The 2015 UEFA Champions League semifinals has four previous winners of the competition: Barcelona of Spain, with four trophies; Bayern Munich from Germany with five titles; Juventus of Italy, two-time winners; and Real Madrid from Spain with a record 10 titles.
FC Barcelona
Leading the Spanish La Liga by two points late in the season, Barcelona are in the semi final for the seventh time in eight years after a 5-1 aggregate win over PSG, which was never in doubt. First a 3-1 win in Paris followed by a “for the protocol” victory at the Nou Camp with a brace from Neymar. Lionel Messi is their top scorer in the competition this season with 8 goals.
Bayern Munich
Only five matches are left before Bayern Munich complete another season on top of the German Bundesliga, winning a third consecutive championship. In the Champions League, they’ll be hoping that last year’s semifinal debacle which included losing 4-0 at home to Real Madrid doesn’t repeat itself.
The quarterfinals this year didn’t go so smoothly, at least initially. Porto won 3-1 in the first leg, but Bayern rebounded quite well with a 6-1 win in the second leg. Thomas Muller with six goals is their leading scorer in the competition.
Juventus FC
Juventus are on their way to win a fourth consecutive Serie A table, but they might be a bit more excited about making the Champions League semifinal for the first time since 2003. It wasn’t pretty, but after a 1-0 aggregate win against Monaco thanks to a penalty kick which was a foul outside the box, they’re through. Carlos Tevez with six goals is their top scorer in the competition.
Real Madrid
This is the fifth consecutive Champions League semifinal for Real Madrid, the defending title holders. They went through after a 1-0 aggregate win over city rivals Atletico Madrid. That single, super important goal came in the 88th minute from the legs of Chicharito, who has mostly been an unhappy camper this season. Real Madrid are trailing Barcelona by 2 points in the Spanish La Liga, led by Cristiano Ronaldo with 8 goals in the competition.