Old lady luck shines on Real Madrid as Barca and Bayern get short straw
MADRID --
After the most difficult draw imaginable in the last eight, the best possible pairing in the semifinals. Having overcome the hugely complicated challenge posed by Atletico in two tense quarterfinal games, Real Madrid was rewarded with a tie against Juventus on Friday as Barcelona and Bayern Munich meet in the other pairing.
These four teams have made more European Cup and UEFA Champions League semifinals than anyone else in history and no rival is easy at this stage of the continent's premier club competition, but Juventus has not reached the last four since 2003 and the club's passage to the penultimate stage is something of a surprise.
Despite last season's 5-0 aggregate defeat of Bayern in the semifinals en route to "La Decima," Madrid was keen to avoid Josep Guardiola's side in the last four this time around and definitely did not want to face Barcelona, either. Of the three possible rivals in the semifinals, Madrid wanted Juventus above the other two. Nevertheless, the Italian champion would also have picked Real ahead of Barca and Bayern, remains on course for a possible treble, boasts one of the strongest defenses in Europe and also upset Madrid last time the two teams met in the semifinals of the Champions League.
That was in 2003 when Madrid's Galacticos were the holders, having won the competition in 2002 for the third time in five seasons, but Vicente del Bosque's all-star side was humbled in a 3-1 defeat in Turin and did not return to the last four again until 2010-11 under Jose Mourinho. Unlike Juve, however, the team has been a permanent fixture in the semifinals since.
"We want to do something great and historic for Italian football and we will try our best," Juve director Pavel Nedved (who scored in that 3-1 win back in 2003) told Sport Mediaset on Friday. "We will go and play our own game fairly and do our part, we want to enjoy it. We weren't expecting to be 15 points clear in the league, in the semifinal of the Champions League and in the Coppa Italia final."
That represents a stunning season for Juve and Atletico coach Diego Simeone told Goal.com recently: "Juventus are a very dangerous team in the Champions League. Juventus are a great cup team and every time they get to this stage of a major competition, they are a very complicated rival. Their history means they will be prepared and whoever faces them will find it difficult."
Paul Pogba could be back from injury to boost what is a very special midfield alongside Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio, the in-demand Frenchman possibly even auditioning for a summer switch to Madrid, while Juve's defense - described by Leonardo Bonucci recently as the best in Europe - will be vital to taming the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema (with the last two expected to recover from injury in time for the tie next month, while Luka Modric could be back for the final if Real makes it through).
"That's the history of Juventus," Simeone said. "Their structure has always been based on a strong defensive line and obviously their attacking power on the counter-attack, their speed and explosive pace going forward. And I repeat: Juventus at this stage of the Champions League, with the comfort of having almost won the Italian league, will be a very difficult, very complicated rival."
No doubt about that. But ask any Madrid fan team they would rather have faced in the semifinals and they would surely say Juventus. "It will be a great tie between two teams who are legends in Europe," Madrid's director of institutional relations Emilio Butragueno said on Friday.
And he is right -- this is a mouth-watering fixture fit for the game's greatest stage. However, Madrid would rather face a European legend than a semifinal meeting with one of most feared teams around, while winning the competition now means beating only one of those two and not both.
So despite the injuries, Carlo Ancelotti's side will be expected to come through this test and after avoiding both Barca and Bayern in Friday's draw, the route to a second successive Champions League crown has become just that little bit easier.
Follow Ben Hayward on Twitter.
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