Who will make it?

Road to Milan 2016: Who will make it?

By Herbert BOAKYE-YIADOM
The Road to Milan draws nearer as the boys have been separated from the men with the last four remaining teams going to battle it out for a place in the finals on May 28,2016 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza which will host the 2016 UEFA Champions League final.
Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Ateletico Madrid are the teams to progress to this year’s semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
City defeated Paris Saint Germain (3-2) aggregate scoreline in both home and away fixtures in the quarter-finals to reach their first ever Champions League semi-finals. Kelvin de Bruyne only goal at the Etihad ensure their safe progress in to the last four.
City have been paired to face ten times winners of the Champions League Real Madrid in an epic clash to be played first at the City of Manchester stadium in the first leg of the semi-final in April 26, 2016.
In this year’s competition City form guide shows three wins, two draws and one loss (W3 D2 L1) whilst Real Madrid have had an impressive form been (W5 1L). Their only defeat in the tournament was against Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena.
City must be at their best to defeat an experienced Real side at this stage led by Cristiano Ronaldo if they are to progress to their first ever finals of the competition.
Real on the other hand are on course for their 11^th Champions League trophy with the connoisseurs of the game tipping them to progress easily to the finals after been paired with City in the Semi-finals.
Ronaldo led Madrid to a miraculous comeback as they defeated German side Wolfsburg in a (3-2) aggregate scoreline at the Estadio Santiago Bernabau in the quarter-final stage. Ronaldo will also be looking to break and set a new goal record as he is now on 16 goals.
Real ended the fairytale run of Wolfsburg who had also qualified for their first ever quarter-final appearance and will that also follow for City.
Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich will face Ateletico Madrid in the semi-final stage of the Champions League at the Vicente Calderon in the first leg on Wednesday April 27, 2016. Bayern defeated Portuguese side Benefica (3-2) aggregate scoreline to progress to the last four.
Bayern’s form guide in this year’s competition is four wins and two draws (W4 D2) whilst Atletico Madrid is three wins, two draws and one loss (W3 D2 L1).
Ateletico Madrid exited FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals in a fiercely contested match at the Vicente Calderon after they had to comeback from a (2-1) loss at the Camp Nou in the first leg to win (2-0) at home which ensured their qualification.
This defeat to Barcelona has prevented any club from defending the Champions League trophy.
It was a shocking defeat to Barcelona as they were well posed to qualify to the last four. Can Ateletico replicate this same performance when the face Bayern Munich who are equally as good as Barcelona, time will tell.
Meanwhile Pep Guardiola will love to leave the scene on high note and winning the Champions League for Bayern Munich will be perfect. The Manchester City bound coach will be eyeing his third trophy as a coach and in order to fulfill this mission Ateletico must be brushed aside in order to accomplish that fate.
There are no minnows at this stage and every team is capable of reaching the finals.
Matches will be played on the 26 & 27 April, 2016.
Matches at a glance
Tuesday 26^th April, 2016
Manchester City vrs Real Madrid
Wednesday 27^th April, 2016
Ateletico Madrid vrs Bayern Munich