Ex-Real Madrid striker Fernando Morientes has said Bayern Munich are the team to beat in this year’s Champions League and that Los Blancos will need to be at their best to overcome the current holders.
The two teams meet in the first leg of their semi-final tie at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday before heading to Munich next week for the second leg.
In an interview with bundesliga.com, the Cadena Copa pundit, who formed a deadly partnership with Raul in their time together with Los Blancos, said he remembers the Bavarians being the toughest team to play against.
“I can also remember the old Oympiastadion and the fantastic atmosphere the Bayern fans created there to urge their team on. We could feel it as soon as we arrived at the stadium. They were the toughest trips we ever had,” stated.
Los Blancos have reached the semi-finals for the last three years in a row, and were knocked out by Munich in 2011/12 on penalties. When asked about the difference between the team Morientes played in and the current squad aiming to win La Decima, he said there was little in it.
“They are two completely different teams, even if Real have been so close to the final in recent years. They’ve just lacked a bit of luck, like last year in the second leg against Borussia Dortmund, and in the penalty shoot-out with Bayern the year before – that could have ended differently too. It’s often things like that which take you into a final,” Morientes said.
And the former football picked out possession and dominating the midfield as being key to who will progress to the final in Lisbon on May 24.
He commented: “I think it’s going to be decided in midfield; the strong passing game, the runs the teams make. It will be interesting to see how the sides react when they lose possession. It’s going to be important to leave little room to the likes of Ribery, Robben, Bale, Di Maria or Cristiano, if he plays.”
