This year's Champions League draw has drawn "European Royalty" vs rugged, persistent underdogs. As such, on paper predicting the semi finalist may seem straight forward.
I happen to predict all 8 quarter finalists correctly in my round of 16 post, including Benfica even though I was hoping to see the Dutch side PSV in the quarter finals.
Real Madrid have improved since Zidane replaced Benitez. However, undoubtedly their progress in the Champions League has very much been helped with good fortune in the draw.
Having qualified with a mere 5 points, Roma nevertheless gave Real a run in Madrid & Wolfsburg may & can do the same. However, Real will prevail & reach yet another semi final.
PSG will account for an out of sorts Manchester City even more comfortably than they beat Chelsea & will reach their first ever Champions League semi final. City have been out of sorts ever since it was announced Pep Guardiola will be their manager next season. They are only here because their round of 16 draw was easier than previous years.
Bayern, having survived the scare at Munich vs Juventus should be able to beat the brave Benfica. Against Juventus, the absence of Boeteng, Badstuber & Martinez was exploited & that is what Benfica will be hoping to emulate. Nevertheless I still believe the only team capable of beating Bayern are Barcelona.
Barcelona can take comfort in the unstoppable MSN goalscoring trio & the fact that Atletico Madrid have found it difficult to beat Barcelona in La Liga in recent years. Nevertheless, Atletico are extremely difficult to score against, and in 2014 Champions League they eliminated Barcelona.
All in all, if any team is capable of causing an upset vs the unstoppable force that is barcelona, it is the gritty Simone men from Madrid.
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