UEFA Champions League semi-final second-leg preview: Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich

Real Madrid welcome Bayern Munich to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final clash on Wednesday night. 

In what would be a record 28th meeting between these two sides, Bayern will be looking to salvage what has been a disappointing season while Madrid will look to further solidify themselves as the dominant force in the competition’s history.

Carlo Ancelotti will look to extend his record 10th unbeaten streak against his former club on Wednesday, to inflict the longest winless run by a manager against any side in the competition.

Los Blancos withered an early storm from Bayern to open the scoring with their first shot on target when Toni Kroos threaded a delightful defence splitting-pass to Vinicius to score. The Bavarians returned to the second half with more intent and their early pressure paid off when Leroy Sane cut inside to fire past Andriy Lunin. The German side went ahead four minutes later when Harry Kane converted a penalty before Vinicius drew the first-leg tie level with a penalty kick.

The Spanish Champions will look to capitalise on Bayern’s leaky defence that have failed to keep a clean sheet away from home since December 2023 in the 1:0 away win against Manchester United.

On the flip side, Madrid are yet to win a knockout game at home in the competition this season, recording a 1:1 draw against RB Leipzig and playing out a 3:3 draw against Manchester City and it will be a difficult battle to stop Thomas Tuchel from reaching his third Champions League final in five years.

The former Chelsea boss has an uphill battle to avoid what could be the first trophyless season for the Bavarians since 2012 and will need to look beyond the rising injury concerns to ensure qualification into the next round.

The 50-year-old was the last manager to defeat Real Madrid at home, guiding Chelsea to a 3:2 win at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2022, a clash the Blues eventually got knocked out by away goals.

With a personal impressive record of one loss in nine matches against the 14-time Champions League winners, Tuchel will look to guide his side to qualification to Wembley, the same ground Bayern won their fifth title in 2013.

Bayern will go into this game at the back of suffering their seventh Bundesliga loss of the season when they fell to a 3:1 defeat to Stuttgart at the MHPArena last weekend.

On the other hand, Madrid made it 27 wins in the Laliga this season when Ancelotti’s second-string side defeated relegation-threatened Cadiz 3-0 to mark their 20th-match unbeaten run.

Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich match details

• Date: Wednesday, 8 May, 2024
• Location: Madrid, Spain
• Venue: Santiago Bernabéu
• Kick-off time: 09:00PM CEST, 08:00 PM BST, 7:00 PM UTC,
• Referee: Szymon Marciniak
• Tickets: Fans can buy Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich tickets via the club websites or through trusted resellers like Seatsnet.com.

Match stats and head-to-head 

• Bayern are winless against Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu since the 1:0 win in May 2001, drawing one and losing six of their last seven matches played in the Spanish capital.

• Harry Kane’s eight goals in this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign make him the joint top scorer in the competition alongside Kylian Mbappé.

• Kane is also England’s second all-time top scorer in the Champions League with 29 goals. One more goal from the former Spurs man will put him on par with Wayne Rooney as England’s all-time scorer in the competition with 30 goals.

• Thomas Muller is in contention for his 151st Champions League appearance, the joint sixth-most in the competition’s all-time list alongside Xavi Hernandez.

• Wednesday’s clash at the Bernabeu will be the eighth time these two teams are meeting in the semi-finals with Bayern prevailing on four occasions while Madrid have prevailed thrice.

• The Bavarians have lost just one of their last 12 matches against Spanish opponents.

• Tuchel’s side have netted in all but one of their last 15 Champions League matches.

• Bayern have conceded at least one goal in eight of their last 10 away matches while recording only three wins in that run.

• Since getting knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Atletico Madrid in January, Los Blancos have gone on a 20-game unbeaten streak across all competitions. The Laliga champions are also on a 28-game unbeaten streak at the Santiago Bernabeu with their last home loss coming in the 3:2 defeat to Villarreal in April 2023.

Team news

Ancelotti’s side was boosted by the return of 2022 European golden glove winner, Thibaut Courtois who marked his return with a clean sheet in the 3:0 win over Cadiz.

In another boost for the Los Blancos, Dani Carvajal will return from a suspension that kept him out of the first-leg clash at Allianz Arena. The 32-year-old will be in contention for a starting berth at right back on Wednesday night.

With the returns of Courtois and Carvajal being confirmed, David Alaba now remains the only notable absentee for Madrid. The Austria International is potentially out of the season and is ruled out from meeting his former club.

Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos, Federico Valverde and Rodrygo were all rested in Madrid’s weekend Laliga clash and should return to the starting lineup when they host Bayern.

For the Bavarians, their injury list got expanded when left-back, Raphael Guerreiro suffered an ankle injury in the defeat against Stuttgart last weekend. The former Borussia Dortmund defender will not make the trip to the Spanish capital and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Eric Dier was taken off at halftime after making a goal-saving clearance that saw the 30-year-old end up with blood gushing from his head. The withdrawal is believed to be precautionary and the Englishman is expected to be fit to face Madrid.

Matthijs de Ligt is expected to fully recover from a knee injury to make the trip to Madrid in what could be a boost to Tuchel’s side.

Kingsley Coman is out on the grass but the France International is only expected to return to the pitch if Bayern makes the Champions League final.

Other long-term absentees include Sacha Boey and Tarek Buchmann who are sidelined with hip and hamstring injuries respectively while Bouna Sarr is out of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Predicted starting lineup 

Real Madrid predicted starting lineup:

Lunin; Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy; Valverde, Tchouameni, Kroos; Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr.

Bayern Munich predicted starting lineup:

Neuer; Kimmich, Dier, De Ligt, Mazraoui; Goretzka, Laimer; Sane, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane.

Prediction

Madrid will savour the chance to further solidify themselves in the folklore of European heritage on Wednesday night and will aim for victory to reach their second final in three years.

Bayern on the other hand are enduring a tumultuous season but they possess a coach who is renowned for scaling through tournaments. Tuchel was the last manager to defeat Madrid at the Bernabeu and the German will look to repeat that feat albeit with a depleted squad.

Madrid’s rampaging attack are tipped to capitalise on Bayern’s weak defence while also forming a formidable defence to stop Bayern’s attack.

Goals from both teams are expected in this fixture but the home advantage could play in Madrid’s favour.

We’re predicting a 3:2 win for Madrid.