Bale price tag a bit too much? Not really

Kgothatso Madisa

@kgmadisa

Gareth Bale. Picture: Real Madrid

Gareth Bale has finally completed his long anticipated move from Tottenham Hotspur to Spain giants Real Madrid.

Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett says that playing for Madrid has always been his dream, he started talking about it since he was 16 years-old.

Barnett says that this particular transfer has proven to be one of the longest and probably most difficult transfers in his career as an agent because of the price tag and other factors.

There aren’t a lot of transfers that capture so much attention from football fans, only a few really manage to get everybody’s undivided interest.

Bundesliga teams likely to be in UEFA finals

Kgothatso Madisa
@kgmadisa

Robert Lewandowski celebrates his goal. Picture: BVD

As we approach the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, the two Spanish (La Liga) teams are trailing the two German (Bundesliga) teams, which somehow seems extraordinary.

After being embarrassed by the Germans in the first leg of the semi-finals, both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will have to score more than 3 goals respectively to get back into the title race.

Barcelona suffered a 4 – 0 defeat under the hands of the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich who did not want to leave any room for the Catalans to come back into the game. But as we have witnessed in the past, you cannot rule out Barcelona out of any competition until the final whistle, especially if they are playing at home.

Graced with the presence of their beloved fans at Camp Nou, Barcelona is more likely to impress and turn things around, but scoring four goals might be a bit of a challenge for them. I mean this is Bayern we are talking about.

Borussia Dortmund team jet off to Madrid. Picture: BVD

Real Madrid on the other hand are really going to have it hard, they lost 3 – 1 in the first leg and will need 3 goals tonight to proceed to the finals. It is always difficult to play against a team that is trying to prove itself to the world, that is exactly what Borussia Dortmund are doing.

They have won the Champions League once since the inception of the team and that happened about 16 years ago. Surely they want are aiming at ending their almost two decade’s drought.

But with Madrid having proven to be a stronger Spanish team, they can manage to score three goals. With Di Maria back in tonight’s squad and he will improve the sloppy midfield we witnessed in the first leg. His inclusion in the squad will see Modric remaining on the bench.

However, with that said, we are more likely to witness a Bundesliga final come May 25.

It is quite clear that the soccer played in Spain is different from that in Germany. Borussia was able to overcome Madrid because they always for goal whenever they have the ball, the same goes for Bayern. Madrid and Barcelona always seeks to complete a thousand passes before attacking and going for goal.

Survival of the fittest as top teams fight for UEFA

Kgothatso Madisa

@kgmadisa

Picture: Real Madrid

This year's UEFA Champions League has been one of the most interesting ever with a lot of unexpected occurrences, from the defending champions being knocked out early to four of the most dangerous teams going through to the semi-finals.

The competition captured a lot of people’s attention in the group stages when the defending champions Chelsea were knocked out, right there and then it was open for anyone’s taking.

This is when Real Madrid made it absolutely clear that it aims to eliminate every opponent that might stand in its way of taking the title back to Madrid with them by thrashing the daring Manchester United in the last-16 round.

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo scored a much needed goal that ensured his former club was completely buried, then apologised to his United fans before later seen having a talk with his former mentor Sir Alex Ferguson, probably discussing the goal.

Picture: Real Madrid

The match that made sure the Red Devils are send into the wilderness saw Madrid progressing to the quarterfinals where they battled it out with the strong Galatasaray who were looking for their first Champions League trophy, well, their hopes were suspended for yet another season when Madrid won the two leg matches by 5 – 3 on aggregate and made it to the semi-finals with four other top rated teams.

FC Barcelona, who almost missed a semi-final opportunity after being held by the French log leader Paris Saint-Germain to two draws but got an upper hand for scoring an away goal in their first 2-all draw, also made it through in the second leg of the quarterfinals with a much needed help of Lionel Messi.

The two Bundesliga log leaders Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have also progressed to the semi-finals. Dortmund’s progression came as a surprise to a lot of people because Malaga proved to be quite a stronger opponent and a bit more title-eagered than them.

However, in their case it was always going to be Bayern and it did not matter who was the opponent, it was unfortunately Juventus who were to face the sharp double-edged sword. Bayern made sure it denies them even a single goal in the quarterfinals therefore suffering a 4 – 0 loss on aggregate.

At the moment the four teams through to the semis are Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Considering their history, it is safe to say that title is open to anyone. It is going to be a dog-eat-dog competition from this point onwards and the fittest bunch will come on top, probably Bayern or not, who knows?