The road to Kiev is littered with gold and the two finalists set to grace football’s greatest stage will soon be known.
Following last week’s first legs, the betting odds point to a Real Madrid-Liverpool showpiece on May 26.
Few sports betting fans would argue, especially after the first 90 minutes.
Yet football games in the knockout stages of the Champions League have already shown us, the outcome is not always as clear as it initially seems.
Real Madrid vs (2-1 on agg.) Bayern Munich
Real’s ruthlessness won the day in Munich and, given Bayern’s bad luck with injuries in that same encounter, neutrals could be forgiven for thinking the momentum is now well and truly with Madrid.
Of course it is, but this one isn’t over.
We only need remember the quarter-final for that when Real returned home from Juventus with a 3-0 success only to incredibly find themselves on the brink of elimination before Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury time penalty.
Isco will miss this tie but Zinedine Zidane can welcome back Ronaldo and skipper Sergio Ramos who were rested from La Liga duties at the weekend with the second leg looming.
A third consecutive European final is now within their grasp and the German champions need key players to return – Manuel Neuer, Arturo Vidal and Kingsley Coman are among their absentees – and a change of fortune if they are to turn this around – JuppHeynckes’s side are more than capable though.
AS Roma vs (2-5 on agg.) Liverpool
The Eternal City welcomes Liverpool with hope more than expectation after their heroes were on the wrong end of a first leg drubbing.
Roma were shown up at Anfield and, one performance against Barcelona aside, realistically cannot claim to be one of Europe’s leading sides.
As good as Liverpool were, Roma’s defending was shambolic.
An early home goal in the Stadio Olimpico could spark nerves in the visitor ranks but, even if Roma reproduce the display that saw off Barca, I doubt the Merseysiders will be as poor as Barcelona were when they travelled to Italy with a healthy first-leg lead.
The re-run of the 1984 European Cup Final should ultimately go the same way as that contest did 34 years ago.
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