weekend with a draw against Stuttgart. They went 2-nil down but brought it back with the equaliser coming in the 96th minute. That's 46 games unbeaten. Unbelievable Jeff!
We missed these strange scenes in Saudi a few weeks ago, but ICYMI: a fan pulled out a whip and proceeded to strike Al Ittihad’s Moroccan striker Abderrazak Hamdallah. The Saudi Arabia Football Federation said it was shocked by the disgraceful scenes.
Barcelona legend Xavi has reversed his decision to step down as Barcelona manager at the end of the 2023/24 season. Xavi had previously spoken of a ‘lack of respect’ but after talks with Barca president, Joan Laporta, he’s decided to stay in the job.
Games to keep an eye on
Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen | Thursday | 20:00 IST
Newly crowned German champions Bayer Leverkusen will take on Daniele De Rossi’s Roma on Thursday night in a game that will be a major test for Xabi Alonso’s side.
Arsenal vs Bournemouth | Saturday | 12:30 IST
After the weekend’s results it looks like we’re back to a two-horse race for the Premier League. Arsenal are 1 point ahead of City, and play in the early game on Saturday. This is a chance to put some pressure on City who play later in the day.
Manchester City vs Wolves | Saturday | 17:30 IST
City secured a comfortable 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday and showed no signs of feeling the pressure after Arsenal went 4 points clear at the top of the league. City have been superb at the Etihad this season so it’s hard to see anything other than a city win in this one.
Roma vs Juventus | Sunday | 14:00 IST
Now that Inter have wrapped up the Serie A title there isn’t too much resting on this game. Furthermore, the performance of the Italian teams in Europe this season means that the top 5 in Serie A will qualify for next season’s extended Champions League. But a match between two of Italy’s biggest teams is always worth a watch.
Liverpool vs Tottenham | Sunday | 16:30 IST
After losing to Everton in the Merseyside derby and then dropping points against West Ham, Liverpool’s title challenge looks like it has fallen apart. There was also the touchline argument between Mo Salah and Klopp in the game against West Ham. Liverpool and Spurs is always an interesting game, especially as Spurs are looking to do the double over Liverpool this season.
GOAT Trivia
Say congrats to…
Marc-André ter Stegen! [@mterstegen1] The handy goalkeeper of Germany and Barcelona turned 32 today. 🎂 🥳🤩
On this day in football…
Back on April 30th 2005, Chelsea won their first ever Premier League title —their first league title in 50 years. This was the beginning of the Abromovich era of Mourinho and Chelsea dominance.
In that season, Chelsea lost just one game in the league and set a record points tally —95 points. The blues finished 12 points ahead of Arsenal who finished in second. How times have changed.
Goal of the week…
🔥⚽ Our goal of the week is a scorcher from the Championship. This strike from Norwich City’s Gabriel Sara flew into the net 🥅🚀.
Norwich are currently in 5th in the Championship so are in the playoff places, but if Norwich don’t win the playoffs, there’s a lot of talk that Sara could be on his way to a Premier League club. Remember the name.
Meme of the week
Fan Highlights: Your MVP Reviews!
