The heavy hitter of the two Champions League semi finals is the matchup of 14 time serial Champions League winner and the “new kids on the block” Manchester City looking for their first Champions League title.
Real Madrid, the defending champions of the Champions League, are heading into their semi final with a dominant 4-0 victory over Chelsea in two legs. Real Madrid’s strong midfield core of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos aided Los Blancos comfortably through the quarter finals. Their star studded attack- which is composed of Vinicius Junior, 2022 Ballon D'or winner Karim Benzema and Rodrygo will provide a significant challenge for the Manchester City defensive line.
This matchup is extremely significant due to how both teams fared in last season’s Champions League Campaign, where Rodrygo miraculously scored two goals in the last ten minutes of the match to level up the score on aggregate. This was a major collapse from Manchester City who could not maintain their 2 goal lead for those final 10 minutes to advance to the Champions League final. Real Madrid went on to knock Manchester City out of the Champions League in extra time and go on to lift their 14th title.
Manchester City will be seeking to avenge their failure at the hand of Real Madrid last season. One man who is bound to be on the score sheet is Manchester City’s number nine and the best striker in the world, Erling Haaland. Haaland has scored a remarkable 45 goals this season for the sky blues and he will be hoping to add to his tally in Manchester City’s most important game of the season. Manchester City’s attack is also star studded with the likes of playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva. On route to the semi-finals Manchester City had to defeat the six time Champions League winners and fellow favorites for the title Bayern Munich. The first leg of this tie could not have gone any better for City who displayed their ruthlessness and dominance in a 3-0 win at the Etihad Stadium which put them in the driver's seat for the tie. The second leg also went to plan for Manchester city with a 1-1 draw in Munich sending them through to the semi finals with an aggregate of 4 goals to 1.
According to CBS sports Manchester City are the favorites to emerge victorious at 41% in comparison to Real Madrid’s 26% win probability. But in reality this tie could go either way because of the immense disposal of talent both teams have. My prediction for this tie is that Manchester City will advance to the Champions League final with a close 4-3 win on aggregate.
Heading to the second semi final which happens to be a Derby Della Madonnina, which is when AC Milan and Inter Milan play each other. This is the first time in 17 years that both Milan clubs have met in the Champions League.
AC Milan arrived at the semi-finals by knocking off the inform Napoli in a tight 2-1 win on aggregate. AC Milan have a strong offensive line with Olivier Giroud and Raphael Leao and a solid defensive line composed of Theo Hernandez and Fikayo Tomori.
Their opponents and historic rivals Inter Milan advanced to the semi finals with a 5-3 win on aggregate against the Portuguese side Benfica. Inter Milan have an abundance of quality players including Lautaro Martinez, Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella.
The winning probability between the two Italian clubs is extremely even with both clubs having a 35% win probability. This shows how tight this matchup will be and how the result can go either way.
My prediction for the Champions League semi finals and finals is that Manchester City will advance to the final against AC Milan. With Manchester winning the final by a score of 3 goals to 0 and lifting their first Champions League in the history of the club.
Leman Manhattan Junior and fanatic Arsenal supporter Giles Lewis believes Manchester City will meet Inter Milan in the final of the Champions League with the scoreline of 3-1 in favor of Manchester City.