This week, the Champions League will feature two semi-final matches, with Bayern Munich hosting Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund hosting Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg, with the second leg next week and four teams swapping home stadiums for two tickets to the Champions League final. In the past few years, Bayern have beaten Paris and Dort in the Champions League finals and won the title twice, will the fond memories be repeated?
Real Madrid's path to qualification was relatively easy, and they were the only unbeaten team to qualify, winning all six games in the group stage to qualify easily, eliminating Leipzig with an away win in the round of 16 and drawing at home to Manchester City in the round of eight, and finally relying on a penalty shoot-out to reach the last four. Bayern only lost once, 5 wins and 1 draw in the group stage, including two home and away defeats to Manchester United, the first leg of the round of 16 was lost to Lazio, but returned to the home home three-goal victory to advance strongly, and the round of 8 met the old rival Arsenal, which also relied on home wins to advance.
Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain are two familiar opponents, the two sides have met in the group stage, although Dortmund drew one and lost one, but they can qualify from the group one round earlier, while Paris can only become the second group of the "group of death" in the final round and get the right to qualify. In the two knockout rounds, Dort eliminated PSV Eindhoven, who had a strong performance in the Eredivisie, and Atletico Madrid in La Liga, while Paris eliminated Real Sociedad and Barcelona. It can be said that the excellent performances of Dort and Paris eliminated three La Liga teams, so that the Champions League semi-finals did not turn into a La Liga derby.
Three of the semi-finalists have won the Champions League, with Real Madrid having won the title 14 times, double that of second-placed AC Milan (seven), making them the best team in the competition. The first five editions of the Champions League were won by Real Madrid, which seems to be a memory of ancient times. However, Zidane's "Champions League treble" and his victory over Liverpool two years ago have reinvigorated the team by winning the trophy five times in the past 10 years.
Bayern Munich has won the Champions League six times, behind Real Madrid and Milan, and tied with Liverpool for the third-most Champions League titles. Borussia Dortmund have only won the trophy once, almost 30 years ago in the 1996-1997 season, beating Juventus from Serie A at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, which is half of their home stadium.
PSG have not won the Champions League in their history, with only one attempt to finish as runners-up. Interestingly, Dortmund also have one other runner-up, while Dortmund and Paris lost two finals to Bayern. Bayern's last two titles were four years ago at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, Portugal, beating Paris, and 11 years ago at Wembley Stadium in London, England, beating Dort.
In particular, this season's Champions League final is played at Wembley Stadium, which has hosted seven finals in the past, with Barcelona winning the title twice, while AC Milan, Manchester United, Ajax, Liverpool and Bayern Munich have each won the title. Of the four teams in the semi-finals, only Bayern Munich has won the title at Wembley Stadium.
Therefore, Bayern have two fond memories, if they can beat Dort this season, it will be the most recent time Wembley Stadium history repeats itself, and if they can beat Paris to win the title, it will be the story of four years ago, which will happen again.
Can Kane, who has missed the German Super Cup, German Cup and Bundesliga three titles in a row, wait for the title he has been striving for?