La Decima beckons

In the draw for the Champions League semi-final, I wanted Real Madrid to be drawn against Bayern Munich, rather than the Bavarians face the comparatively shot-shy Atletico Madrid or Chelsea.  Bayern never really convinced against Arsenal or the Manchesters City and United (apart from the game at the Etihad).  The firepower that Real could unleash against a shaky Bayern defence would put the Germans to the sword.  And so it proved.

A one-nil victory in the Bernabeu to Real did not tell the full story, when despite only one-third of possession, they should really have scored three.  In the Allianz Arena, they were magnificent, inflicting Bayern's joint-heaviest European defeat and their biggest ever in the European Cup.  Pep Guardiola's side were 3-0 down at half time, leaving them needing to score five goals (even four would have seen them exit on the away goals rule).  Cristiano Ronaldo put the icing on the cake to make it 4-0 in the 90th minute, shooting under the wall from a free-kick as I thought he would being on 24m from goal, reminiscent of an Alan Shearer effort against Poland when he wore the colours of England.

I've felt, even when Bayern were in the World Club Championship against lesser teams, their defence was always their Achilles heel, especially Dante, whose defending is far from divine but certainly is a comedy.  It really is a disgrace to have such a mediocre player in one of the great European sides - I can't understand why Bayern just don't buy a better defender.

A tenth (and eleventh) European Cup title has been the dream of Real since they won the ninth in 2002.  The match between Atletico and Chelsea will probably being as dull as it was in the first leg and in all those Liverpool-Chelsea semi-finals when Mourinho was in charge.  Although it would be a homecoming of sorts, as the final is staged in Lisbon, I can see it being just as turgid if Mourinho makes it with Chelsea this time, but I would be happy if any of the three remaining teams hoisted the trophy.  For Guardiola, it's back to the drawing board because the European stage has moved on from tiki-taka.