Introduction
The UEFA Champions League is a prestigious tournament. It’s winners are pretty highly regarded. The UCL is getting highly unpredictable with each passing year. Predicting an absolute favorite for this tournament is practically impossible. You never know which team would spring a surprise on a given day. This tournament has also become a shot to glory for many underdogs recently. Last year it was Ajax, while this year, teams like Atlanta, Lyon, and RB Leipzig are punching above their expectations.
Lyon and Leipzig in particular have been excellent. They have knocked out the big boys, Manchester City and Atletico Madrid respectively to make it to the semi finals.
A trip down the recent memory lane
PSG’s journey so far…
PSG was in UCL group A where they faced teams like Brugge, Galatasaray, and the team who has won the trophy for back to back three years, Real Madrid. PSG cruised through this group by winning five out of 6 group games. They even managed to beat Madrid and occupied the top spot in the group.
In the round of 16, they eliminated one of the best attacking teams, Borussia Dortmund. From the quarter-final stage, the UCL games became a one-legged affair, due to the pandemic. PSG had to beat in form and one of the underdogs of this year Atalanta. Despite conceding early, PSG somehow managed to beat Atlanta in the dying minutes of the game to seal a spot in the semis.
RB Leipzig’s journey so far...
On the other hand, PSG’s opponents, RB Leipzig were in UCL group G where they managed to top that group comfortably by defeating teams like Lyon, Benfica, and Zenit. In the round of 16, Leipzig dismantled last year’s finalist Spurs by a margin of 4-0. Then in the quarters, they knocked out Atletico Madrid who had eliminated the previous year’s champions Liverpool in the round of 16.
Bayern Munich’s journey so far...
Bayern was in UCL group B and they topped their group by winning all the matches, which included last year’s finalists Spurs. In the round of 16, they blew away Lampard’s Chelsea and in the quarters, they humiliated Barcelona by scoring eight goals against them. While it would be too premature to predict a winner at this stage, on paper, Bayern Munich definitely look the strongest of all.
Lyon’s journey so far...
Bayern opponents Lyon had a fairytale journey so far in this competition. In the group stages, they somehow managed to secure the second spot in UCL Group G. During their round of 16 fixture, they managed to knock out the Serie A champions Juventus possessing great amount of determination and grit. And then, in the quarter-finals, they did what was deemed as an almost impossible task as they knocked out Manchester City. While they don’t play the most visually pleasing football, their progress in the tournament is definitely worth having a look.
Conclusion
Both the semi-finals are exciting ones. But it will be interesting to see which side comes out on top in these encounters. There are four possible outcomes for the final fixture, with Bayern vs PSG being the most probable one on paper. However, looking at how unpredictable this tournament has been, all teams seem to have a equal chance of winning their fixtures.
However, at Ball That Matters, the buck doesn’t stop there. We are looking forward to your thoughts as well. So, do let us know regarding your predictions as well, regarding the UCL finalists.
For more articles on the UEFA Champions League, click here .
