Bayern Munich will visit Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid , Spain on Tuesday February 20th at for the first leg of their fixture in the knock out stage for the UEFA Champions League starting at 2:45pm EST.
These two true Titans of European football will go head to head in the first round of UEFA Champions League for the sixth time since the 1999/00 campaign. The nine time European champion Real Madrid Merengues, have succeeded on the last two occasions the teams have encountered concluding Bayern's aspirations in 2001/02 and 2003/04 terms.
Real Madrid will be concerned in maintaining their recent supremacy over the German champions given that they have missed out on their search for their ninth UEFA Champions League quarter final in the last two seasons.
Madrid has endured their heaviest home and on road routs in the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Bayern, being defeated 4-2 at the Bernabéu and 4-1 in Germany in the 1999/00 second group stage. Iván Helguera scored a goal for Madrid in the away game while Raúl González did so in the home leg. Mehmet Scholl was on point in both games for Bayern Munich.
Madrid later accomplished swift revenge that season removing their German counterparts in the semi-final on their road to a second UEFA Champions League crown.
During the seven knockout matches between the clubs, Madrid has succeeded on four occasions while Bayern, who this season is searching for a fifth continental crown, won on the only occasion they have were paired together in the same group.
In the 2001/02 quarter-final Ivan Helguera and Jose Maria ‘Guti’ Gutierrez scored to give Madrid an aggregate win following a 2-0 home win. The payback came after Claudio Pizarro had scored to offer the Bavarian side the edge for the first match that ended 2-1.
Roy Makaay and Roberto Carlos had found the net to leave the first game all square but Zinédine Zidane's goal in the second leg qualified the Spanish side in the 2003/04 first knockout round.
Madrid has conquered three European finals against German clubs sides by coming out on top each time. A 7-3 success against Eintracht Frankfurt made them the 1959/60 European Champions Clubs' Cup winners. For the 1985/86 UEFA Cup against FC Köln they won 5-3 on aggregate and the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League gave them a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Bayern has twice played European finals against Spanish sides and also boasts a 100% score card. They crowned during the 1973/74 European Cup following a 5-1 aggregate win over Club Atlético de Madrid and beat Valencia CF on penalties in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League.
Madrid has only been unsuccessful twice at home in 20 matches against German opponents. Both defeats inflicted by Bayern Munich. The first was a 4-2 romping in 1999/00, the second a 1-0 semi-final loss as Bayern won to go to the 2001 final.
Real Madrid finished second in Group E with eleven points by winning two of their three home games with the others finishing at draws. With 14 goals in their six games, Coach Fabio Capello's club is the tournament’s most scoring team. Ruud van Nistelrooy accounts for four of them.
They lost 1-0 to Arsenal FC last season in the first leg of the first knockout round game which did not work in their favor and were unable to make up the deficit in the away game. For the previous campaign on the same stage they won their home leg against Juventus through Ivan Helguera's header but eventually succumbed 2-0 away after the extra time.
Bayern Munich was the winning club of Group B with 12 points including wins in two of their three away games. Bayern also made their exit at this stage 12 months ago. They drew 1-1 at home with AC Milan and then suffered a 4-1 defeat in Italy to squander their shot to reach a seventh quarter final in nine campaigns.
Bayern has not won on their last three visits to Spain and hopes to achieve a positive result before the second leg is staged at Munich football Arena on Wednesday 7 March.
Sportbet.com has Bayern Munich at +255 and a draw at +205 . Real Madrid comes in at Even and even when it’s tempting I am going to take a shot on the German side and the draw hoping Real gets beat and continues their wretched form from La Liga (tied with Betis at no scores this week). The total over 2 -140 is not my pick I can see a defensive boring game here and consider Under 2 Even a great pick. On the Asian Line Bayern +½ -140 seems pricey and I would only touch it if I didn’t prefer to bet the money lines. Real Madrid -½ Even at home is for Real Madrid fans but not a bad pick either.
