For the first time ever, an all Spanish Champions League final could be on the cards, between the top two teams in Spain, defending champions, Barcelona and nine times former winners, Real Madrid.
Certainly this looks like the most likely outcome after the Champions League Quarter Final draw was made last week, which has kept the two “Spanish Giants” apart and on opposite sides of the draw. Barcelona has the harder task after being drawn to play AC Milan in the last eight, whilst Real Madrid will take on the competition’s outsiders, APOEL, from Cyprus. Should both come through those games, Barcelona will be up against the winners of Chelsea and Benfica, with Jose Mourinho’s side up against either Bayern Munich or Marseille in the semi finals.
The full draw and match dates are as follows:
Quarter Final
APOEL v Real Madrid – 27 March, 4 April.
Marseille v Bayern Munich – 28 March, 3 April.
Benfica v Chelsea – 27 March, 4 April.
AC Milan v Barcelona – 28 March, 3 April.
Semi Final
APOEL or Real Madrid v Marseille or Bayern – 17 April, 25 April.
Benfica or Chelsea v AC Milan or Barcelona – 18 April, 24 April.
The final will be played on 19 May at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
The Champions League betting has Barca as the clear 7/5 favourites win the competition back-to-back and for the fourth time since 2006, while Real, who are currently eight points clear of Barcelona in La Liga, are odds of 11/5 to deny their rivals in Europe and claim a historic tenth Champions League crown. The Champions League final odds that they both meet in Munich are 5/4.
One man who will be a central figure of the entire Champions League plot this season will be Madrid boss, Jose Mourinho, who will be looking to become the first ever manager to coach three separate teams to Champions League glory. He took FC Porto to the title in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010. Interestingly, each time he has achieved the feat his team were topping their respective National League tables and with Real on course to win La Liga, it could be a case of history repeating itself for the Portuguese manager. Ironically, it was the Champions League wins at Porto and Inter Milan that were also Mourinho’s last games in charge at the respective clubs.
Barcelona knocked out Real Madrid at the semi final stage last season when on their way to defeating Manchester United in the Wembley final. Moreover, despite trailing in La Liga, they knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey over two legs back in January and beat them in the first ‘El Classico’ encounter of the season by three goals to one at the Bernabeu.
In fairness to the other teams left in the competition, they still of course have chances. Bayern Munich are having a great season in an overall sense and have several match winners in their line up and have no greater incentive to reach the final given it will be staged at their home stadium, the Allianz Arena. AC Milan are seven times winners of the Champions League and have moved to the top of Serie A whilst Benfica are involved in a mighty battle for league honours in Portugal but have only lost twice in the league all season and are a formidable home team these days. Chelsea too boast a world class squad who are beginning to just show signs of improvement under interim boss, Roberto Di Matteo and so none could be written off from upsetting the what would arguable be a “dream final”.
However, it would seem that destiny will play a big hand this season and allow Mourinho an opportunity to join the football immortals. He would enjoy nothing more that to field a Real Madrid team capable of upsetting their great rivals in what could transpire to be one of the best finals of all time on May 19th. Pep Guardiola will no doubt be delighted to deny him!