UEFA Champions League 20/21 — Semifinal Preview

It doesn’t get better than this. After a turbulent 5 days of the footballing world going haywire over the European Super League, it’s the Champions League semi-finals in just a week’s time. Considering that three of the four semi-finalists were involved in the coup which could see the sport making historical changes, it is going to be a heated affair when the sides meet next on 27 and 28th of June 2021.

This season’s competition has been a bit weird too. There have been ’n’ number of criticisms as to the venue of the matches, the results which followed as consequences and not to forget the pure on-field miracles that followed. Be it the Portuguese Champions FC Porto eliminating Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus in their own backyard or current holders Bayern Munich bowing out in the quarter-final stages — the action this season has been second to none.

The Road to Istanbul continues but there won’t be the kings of Istanbul gracing the competition this time. Liverpool, who famously won a Champions League final in this very city of Istanbul, were outclassed over the two legs by Real Madrid in the quarter-final to set up a date with another English club Chelsea FC. The Blues from London relied upon their first leg masterclass to proceed to the last four of the Europe’s biggest fiesta for the first time in eight years. Not to mention, they won it when they last entered this stage in 2012.

While Madrid and Chelsea had fairly easy routes to the penultimate stages, the other to giants are coming into this affair with a heavy footprint. French Champions Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Bayern Munich on aggregate, and made sure that there will be a new winner of the competition this time around. But they meet up with Manchester City who is led by Pep Guardiola — a man who’s only goal for life in Manchester remains to win the Champions League. This is going to be a cracker of a tie, alongside Zidane and Tuchel’s war in Spain as well as England.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know in the buildup to these two biggest games of the season remaining in 2020–21.

Real Madrid vs Chelsea (27th April & 5th May 2021)

What would be going through your mind if you had won every single game in the Champions League in your career whenever you have reached the semi-final of the competition? Will there be stress? Will there be confidence? Well, Zinedine Zidane seems to be the only man in the history who can answer this for us. The French player legend turned manager has seemingly never lost a single game after reaching the semi-final of the Champions League and interestingly, has gone ahead to win the final too in each scenario. That is some massive statistic.

But this is not the same Real Madrid anymore, which stood beside him as he conquered Europe thrice, in a row. Moreover, the competition this time is also a very experienced and different one.

Just a year ago, this very time, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was plotting his final plans for the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. If he manages to beat Zidane’s Madrid over the next week, he would create his own history by becoming the only manager to reach the final with two different clubs in successive seasons. Well, two times lucky, he also has a great chance of winning it.

There are also some positives for the Londoners, or if we may call it, negatives for Real Madrid. The two sides haven’t met before in this century in a competitive fixture, but whenever they have before the year 2000, Chelsea has somehow managed to beat their counterparts. They remain unbeaten against the La Liga club since inception.

Talking about tactics, it is really a match made in heaven this one. Most of the goals conceded by Chelsea this season and their losses have come due to individual errors in the sensitive areas of the pitch. This suits perfectly for the Spaniards as they have capitalized on individual skills as well as opponent’s mistakes and hurt them by finishing the scoring chance 45% of the times this season.

The key players in this game could be found out by a simple equation. Real Madrid usually attack the game from the left side of the pitch, while Chelsea’s strong point has been the right end. This makes the battle of Vinicius Jr and Reece James, the biggest talking point in the buildup to this tie. Another big clash could be Hakim Ziyech vs Sergio Ramos in the right half-space as Ziyech was instrumental in 2018 when Ajax famously destroyed Madrid to eliminate them from the contest.

The first leg will be played on the 27th of April, and with this being an overall preview of the game, one can even head to MightyTips.com which offers detailed betting tips compiled by some of the best experts of the game to help you make some money.

Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City (28th April and 4th May 2021)

Ideally speaking, the footballing world had anticipated this to be the final game of the Champions League this season. But, as the fair draw has it, we can get a glimpse of the Champions in making early on, in the semi-final itself. Paris Saint-Germain take on Manchester City in an epic battle that could define the ages. Or should we call it, Mauricio Pochettino vs Pep Guardiola 2.0?

Similar to Real Madrid-Chelsea, these are two sides who do not share a lot of history. Except for the fact that they are both owned by Arab billionaire magnates, who have revolutionized the operations of both the sides and made them two of the biggest clubs in Europe.

When Pep Guardiola last met Mauricio Pochettino in the Champions League though, it was one of the moments in the former’s career that he would like to forget. Comfortably winning the game by a goal, a late Spurs goal (then led by Pochettino) sunk the blue half of Manchester and ended their European dreams. There is no doubt Guardiola is coming for revenge this time.

But it’s not a Tottenham side he is playing against this time. It’s a much bigger and a generational challenge in reckoning. Paris Saint-Germain, led by the talented Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, are walking into their second semi-final in a year’s time.

Nobody expected the Parisiens to give a tough fight to Bayern in the final last year, as the Bavarians were on another level altogether. But the Ligue 1 club almost gave the Germans a fright as they controlled the first half in their demeanor. It was just a second half sole goal which ended their game. But this time they are not to be mistaken.

On the other hand, the blue half of Manchester awaits their first ever Champions League trophy. Reckoned to be one of the best sides in Europe, they even managed to get the man himself, Pep Guardiola, to bring the trophy home. But as their own star Kevin De Bruyne says, “Every year (quarter-final), same story.” The Citizens have been unable to surpass the last-eight of the tournament. But this time they have.

It’s interesting as Manchester City have shown no weakness at all this season, except when they have switched off totally. An invincible side, when in their aura, they will try to pounce upon Paris Saint-Germain’s failure to stop the opponents from creating chances. Also, the Parisiens are weak in protecting their lead — another plus point for Guardiola to ponder upon.

It will also bring together the two generational talents of the game — Kylian Mbappe and Phil Foden — face to face, as they will be enticing their markers on opposite ends of the pitch, trying to being glory to their club.

Will Guardiola bring away goals advantage to the Etihad? Will Mbappe continue his scoring spree in every game of the tournament? Will Zidane lose for the first time in the semi-final of the Champions League as a manager? Will Tuchel make his second final in a year’s time? Well, all these questions still remain unanswered. But we, at Mighty Tips, can surely help you with the smaller final details of the game for you to bet upon. Gamble Responsibly, and Enjoy the beautiful game.