Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Semi Finals - Update after Leg 1

Of both games played this week only one goal was scored. Manchester City and Real Madrid played their first leg in Manchester at the Ethiad Stadium to a 0 - 0 draw. Real Madrid was missing their key ingredient to success, Cristiano Ronaldo, due to injury. The line-up that their manager used against Manchester City was able to hold off the opposition until the final whistle. Manchester City suffered a loss due to injury, their playmaker David Silva had to come off early in the match due to a leg injury he sustained within the first few minutes. This draw has set the two clubs up for an all or nothing second leg in Madrid next Wednesday. Athletico Madrid was able to score in the first half against Bayern Munich and closed the game off at 1-0 pleasing the fans in attendance at the Calderon in Madrid. Saul was the man who was able to get the ball in the net for "Los Rojiblancos" and now Athletico Madrid will travel to Munich for their second leg next Tuesday with a goal in hand. The finals are approaching. Which teams will prevail? By this time next week we will know who it is that will square off in Milan for the 2016 UEFA Champions League final.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Final Four

The four teams left in this years champions league tournament are Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid. This past week had some intense action within the second legs for the final eight teams. The most shocking result was FC Barcelona's 0 - 2 defeat against Atletico Madrid. The rojiblancos advanced through with the magical touch of Frenchmen Antoine Griezmann. His two goals were the difference in the match and saw the defending champions to the exit door. Real Madrid went into the second leg, which was to be played at home in the historic Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, down 0 - 2 against Wolfsburg of Germany. Los Blancos, or should I say Cristiano Ronaldo, showed who they really were. Ronlado was perfect in the match, scoring all 3 of his teams goals making the aggregate score 3 - 2 in favor of Real Madrid. Ronaldo proves once again that the champions league is his tournament, being the highest scorer and record holder for most hat tricks in the tournaments history. Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City played it out until the very end where it was Kevin De Bruyne who scored important goals in both legs to see his sky blues soar past the Paris giants 3 - 2 on aggregate. Bayern Munich, who have reached the semi finals every year since their last time as champions in the 2012/2013 season, had a tough second leg against Benfica. The aggregate score for both games ended in a 3 - 2 win for Bayern who eagerly want to win a European treble this 2015/2016 campaign. With the final four teams in place we wait the drawing of the next matches. Could we have all Madrid final like a few years ago? Will we see an English team advance to the final since Chelsea's win in 2011/2012? Or will Bayern Munich show why they are a force to be reckoned with by stating European dominance?

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Updates & Quarter Finals

The teams that advanced through into the quarter finals were FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Wolfsburg, Benfica, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, and Bayern Munich. Over the past six years FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have been dominant in winning the trophy with the big ears with the exception of Chelsea FC's win in 2013. This quarter final sees defending champions FC Barcelona facing off against Atletico Madrid. Although Atletico went up early due to a brilliant strike from Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez of Barcelona showed why he is one of the worlds best strikers by scoring two goals for the Catalans. Bayern Munich defeated Benfica in their first leg with a goal from Arturo Vidal. The second legs for these matches should be exciting. Today, April 6th, we have Real Madrid facing Wolfsburg. Madrid are heavy favorites as they are every year but as the saying goes, "anything can happen in football." Paris-Saint Germain square off against Manchester City in a battle of the titans, financial titans that is. These two teams have some of the worlds highest payed footballers and have a lot of financial support from wealthy owners. At this point all the clubs remaining are giant clubs with great histories, but the footballing world knows which clubs have the money to buy the stars of today. After the end of next week we will know who advances into the semi-finals and is one step closer to Milan.