Whenever These Are The Champions starts playing on the television around midnight, it sends chills down the spine of any football fan. The anthem that makes many of the world’s top footballers’ hearts flutter heralds match day in the Uefa Champions league, one of the most prestigious annual club-level tournaments around the world. Football matches don’t come any better. This year’s semifinals will see the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Atletico Madrid lock horns in what shall be four mouth-watering star studded games.

Real Madrid

Madrid are the most successful club in the competition having won 10 titles and are currently the most valuable sports team in the world. The massive revenue it generates has consistently allowed the Los Blancos to assemble unparalleled squads that are right up there, year in year out. Not to forget, they currently have two of the world’s most expensive footballers in Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

However, Real have not had the 

most stable of seasons. Their coach was fired in January despite being just four points behind then Spanish league leaders Atletico Madrid and with a game in hand, underlying the massive pressure the club faces to succeed. Critics were skeptical over his replacement, the legendary Zinedine Zidane, someone who was previously working with the club’s reserves setup. But their season has taken steady trajectory since. Still only four points behind domestic league leaders,  and have made steady progress in Europe. Wolfsburg tested their nerves in the quarters, and having lost 0-2 away at Germany, Madrid faced a daunting task to overcome the deficit. But it was none other than arguably the best player in the world that stole the show to see them through. Ronaldo, also the highest scorer in the competition this year, bagged a remarkable hat trick. No team would want to face them in the semis.

Bayern Munich

The German giants are in their fifth consecutive semifinals of the UCL. They too comfortably reached the knockout stages with the most number of goals scored, despite suffering an early setback at the hands of Arsenal in London. However, coach Pep Guardiola’s men had the last laugh against the Gunners when they shipped in five against them at home. Even though critics have it that ‘Bayern Munich only have the UCL to prepare for the entire season’ for the supposedly unmatched competition they have in their domestic league, they were pitted against the toughest opponents in the first knockout stage. They faced Italian league leaders Juventus in what was the most awaited tie of the round, and little did it disappoint. The tie was settled in extra time after 180 minutes—Bayern Munich equalising late on in normal time before adding two more in extra time. Bayern ideally only have the UCL to concentrate on as they sit comfortably at the top of their domestic league. But they will not be resting on their laurels because ‘they have seen it all last year too’, as their coach puts it.

Manchester City

Despite the abundance of financial resources and massive investment in transfers every window for the past few years, City have failed to live up to their expectations in the competition. This is the first time ever that they have reached the last four. The Citizens had their season virtually cut short when they unorthodoxly announced their new coach—Guardiola—mid way through, which psychologically ended up demotivating some of the players who already had one eye on the next year and the rest wondering about the security of their futures.

After a stop start season for City in terms of injuries, they currently sit at fourth in their domestic league. In the UCL, the two defeats at the hands of Juventus in the group stage served as a blessing in disguise as they in due course ended up topping the group. With two back-to-back wins in the domestic league followed by a major coup over their French counterpart in the UCL this week have them believing that the illustrious gong is within their grasp. Sergio Aguero, one of the world’s best forwards and their most lethal soldier this season, has found his blend with a fresh Kevin DeBruyne, who’s return from injury at this fitting time will be decisive to shape their season. In fact, the coach has almost a fully fit squad to choose from during this end-of-the-season run.

Atletico Madrid

Having reached the finals only two years ago only to be defeated by their arch city rivals Real Madrid, Atletico will still fancy calling themselves the underdogs this year. Despite the financial restrictions and a relatively weak and slim squad compared to the other three teams player to player, one person that stands out in the club is their coach. Diego Simeone, considered to be the best coach in the world for bringing out the maximum of his players, still has the zeal and determination to succeed, something that clearly reflects on the performance of the team at the moment.

Atletico sit third in their domestic league, only two point behind the leaders. However, the highlight of their season has been their victory over Barcelona in the quarterfinals. 

Atletico came back with a respectable 2-1 loss at the Nou Camp, undeterred by the early sending off of one of their players. Daring to beat the defending champions was a daunting task regardless home or away. 

But Diego’s men showed utmost belief in themselves and came out with all guns blazing. As a result, they managed to pull off the biggest upset in this year’s tournament by defeating Barcelona in the return leg. As Simeone says that they like to chase every ball as if it’s the last until they reach the showers, his players will be chasing their dreams that once would seem almost impossible for this ‘not so big’ club. 

None of the previous 23 champions have ever successfully defended their title and in the last 15 years nine of the winners have failed to reach the semifinals the following year, reminding us of the ever-rising standards that the competition demands. Barcelona looked like they were the team to beat this season until their last match against a club that has now recorded 11 straight clean sheets in UCL home games. Now it’s the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich that remain among the so-called elite ones, despite both teams having performed vulnerably at the back. But our psych always finds the underdogs more appealing. Manchester City would give their outgoing coach Manuel Pellegrini a fitting goodbye if they come out top in the finals in Milan this May. On the other hand, it would do justice to the Atletico players for their perseverance and to the coach for his relentless efforts if they lift the trophy this year. Whatever the results may be, the remaining four battles will no doubt serve us as a warm up for more action in the summers at the Euros.