“The Curse of Guardiola and the Real Madrid Record Holder. Who to expect in the Champions League final

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the final semi-finals of the Champions League will be held, as a result of which the main contenders for the trophy will be known. Manchester and Real Madrid will continue to fight hard, and Klopp will again try to defeat Emery. Villarreal - Liverpool

Estadio De La Ceramica (Photo: Getty Images)

Fire on friendly in the first meeting

Liverpool beat Spanish Villarreal in the first leg of the semi-finals. The meeting, which took place on May 26 at Anfield, ended with a score of 2:0 in favor of the hosts. The winners scored Sadio Mane in the 55th minute, and another goal was cut into his own net by the guest's player Pervis Estupignan (53).

Jurgen Klopp (Photo: Getty Images/Fotobank)

The day after the match, Liverpool announced a new contract for Jurgen Klopp, the German specialist will continue to work with the Reds until the summer of 2026. The former contract with the 54-year-old German specialist expired in the summer of 2024.

Highlights from the Champions League semi-final Liverpool vs Villarreal Football

Liverpool currently top the Premier League (EPL) standings with 82 points. Manchester City, in second place, have a match in hand and 80 points. Newcastle are in ninth place with 43 points.

Liverpool's unbeaten run in the Premier League has reached 15 matches (13 wins, two draws). The last time the club lost to Leicester (0:1) on December 28 in the 20th round.

Emery's first playoff misfire

Villarreal, which is headed by former Spartak Moscow coach Unai Emery, suffered its first defeat in the current Champions League play-off draw against Liverpool. Emery's team reached the playoffs of the tournament from the group with English Manchester United, Italian Atalanta and Swiss Young Boys, and knocked out Juventus Turin in the 1/8 finals, defeating the Bianconeri on their field with a score of 3 :0.

Villarreal (Photo: PETER POWELL/EPA)

And in the quarterfinals of the tournament, the Spaniards overcame Bayern with a total score of 2:1, despite the fact that in only two games Villarreal made two shots on target, scoring two goals.

Dmitry Cheryshev compared the work of Unai Emery in Spartak and Villarreal Football

Emery's team is currently 19th in the UEFA club rankings (only Portugal's Benfica were lower in the quarter-finals), while Bayern were first.

Also, Villarreal is playing in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the second time in its history and for the first time since 2006, when the Spaniards lost to Arsenal in London (0-1, 0:0).

Real Madrid - Manchester City

Date and time: 4 May 22:00 (Moscow time)

Stadium: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Spain, Madrid)

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (Photo: Global Look Press)

Manchester City and Guardiola go to the second final in a row

English "Manchester City" won a home victory over the Spanish "Real" in the first semi-final match of the Champions League. The meeting, held in Manchester, ended with the score 4:3 in favor of the hosts. City beat Real Madrid for the third time in a row. Previously, no English club has managed to do this three times in a row.

For the winners, goals were scored by Kevin De Bruyne (2nd minute), Gabriel Jesus (11), Phil Foden (53) and Bernardo Silva (74). De Bruyne scored Manchester City's fastest goal in Champions League history.

Pep Guardiola (Photo: Global Look Press)

This match repeated the performance record among the semi-finals of the Champions League. The same number of goals were scored in 1995 in the match between Ajax and Bayern (5:2) and in 2018 in the meeting between Liverpool and Roma (5:2).

Manchester City manager Guardiola tests positive for CORONAVIRUS

The most interesting fact is the unfortunate pattern of Pep Guardiola's teams, since the Spaniard won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2010/11, his teams have made the playoffs every year but never won a trophy. Only last year, Guardiola broke the barrier of the semi-finals of the tournament.

But lost in the final match of the Chelsea tournament (1:0). Coaching
Barcelona (2011-12), Bayern Munich (2013-2016) and Manchester City (2017-present), Guardiola reached the semi-finals five times, twice the quarter-finals and the 1/8 finals of the most prestigious tournament "Old World".

Whether Guardiola will be able to get rid of a kind of curse, the football world will know only if Manchester advance to the final of the tournament. it will be held on May 28 in the suburbs of Paris at the Stade de France stadium.

Real Madrid record holder and championship triumph

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema scored two goals in the first game against City. In his 600th game for Real Madrid, the Frenchman scored the 14th goal in the current tournament and removed Bayern's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski from the first line (13).

Of the current participants in the Champions League, the closest pursuer of the Frenchman is the Egyptian striker of Liverpool Mohamed Salah (8).

Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema (Photo: Getty Images/Fotobank)

This season, only Benzema and Lewandowski have reached 40 goals in all competitions.

Benzema is the fourth scorer in the history of the Champions League (85 goals in 139 matches). Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (140) leads the list, followed by Argentina's Lionel Messi (125) and Lewandowski (86).

Benzema also became the first player in the history of the Champions League to score five goals in away matches in the play-offs of one season of the Champions League. In the quarter-final meeting with Chelsea, the Frenchman chalked up three goals.

Karim Benzema and Marcelo (Photo: MARISCAL/EPA)

Also on Saturday, April 29, Real Madrid players beat Espanyol 4-0 in the home match of the 34th round of the Spanish Championship. The Madrid club ahead of schedule secured a victory in the championship.

Ancelotti becomes the first manager to hold titles in all major leagues in Europe Football

Real Madrid HEAD coach Carlo Ancelotti has already become the champion in the fifth European top league, which no coach in history has been able to do. Previously, the 62-year-old specialist took titles with Italian Milan (2004), English Chelsea (2010), French Paris Saint-Germain (2013) and German Bayern (2017).

Real Madrid became the champion of Spain for the 35th time, this is a record figure. Barcelona have won the title 26 times. Last season, Atlético was the champion of Spain, Madrid then became the second.