The Manchester City – Real Madrid knockout in the top European competition represents a picture of two entities with opposite histories that, through an unequal degree of experience, look to reach the glory by lifting the most prestigious title of clubes.
Manchester City, the new candidate, beginners in the Champions League, and pioneers of the arrival of the petrodollars to the European football in 2008, have established themselves in the continental elite in the last decade thanks to the new powerful financial muscle from the Middle East.
Real Madrid, eternal candidate to the throne, king of Europe, the usual winner of this competition, dominate the historical continental the way they want. They have starred the most remembered feats, the most epical comebacks. They count on a n intangible factor, away from the “logical in football”, that make the preparation, the tactics, or the rival’s talent all rely on the White’s magic. And Guardiola, as everybody else, knows it perfectly.
“If we competed against the history of Real Madrid, we would not have any chance”
Pep Guardiola
A Manchester City – Real Madrid knockout in the Champions League semifinals and with both teams in their prime time is a football battle with all its components of global attraction and unpredictable script. Guardiola’s City, pure champagne football, are candidates to win the first Champions League title of their history.
To finally win the trophy they have invested so much for and the one they have criticized Guardiola so much for as well because he has not won it since he left Barcelona. And for that, in the previous knockout he had to get stained of the mud he commented so much on, of prehistorical elements, for winning. Because it is all about winning and that is how he has gotten all the way here. A clear candidate to lift the most important clubs’ competition.
Ancelotti’s Real Madrid, the owner of this LaLiga campaign, even when nobody expected anything from them in the Champions League, always responds in this competition. And they are always on verge of it. Because they have football reasons, because history is on their side and because they have the best player at the moment in the best tournament: Karim Benzema. And the second leg is at the Bernabéu, where even easy games turn into epic episodes.
“There are two teams in the semifinals that nobody counted on: Villarreal and Madrid”
Carlo Ancelotti
Because this is the Champions League and because it is a Manchester City – Real Madrid, a duel between the elaborated football and the pure offensive verticality football of leaving the outcome in the talent’s hands. Two teams of global attraction that pay tribute to the game.
Main image: Edit José Manuel Calviño.
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