On Friday the 12th of April 2013 the draw for the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League 2013 in Nyon was pronounced. There are still 2 German and 2 Spanish teams in the race for the cup. The UEFA Champions League semi-final draw was assigned to the dutch ex footballer Ruud “Van Gol” van Nistelrooij.
The first ball he picked was Bayern Munich the fresh new champions of the German Bundesliga. They’ve got a new record, because there has never been a team in the Bundesliga so early season champion before. Bayern plays really good football this season and isn’t afraid of anybody. They defeated Juventus very easily in the last 2 matches. Of course they are out for revanche after the lost final in their own Allianz Arena in 2012 against Chelsea FC, so they will be very determined to win this year.
The second ball was F.C. Barcelona. The best team of the world in most people their eyes. They had a difficult time without coach Tito Villanova but Jordy Roura does good work. F.C. Barcelona passed through the 8th finals against A.C. Milan. This game was very exciting because they lost 2-0 in Milan and the whole world thought F.C. Barcelona would be out of the tournament. But than in Camp Nou they did an excellent job and won with 4-0 against A.C. Milan! This was an amazing game. They once again proved to all the people why they’re called the best team of the world.
So the first semi-final will be between Bayern and Barca. Two European super powers! The first match will be in Munich, this might be a good thing for Barcelona. Both teams are very strong in their home matches. Jupp Heynckes, coach of the ‘Rekordmeister’ says: ‘Barcelona dominates Europe the last years and we know that it will be a hard challenge, Barcelona is a top club, but i’m keeping confidence because we are also a top team! It will be two beautiful matches, both teams like to play their own football and both have an excellent defense.
That means that there were 2 balls left, Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund is the other semi-final. Because of this draw their is a chance that there will be a Spanish or German final. Also a beautiful match of course. They have met each other in the group state and that were 2 exciting matches. In Dortmund Borussia won and in Madrid there was a 2-2 draw. Real Madrid will be a little disappointed with this draw because of the earlier results during this season against Borussia.
From Dortmund came the following reaction by Hans-Joachim Watzke: ‘We are happy with this draw, but not because it is easy. We are especially happy with the fact that we got to see a interesting and beautiful game between European teams and not a national game between us and Bayern Munich.’
Real is waiting already eleven years to the most reachable titel in Europe. Everybody at the club desires ”La Decima” the 10th UEFA Champions League titel in history. In the knock-out state they’ve already knock out Manchester United with some luck and Galatasaray, which get a good win at home with 3-2.
The first semi finals will be played at the 23rd en 24th of April and the return matches are the next week on the 30th of April and the first of May. It will be four exciting matches. The football fanatics can eat their hearts out.