Champions League Semi Finals 2016

Real Madrid vs Manchester City

Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich

Decent draw. I think Atletico is the toughest opponent left (every Team that lose a CL final in recent times still has that fire burning) and they showed us, what they are capable of.

Also we played ManCity and Real a thousand times already, so thats okay.

Another Madrid Final on the horizon though. Hope we can prevent it

I am really looking forward to the the Bayern-Atletico game. Have wanted to see them go at it for a while.

Guardiola vs Simeone

A big disadvantage for Atletico that they start at home.

A great draw for Real Madrid but both teams are very unpredictable and suffer from the same lethargic attitude. Wolfsburg away produced our lowest workrate of this Cl season. This despite us meeting Malmø twice!
Our defensive organization has been abysmal lately. Wolfsburg easily played through our lines with 2-3 passes without meeting any strong resistance. If they had been more adventurous from the beginning they would have gone through. If Zidane doesn't understand how vulnerable and undisciplined we are and correct it, we will suffer against any decent side.

I didn't see City in the 2nd leg but supposedly they were quite impressive defensively. If Pellegrini continue with that style they can be a real threat but in an outright brawl I suspect we will better off. The fact that they start at home will probably mean that Pellegrini will stick to his style.

Atletico vs Bayern indeed looks tasty. If Atletico can bypass Bayern pressing on regular basis Griezmann will be a huge threat. It will be also interesting to see Atletico strategy - will they try to press up higher or they will go for two deep banks of four hoping to find an opening with counter attacks.

Not sure if City can play two games with enough discipline to eliminate Real, but like Super said this kind of set up is definitely their only chance. Even with De Bruyne, Silva and Aguero it's difficult to see them outscoring Real.

No Ronaldo tonight

0:0 where Real was much, much closer to win it.

City was playing quite well until Silva got injured and replaced by Iheanacho, they immediately lost control of midfield after all. Plus De Bruyne moved away from Aguero to left flank where it was much easier to stop him.

Not a bad game. Still very annoying not to get the away Goal.

That game has it all.

This is like the Bayern Juve game all over again.

Fail for Pep

He's managed in 7 CL semis and lost 5 of them.

I will be surprised if UEFA won't suspend Simeone. He pretty much hit 4th referee in additional time. Crazy guy.

That was yet another great game with Bayern in this year's Cl. Thought they played quite and they were able to rattle Atletico in the first half but the problem with them is that they always able to reorganise eventually if you don't take advantage. Plus they are incredibly patient and will wait for their chances and I was actually surprised at how dominant Bayern were in the first half. They kept them from any chances. Once again Pep fails at this stage but the margins were really tight this time and had Muller scored I think Bayern would have gone through.

Stinger
I read that the guy he slapped was actually an Atletico official so I'm guessing he won't get banned for that one.

I loved Atletico and their fighting spirit. But on the other hand they are taking it a bit too far.

No such thing. They are more progressive than I am.

PROGRESS IS BACK!

City has to be the worst semifinalist I have ever seen even if they only go out on 1-0. I can't remember ever seeing a team less dedicated to the cause. Nobody would have been able to guess form their performance that this was a second leg semifinal. This has been their attitude for most of the season and even further back but still surprising that on individual level they can't motivative themselves.

We haven't looked great either although we did fine for this game. But I can't imagine a bigger dichotomy between this match and the sort of opposition we will get from Atletico. I can't see them not exposing our fragilities so I can only hope some individual brilliance will do it. Nor we do deserve it as much as Atletico and fate would be very cruel towards(again) if they don't win it.

City played like pussies.

Leicester and Spurs will actually be better representatives next year.

I don't think the problem was that they were pussies. Any small team with 10 mins to go can muster some ambition but not City. It is a pure lack of will and spirit which is remarkable because you wouldn't think that would be needed in a Cl semifinal. It has been characteristic of theirs for a while but I really thought being at this stage would get them out of their slumber.

This City team has long lacked soul or heart and I can't quite grasp why that is. Perhaps there is a strong mercenary culture there?

Leicester will certainly fight more but the seeding system doesn't favour them and if they lose a player or two it could really hit them. Spurs are far better equipped to handle Europe.