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.
Atletico Madrid, the underdog in this match-up, has the goal it needs to advance, and will likely defend for the entire match. There is a possibility that Bayern could go ahead on aggregate and Atleti could fight back, but it is hard to see that happening; if Bayern goes ahead at the Allianz Arena, they will stay ahead.
Still, tomorrow’s game should be a great one, just not historically great — f*** I’m sorry. I’ll stop comparing Atletico-Bayern to Leicester’s title run.
The first leg gave us one of the best goals scored in the Champions League this year: Saul Niguez’ methodical solo run from midfield, ending in a curled effort around Manuel Neuer.
After scoring that goal, Atletico Madrid defended impeccably. Diego Simeone’s men comprise the best defense in the world, bar none, and they kept Bayern off the score sheet in the first leg despite the Germans’ 74% share of possession; by the end of the match, Bayern had only managed two more shots on target than Atletico, 7 to 5.
Things now move to Bayern’s home ground, the Allianze Arena, where Bayern has utterly destroyed teams, the latest relevant example being Arsenal. The Gunners beat Bayern 2-0 in the group stage at the Emirates, but were destroyed 5-1 at the Allianz Arena in the opposite fixture. A similar revenge tomorrow is improbable for Bayern given Atletico’s defense, but Atletico should consider themselves warned.
Expect the 2nd leg to play out much the same as the first leg: Atletico Madrid will be content to sit back and defend their one goal lead, while Bayern will lay siege with attack after attack. Bayern do not want this game to penalties if they can help it, they will be intent on scoring at least two goals to prevent that from happening.
Furthermore, an Atletico goal at the Allianz Arena could end the tie all together. With the away goals rule, that would necessitate Bayern scoring three in order to progress. Against a defense like Atletico’s, that’s a very, very tall order.
On the injury front, Atletico’s defensive stalwart Diego Godin will likely not feature after missing a clash against Rayo Vallecano over the weekend. Simeone has not ruled out starting Godin out, but he has not given any positive updates as of the time this article was written.
Bayern Munich will likely not have their veteran wingers Franck Ribery, who has a back injury, and Arjen Robben, who is nursing a hamstring injury.
Bayern Munich will host Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie tomorrow, May 3rd at 2:45 EST.
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