After 120 matches, the UEFA Champions League has found its Fab Four for this season’s semi finals.
AS Roma, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Real Madrid have all had to overcome challenges to get to this stage.
Now only two can go on to contest the final so let preview the semi final ties.
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid
Whilst neutrals will lap this tie up, for Real Madrid its a different story.
There has been six semi finals between these sides with Bayern leading the head to head 4-2 on aggregate.
Real however won their last clash at this stage in 2013-14 in comfortable fashion, running out as 5-0 winners after both legs.
Cristiano Ronaldo has also scored in every Champions League match this season, so will be a dangerous threat against a strong Bayern Munich side, whose top scorer is Robert Lewandowski despite the Polish striker not scoring in last three European matches.
If the Bayern of 2011-13 show up then we should have a classic tie on our hands here, especially seeing as Jupp Heynckes guided them to back to back Champions League finals in 12 and 13 during that period.
Zinedine Zidane meanwhile needs to win this competition to keep fans happy after a poor domestic season in Spain.
There’s no doubt that this is the stand out tie and hopefully it will live up to its billing with two cracking legs.
Liverpool vs AS Roma
Hands up!!! When Liverpool signed Mohamed Salah from AS Roma in summer, who thought we would get a Salah derby in Champions League semi finals?
This is also a rematch of the 1984 European Cup Final, which Liverpool won on penalties.
Since that meeting, the Reds have won two, drawn and lost one from four meetings with Roma.
During that time, only once did they meet in a knockout stage with Liverpool running out 2-1 winners in 2000-01 UEFA Cup, despite losing 1-0 at home.
From 23 European meetings with seven different Italian sides, Liverpool have a W10 D3 L10 record.
That makes things interesting because this tie really could go either way, particularly if Salah or Firmino get injured before the tie.
I however reckon that Liverpool might have enough quality in them to win this tie, if can defend well.
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