By
this point in the season, the elite soccer teams of Europe often have
their positions in their domestic leagues locked up, allowing them to
give the season’s biggest prize, the Champions League, undivided
attention.
That is not the case this year. Three Champions League semifinalists — Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid
and Manchester City — will have one eye on other matters as they play
the first legs of their semifinal matchups on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The
title race in Spain, which Barcelona once had locked up, is suddenly
wide open. Atlético is tied for first and Real is within a point of both
teams with three games to play. In England, Manchester City is hanging
on to a top-four place (and the
Champions League spot it earns for next
season), but its rival Manchester United is close behind.
Only Bayern Munich, which has a comfortable lead
as it bids for a fourth straight title in Germany, can devote 100
percent of its resources to the semifinals. If Bayern can leverage that
advantage into a Champions League title, it will be a sweet farewell
present for Coach Pep Guardiola, who is leaving the club this summer.
MANCHESTER CITY VS. REAL MADRID
Tuesday
Manchester
City has been a goliath in English soccer since being bought by Middle
Eastern interests in 2008. But until this season, the team had only two
round-of-16 appearances in the Champions League. Now in the rarefied air
of the last four, City will be eager to deliver the title it has long
sought, especially given its disappointing finish in the Premier League.
Manchester
City will be missing the injured midfielder Yaya Touré, but it has
tremendous depth. Still, it may be the longest shot of the four
remaining teams given its history, and it faces a tall order in Real
Madrid, which has reached the semifinals for the sixth year in a row and
has won nine straight in the Spanish league, scoring 3.7 goals a game
in those matches.
Real
Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo has 16 goals in the Champions League this
season, double his nearest pursuer and one shy of the record Ronaldo set
two seasons ago. Ronaldo missed Real’s weekend league game with a thigh
injury, however, and he remains doubtful for Tuesday’s first leg. But
with the likes of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez
available in attack, Real remains — justifiably — the favorite.
ATLÉTICO MADRID VS. BAYERN MUNICH
Wednesday
Atlético,
the surprise 2014 Spanish champion, has roared back to the top this
year, jumping into the league race and eliminating Barcelona in the
Champions League quarterfinals by overcoming a one-goal deficit with a
2-0 victory in the second leg.
Both
goals were scored by the French striker Antoine Griezmann, who may not
be Ronaldo or Benzema (or Luis Suárez, Lionel Messi or Neymar for that
matter) but has more than held his own in league and European play this
season.
But
while Real and Barcelona have each scored more than 100 goals in the
league this season, Atlético has managed only 59. It has nevertheless
limited opponents to a mind-bogglingly low total of 16 in 35 games.
Still, it is hard to see a Spanish team other than Real or Barcelona as an interloper at this stage, and Bayern will be favored.
The
two men most charged with breaking down Atlético’s stern defense will
be strikers Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller, and they are more than
capable of doing it, ranking first and third in Bundesliga scoring this
season.
Coach
Pep Guardiola concludes his three-year stay in Munich this spring. He
arrived just after the team won the 2013 Champions League final, and he
will want to go out with a title of his own. It is the one trophy Bayern
expected from him when it lured him away from Barcelona, and it is the
only one he has yet failed to deliver.
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