Real Madrid's veteran thoroughbreds keeping European Cup dream alive

MADRID: Real Madrid were given an almighty scare by Chelsea on Tuesday (Apr 12) but the eternal brilliance of Luka Modric and Karim Benzema prevailed and now they are in sight of their 14th European Cup.

With the Santiago Bernabeu just about empty, except for the Chelsea fans still singing up in the highest corner, down below the talk had already turned to Madrid not just reaching the final, but winning the tournament again.

"Nobody can say we're not going to win it," said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti.

It will be Real Madrid's eighth semi-final in 10 years and of the previous seven, they were crowned champions four times. Since the start of the Champions League era, they have reached 15 semis in total and on seven of those occasions went on to lift the cup.

This will surely be a particularly difficult year, with Manchester City and Liverpool so clearly another level above the rest of Europe's elite.

Madrid have been granted no favours with the draw.

After beating Paris-Saint Germain in the last 16 and Chelsea in the quarters, their most likely route now is City in the semis and Liverpool in the final.

That has echoes of their incredible run to the trophy in 2018 when they also had to get past most of the favourites, including PSG, Juventus, Bayern and then Liverpool in the final.

Liverpool are a different beast now, perhaps even at their peak under Jurgen Klopp, while Madrid are a reduced version of themselves four years on, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos both gone and Gareth Bale relegated to irrelevance.

Given their record in the derby, Madrid would love to face Atletico Madrid in the semis. A showdown with City, who won convincingly when they met over two legs in 2020, would surely have Guardiola's team as favourites.