Last night’s semi-final is going to be a hard act to follow, but both Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund haven’t exactly been short of their own dramatic moments in this season’s competition.
So how do you follow arguably the most definitive Champions League encounter in many a year then?
Well, two highly controversial stoppage time goals like in Dortmund’s last Champions League game would probably do the trick, as would a repeat of the drama of Real Madrid’s second leg clash with Manchester United or the (albeit brief) helter-skelter nature of the second half of their quarter-final second leg with Galatasaray in Istanbul.
Put simply, football-lovers couldn’t have asked for two better teams to try and live up to what happened in Munich last night and we’re very much looking forward to seeing if they can go close, or who knows, maybe even top it?
The two sides are familiar with each other, of course, having already met twice in the group stages, when Dortmund triumphed over the Spanish giants on their own turf and were very close to doing so at the Bernabeu until Mesut Ozil spoiled the party for his compatriots with a late equaliser.
There’s obviously plenty of encouragement for Jurgen Klopp to take from those encounters but the game has changed quite a lot since then, with Dortmund stuttering towards the end of a season that has been pretty disappointing domestically, while, on reflection, it is Malaga and not the German outfit who should be in the last four.
Real, on the other hand, have grown stronger in the competition as the season has gone on, no doubt aided by the fact that they’ve known the league was a lost cause for yonks now. Their form and Jose Mourinho’s vast experience at this stage of the competition – only Alex Ferguson has managed a team in as many Champions League semi-finals (7) – probably gives them an edge, but it is only a slight one.
His counterpart Jurgen Klopp has provided some great entertainment so far this season – his interview after the Malaga game was particularly priceless – but one thing he probably regrets is leaking his methods of coping with Real Madrid’s threat earlier on the year.
The key, Klopp said, was to stop the influential Xabi Alonso from initiating Real’s attacks from the base of midfield. Now that’s not exactly a secret in fairness, but Mourinho will certainly have been thinking of alternative methods of supplying Ronaldo and company in attack, particularly after Manchester United used a similar tactic to great effect in the Round of 16 encounter until Nani’s dismissal at Old Trafford.
Jurgen Klopp probably wishes he hadn’t said those things about Xabi Alonso now
If he’s hiding tactics, he hasn’t attempted any cloak and dagger approach with the team itself, which he named in a press conference 24 hours before the game. Naming the actual team in advance of a deadline, hurry over to Ireland quick Jose, the GAA needs you!
Alvaro Arbeloa and Marcelo are out so Sergio Ramos and Fabio Coentrao will fill the full-back positions and Gonzalo Higuain will start up front rather than Karim Benzema.
Dortmund’s line-up, like Madrid’s, is fairly easy to predict at this stage, although it is not so easy to predict what sort of reaction Mario Gotze will get from the home fans after his imminent departure to Bayern Munich was revealed yesterday, nor is it easy to know what sort of effect the revelations will have on Gotze’s performance, even if he himself has known about it for weeks.
In the likes of Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski, Dortmund have enough of an attacking threat to cope if Gotze doesn’t show up, but if their last game against Malaga is anything to go by, one would worry about their capacity to concede at least one Real away goal as the centre of their defence was a little porous and they weren’t given an awful lot of protection from IIkay Gundogan and Sven Bender in front of them.
Dortmund’s gut instinct is to attack and to press their opponents high up the pitch, but tonight might see them rein those instincts in a little given Real’s capabilities on the counter-attack, where Cristiano Ronaldo has no peer in world football.
Like last night’s game, it seems very delicately poised prior to kick-off. Unlike the other semi-final, we expect it be delicately poised once again before the return leg in the Bernabeu in six days time.
If you would like to be in with a chance of attending the second leg in Madrid, check out our Champions League Vine competition, where, with thanks to Heineken, we are giving away an all-expenses-paid trip with two match tickets for the winners. The deadline is this Friday though so hurry up!
