Champions League: Spanish giants face elimination

In the next couple of days the return-leg of the two UEFA Champions League semifinals between FC Barcelona vs Chelsea FC (Tuesday) and Real Madrid vs FC Bayern Munich (Wednesday) will decide on which two sides will play the finals on May 19 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

Last week Chelsea FC upset defending champions FC Barcelona at home at Stamford Bridge through a Didier Drogba strike. But it was one of the few Chelsea attacks that evening then Barca was the better side but the woodwork, great goalkeeping from Petr Cech and resolute defending denied the Catalans a goal. Interestingly Barca have a bad piece of stats against the Blues and history might repeat itself though Barca surely are capable of scoring two or more goals against Chelsea.

But the Londoners will come to the Nou Camp today with an aim to once more defend as resolutely as possible and then ideal score a goal or two which would mean Barca would have to win by a two goal margin to continue to have the chance to defend their title.

Meanwhile tomorrow Real Madrid will try and turn around a 1-2 deficit against German giants Bayern Munich at their Santiago Bernabeu. There is no doubt that Bayern Munich were the better side last Tuesday at the Allianz Arena and could maybe should have won by a bigger margin. The Bavarians showed that their aim of the 'Finale Dahoam' (the final at home) was alive and put the Spaniards under massive pressure for most of the match.

Real Madrid have the advantage of having scored a vital away goal through German Mesut Özil, but Bayern Munich of having scored the winner a minute from time. Another such performance would be needed to beat Real Madrid and make the dream of a home final a reality.

If the matches had been over after just the 90+ minutes from the first-leg then both the Spanish sides would be out of the competition. And interestingly against these opponents both sides have failed in the semifinals. Especially Real Madrid's stats are bad then thrice they faced Bayern Munich in the semis and on all three occasions (1976, 1987, 2001) the Bavarians prevailed.