Barcelona: As if a combined 16 European Cups weren’t enough, the Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will also offer an intriguing duel between master and pupil.
Zinedine Zidane’s transition from retired player to successful coach at Madrid owes a lot to his time at the club under current Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti.
Come Wednesday, the former colleagues will face off in the first of two contests to determine which will guide his team to Europe’s final four.
“We’re ready for Real,” said Ancelotti, who led Madrid to the 2014 title with Zidane as his assistant, a run which included defeating Bayern 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
Two years later, it was Zidane’s turn to lift the European Cup as Madrid’s manager, just four months after taking the job over from Ancelotti’s short-lived replacement, Rafa Benitez.
Toni Kroos, who left Bayern for Madrid when Ancelotti was still in charge, gives credit to Zidane for taking Madrid back to the top.
“He has had a huge impact here. He brought positivity when he arrived and took us in a new direction,” Kroos said. “We are playing better football than before and that was rewarded when we won the Champions League last season.”
The powerhouses’ meeting will be their 23rd, a record for Uefa club competition.
“They will be two fantastic games. This tie could easily be the Champions League final,” Kroos said.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s German international defender Mats Hummels is out of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final home clash with Real Madrid after injuring his ankle in training.
Hummels, who suffered a tear to the ligament in his right ankle on Sunday and faces a race to be fit for the return leg in Madrid on April 18, told the German daily Bild: “I definitely won’t be on the pitch on Wednesday.”
“Very sad about missing at least the next two games,” the towering centre-back added on Twitter and posted a picture of him wearing a special recovery boot on Instagram under the caption, “Already trying to recover as fast as possible”.
As well as this week’s Champions League first leg, Hummels will sit out Saturday’s Bundesliga away match at Bayer Leverkusen at the very least.
With Hummels sidelined Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez will resume their centre-back partnership having played in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern are also waiting to see if Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is fit as he is yet to resume training after a minor foot operation.
There was some good news for Ancelotti as Germany forward Thomas Mueller returned to training on Sunday and is expected to be fit to face Real after an ankle injury.
Madrid will be without Pepe after the Portugal centre-back broke two ribs in the 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid on Saturday and French defender Raphael Varane will also miss Wednesday’s game.
