The Champions League Semi-finals wrapped up their first leg yesterday in what has been some very good soccer. I wanted to look at the games and break them down individually and take a look at which teams have the advantage going into the second leg of games next week.
In the first game on Tuesday, Chelsea took on the top team recently in Athletico Madrid. Athletico has been streaking have scored in all their Champions league games thus far, and currently at the top of the Liga BBVA. They have been led by quality players in Koke, Diego Godin, Diego Costa, and Arda Turan. The team has looked extremely dangerous, having knocked off Barcelona in the previous stage. Chelsea on the other hand have been stumbling. They recently all but scratched their title hopes, by losing at home to Sunderland in a crushing BPL game. It was Jose Mourinho's first lose at home and he had a 77 game unbeaten streak snapped by a team that was at the bottom of the standings. The game was in Athleticos favor, as they were the home team. Chelsea came in and did what they are very famous for doing. They "parked the bus" which means they sat pretty much there entire team behind the ball and defended the entire game, in what ended as a 0-0 draw. This definitely favorites Chelsea now going into the second leg. They are in a prime position to make it to the Champions League Final for the 2nd time in 3 years. The one thing that is very worrisome is the fact that if Athletico gets one goal at Chelsea, that means they can move on with a draw, because they would have the away goal. It will be a very tense contest next week when these two teams meet in the second leg of the semi-finals.
The second game was the match up of the two world power houses, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Both teams are playing better soccer right now then any other team in the world. Bayern won the champions league last year and are looking to make it a second, while Real Madrid search for their first in 7 years. It was at the Santiago Bernebeau, the home of Real Madrid, and it was Real Madrid who managed to sneak away with the 1-0 victory. Bayern dominated the game and had more scoring chances and much more possession, but in the end the attacking force of Cristiano Ronaldo came through in the clutch for Real Madrid as he has done many times before.
No comments:
Post a Comment