Sub-plots everywhere in semi-final match-ups
Bayern Munich's Spanish head coach Pep Guardiola reacts during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg football match Bayern Munich vs Manchester United in Munich, southern Germany, on April 9, 2014. Bayern won 3-1. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE
What you need to know:
- Atletico will be driven by the motivation of winning through to a final where they would either face city rivals Real, or a Bayern Munich side who beat them in a replay in their only European Cup final appearance to date, in 1974.
Friday's Champions League semi-final draw threw up a meeting of two of the great old foes of the European game and kept alive the possibility of a Madrid derby in the final itself.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho might have something to say about that of course, as he leads his side into a last-four clash with Atletico Madrid with his sights set on becoming the first coach to win the European Cup with three different clubs.
As if that were not motivation enough, Mourinho would surely love to create history this year, when the final will be played in his native Portugal, and at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, where his managerial career began with Benfica at the start of the last decade.
However, he will know not to underestimate Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who ensured that Mourinho’s three-year stint in charge of Real Madrid ended in disappointment when they defeated their city rivals in last season’s Copa del Rey final at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Mourinho’s reputation as a master motivator and tactician is second to none, but Simeone is doing a remarkable job with Atletico, whose budget is modest in comparison to their last-four rivals. The Argentine led Atleti to a 4-1 win against Chelsea in the final of the Uefa Super Cup at the start of last season.
Atletico will be driven by the motivation of winning through to a final where they would either face city rivals Real, or a Bayern Munich side who beat them in a replay in their only European Cup final appearance to date, in 1974.
The Pep Guardiola factor adds extra spice to the meeting of Madrid and Bayern, two clubs with 14 European Cups between them. Bayern, of course, are bidding to become the first club to successfully defend the trophy in the Champions League era, while the Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was part of the last side to retain the European Cup, with AC Milan in 1990.
Nevertheless, his opposite number Guardiola will steal much of the limelight when the clubs meet in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 23. The tie is a repeat of the 2012 semi-final, which Bayern won in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
