It’s The Spanish vs The Germans In The Champions League

Quite surprisingly yet again teams from the same country avoided each other, which means the semi finals of the Champions League will be the Germans vs the Spanish. They’ve even been drawn at home and away respectively, so Germany is the place to be for the first leg, and Spain the second.

The draw:

Bayern Munich vs Barcelona

Dortmund vs Real Madrid

An amazing draw. Dortmund and Real have of course already played twice, since they were in the same group, “the group of death”. Dortmund beat Real at home 2-1, I remember watching that game and Dortmund were brilliant, the crowd were amazing, it’s a place I would love to go 😀 The 2nd meeting ended 2-2, Ozil getting a last minute equaliser for Real.

In the other tie it’s Pep Guardiola’s old boys Barca vs his new team for next season, Bayern. Both teams have cruised through the league, with Bayern being crowned champions last weekend and are 20 points clear, it’s just a matter of time for Barca who will go on to win the league.

I would not even hazard a guess at who will go through. All four teams can be brilliant, and we are probably looking at the best 4 teams in Europe being in the semi final of the Champions League.

The Europa League semi finals were drawn too. It will be Fenerbahce vs Benfica and Basel vs Chelsea.

Last night Newcastle went out to Benfica, a 1-1 draw on the night but 4-2 on aggregate. It was a brave Newcastle performance, at least in the 2nd half, and so attacking, Newcastle finished with Ameobi, Cisse, Marveaux, Sissoko, Ben Arfa and Gutierrez on the pitch, and saw wave after wave of attacks, and they scored and needed another. But Benfica caught Newcastle on the break, and with hardly a defender on the pitch Benfica scored, but by that time it was too late. A real shame, I could see Newcastle beating Fenerbahce, and then on to the final, where you never know what can happen.

Basel played Tottenham last night, and after 2-2 in the first leg it was 2-2 once again, 4-4 on aggregate and the match went to extra time in the pouring rain. Basel still could not find a goal, and it went to penalties. I think Yann Sommer is a great young ‘keeper and it’s a matter of time before a big European club get him, and he proved me right, with an excellent penalty save, Adebayor missed, and Basel went through 4-1 on penalties.

I think the draw looks poor on paper, with Chelsea looking to be the winners of the Europa League. I would love Basel to go on and win the whole thing, but I can’t see it happening.