This season, two German, one Spanish and one French team will be seen in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The Champions League semi-final teams were revealed this week. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain will play in the semifinals.
In Wednesday’s quarterfinals, Real Madrid beat Manchester City after a penalty shootout. The first leg had ended 3–3. In the second part Rodrygo gave Real the lead in the 12th minute. Manchester City dominated the field events and Kevin De Bruyne scored the equalizer a quarter of an hour before the end of regular time. The solution stretched to a penalty shootout, where City failed Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovaciconly from Real Luka Modric.
– Losing like this hurts. It feels bad, but we did everything we could. We played very well in all areas but unfortunately we didn’t win, City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Arsenal was knocked out by Bayern Munich. The second leg played in Munich started with a 2-2 draw. Bayern scored the only goal of the match Joshua Kimmich.
Bayern’s season in the Bundesliga has gone to the bottom. The championship has already run away when Bayer Leverkusen secured the trophy for themselves last weekend. However, the Champions League can become the salvation of the season for the team.
– It was a chess match in the first half. No one wanted to make the first mistake. During the break, we encouraged the team to play more courageously. We played a fantastic second half and deserved to win, Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel stated.
The English Premier League is often regarded as the best league in the world, but the relegations of City and Arsenal mean that there will be no English team in the semi-finals. The last time this happened was four years ago in the 2019–2020 season.
Liverpool, the third team in the Premier League championship fight, is also close to being eliminated from the European games. Liverpool, playing in the Europa League, lost the opening match of the quarterfinals to Atalanta 0–3. The second part will be played today in Italy.
On the other hand, there are two German teams in the semifinals, even though Leverkusen, by far the best team in the Bundesliga season, does not even play in the Champions League. The last time the two German teams met in the semifinals was four years ago in the spring of 2020, when Bayern Munich won the championship and Leipzig was in the semifinals. In the meantime, there have been no German clubs in the semi-finals at all.
During the last ten years, the former semi-final places have been taken by Spanish clubs, a total of 13 places. Only once have the Spaniards not been seen at all in the semi-finals. English clubs have nine semi-final spots, German clubs have seven, Italian and French clubs have five, and the Dutch have one.
Only in one year have all the semi-final teams come from different countries, in the spring of 2018.
Since spring 2015, five championships have gone to Spain, three to England and one to Germany. However, English clubs have won three of the previous five championships, and in two of them the final opponent was also from England. This spring, however, the English got snow.
Bayern Munich and Real Madrid and Dortmund and PSG will meet in this spring’s Champions League semi-finals. The semi-finals will be played between April 30 and May 1. and 7.5.–8.5. The final will be played at London’s Wembley on June 1.