Champions League

Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid faced off today in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Atletico Madrid took a 1-0 aggregate lead into Allianz Arena, however 31 minutes in, Xabi Alonso's free kick equalized that advantage. Antoine Griezmann's 54th minute goal tied the match at 1 and gave Atleti the lead on aggregate. Lewandowski added a header in the 74th, but Griezmann's goal was the tiebreaker. Atletico advance to the finals and await the winner of Manchester City and Real Madrid. 

Bayern Munich vs. Atletico Madrid

Alonso 31'

Atletico Madrid have advanced to the 2016 Champions League final after defeating Bayern Munich on aggregate. Atletico Madrid won the first leg 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon and lost the second leg 2-1 at the Allianz Arena. Atleti striker Antoine Griezmann’s away goal in the second leg was enough to secure Atletico’s progression:

Leicester City have won the Premier League, and the unfortunate job of being the follow up act to the greatest sports story of our time falls to Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, and if I’m being honest, the second leg of this tie doesn’t stand much of a chance against expectations like that.

Good news for Real Madrid fans: Cristiano Ronaldo is back in training. The club announced their superstar Portuguese winger completed a training session Monday, leaving the door open for the Ballon d'Or runner-up to take the pitch in the Champions League later this week.

Real Madrid fans will not want to hear this, but it looks like there is a chance that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will miss Real Madrid’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester City on Wednesday.

I would like to begin this article by formally walking back every single thing I predicted for the Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich Champions League semi-final this morning. I was wrong, and I am sorry. The game was not boring. It was exciting, and it featured one of the best solo goals, especially considering the stakes, you'll see all year.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo injury setback means the Portuguese forward faces a race against time in his battle for fitness. The AS is reporting that Cristiano Ronaldo will undergo a round of stem cell treatments in order to try and return for the second leg of Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Manchester City next Wednesday.

I do not want Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich to be a boring game. I really don't. That would suck, especially after the stinker Manchester City and Real Madrid gave us yesterday.

That said, I'm not getting my hopes up. 

One team's strategy is to defend with like eight people in the 18-yard box and wait for the other team to make a mistake so they can counter. The other team passes the ball around the midfield for like 20 minutes straight and waits for the defense to make a mistake. Sounds like fun!

Ok, well that was anti-climactic. Real Madrid and Manchester City just fought to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal. It was a match that made us all hope that the next makes up for the lack of excitement in this one.

City keeper Joe Hart certainly thinks the second leg will. "We've set it up for a good, old-fashioned rumble at the Bernabeu,” Hart said.