Real Madrid easily defeated Liverpool 2–0 at home and successfully advanced to the Champions League semifinals.
According to the bracket, their opponent in the next round would be the Stern des Südens itself.
Bayern Munich.
The kings of La Liga against the kings of the Bundesliga.
Real Madrid against Bayern.
Theodore Bjorn against Robert Lewandowski.
The talking points were endless before the tie had even begun.
📰 MARCA: Madrid March Into the Semifinals! Theodore Sets Up a Clash With Defending Champions Bayern!
📰 AS: The Kings of Spain Meet the Kings of Germany — Real Madrid vs Bayern Promises Fireworks!
📰 Kicker: Lewandowski Awaits Theodore! Bayern Prepare for the Ultimate Test Against Madrid's Unstoppable Star!
📰 Bild Sport: Can Bayern Stop the Galáctico Machine? Theodore Bjorn Arrives With Europe at His Feet!
📰 Madrid Sports: From Liverpool's Collapse to Bayern's Challenge — Real Madrid's Road to Glory Grows Even Harder!
Only five days later, Real Madrid hosted Real Sociedad in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.
In this match, Theodore ran riot again.
The first half had not even ended, but Theodore had already scored three goals.
Two headers.
One long-range strike.
Simple, brutal, and direct.
Real Madrid established a three-goal lead early, leaving Real Sociedad with almost no room to breathe.
To their credit, Real Sociedad's players worked extremely hard throughout the match, but effort alone could not create danger against this Madrid side.
They could barely threaten Madrid's goal, especially after Theodore completed his hat-trick and gradually shifted his focus toward the defensive side of the game.
In the defensive midfield position, Theodore stood like a one-man gate in front of Madrid's back line.
Real Sociedad simply could not break through him.
Whenever Theodore stepped in, there was a high chance the ball would be taken cleanly from their feet. Passes into the center disappeared.
Dribbles through midfield died early.
Every attempt to build momentum was swallowed before it could become dangerous.
In the 80th minute, Real Madrid struck again through a fast counterattack.
After winning the ball in midfield, Theodore immediately delivered an exquisite long pass forward. In an instant, the ball flew straight into Benzema's path.
Benzema's clever movement gave him a one-on-one chance against the Real Sociedad goalkeeper.
As the last line of defense, Doménech was under enormous pressure. But at that moment, he had no time to think. He could only rush out as quickly as possible and try to close the angle.
Benzema did not give him the chance.
With a powerful finish, the ball flew quickly into the net.
4–0!
The score was fixed there.
Real Madrid defeated Real Sociedad at home without any real danger.
Although Madrid still had to play the second leg against Real Sociedad two weeks later, judging from their current form, eliminating Real Sociedad was already close to a certainty.
...
After the Copa del Rey match ended, Real Madrid welcomed the 31st round of La Liga.
Their opponent was Cádiz.
Considering that Cádiz were only around the level of a relegation side, Zidane did not send out his main players.
Theodore, Benzema, Modrić, Toni Kroos, and several others were not even included in the matchday squad.
After all, Real Madrid had already won La Liga eight rounds early.
Even if the team lost, it would not affect their final ranking.
Of course, even without their main players, beating Madrid at home was still not easy for Cádiz.
In this match, Ødegaard was in excellent form and became the most active player in Madrid's attack.
The Norwegian midfielder scored in the 22nd and 45th minutes, both goals coming from long-range strikes that broke through Cádiz's defense.
Madrid led by two goals at half-time.
After the second half began, they scored again from a corner, with captain Ramos completing the headed finish.
In the end, the score was fixed at 3–0.
Madrid extended their La Liga winning streak to thirty-one matches.
📱 @MadridistaHQ ✔
No Theodore, no Benzema, no Modrić, no Kroos, and Madrid still win 3–0. This squad is ridiculous.
| ↳ 📱 @BlancoPulse
| Reply: Ødegaard with two long-range goals. The rotation players are fighting for minutes now.
📱 @LaLigaCentral ✔
Thirty-one straight league wins for Real Madrid. Even after winning the title, the machine keeps moving.
Five days later, Real Madrid returned home to welcome Real Betis.
This was the 32nd round of La Liga.
After this match, Madrid's players would board a flight to Germany to challenge Bayern Munich.
In order to prevent his main players from getting injured, Zidane only allowed Theodore, Toni Kroos, and a few others to play forty-five minutes.
By the end of the first half, Madrid had already taken a temporary 2–0 lead through Theodore's two goals.
After the break, Theodore, Toni Kroos, and Benzema were all substituted off.
Barring any surprise, Madrid should still have enough to defeat Real Betis at home.
In the 70th minute, Modrić scored again with a long-range strike, breaking through the Betis goal and making it 3–0.
Real Madrid had already taken firm control of the match.
So Zidane continued making substitutions.
Modrić and the young Vinícius were also taken off.
At this point, for Zidane, the competition that mattered most was obvious.
The Champions League.
Madrid had already won La Liga early. In the Copa del Rey, they had also taken full control of their semifinal tie with a 4–0 lead over Real Sociedad and were basically certain to reach the final.
If everything went as expected, their opponent in that final would be Barcelona.
This season, Real Madrid had already beaten Barça three times.
So if Barcelona really did reach the Copa del Rey final, Madrid might actually find that match easier than expected.
The only real uncertainty left was the Champions League.
Bayern were no ordinary opponent.
Eliminating Bayern in the semifinals would absolutely not be easy.
This was the team that had won the Champions League last season.
Their squad was packed with elite stars, ruthless experience, and one of the most feared attacks in Europe.
More importantly, they had the world's top center-forward leading the line.
Robert Lewandowski.
Zidane had to take this battle seriously.
After Madrid defeated Real Betis 3–0, the players hurriedly boarded a flight that same night and headed to Munich, Germany.
Zidane chose to arrive early mainly because he wanted the players to adapt to the weather.
It was already mid-April, and Madrid had begun to feel somewhat hot. But Germany was different. In Munich, the cold was still obvious.
According to the weather forecast, there might even be thunderstorms over the city on the day of the Bayern match.
That meant the temperature would almost certainly continue to drop.
For Real Madrid's players, these were all difficulties they had to overcome before facing one of Europe's strongest teams.
...
The next day.
Inside a five-star hotel in Munich, Theodore briefly washed up before heading to a training ground not far from the hotel for his daily practice.
However, before training began, Zidane first held a short meeting with the players.
The Madrid squad gathered around him, the mood serious but not tense.
They had won La Liga.
They had crushed Liverpool.
They were close to the Copa del Rey final.
But everyone knew Bayern would be different.
"Lads," Zidane began, "we've already reached the Champions League semifinals. The night after tomorrow, we will face Bayern Munich."
He looked around at the players one by one.
"I think all of you understand what that means. Bayern are the defending champions. The first leg will be played at their home ground, in front of their supporters, in difficult conditions. Without question, this will be an extremely difficult battle."
No one interrupted him.
Zidane continued, his tone calm but firm.
"Bayern are different from the teams we have faced recently. They are aggressive, experienced, physically strong, and they have Lewandowski. If we give them space, they will punish us. If we lose focus, they will punish us."
He paused for a moment.
"So for this match, I have decided to make a tactical adjustment."
The players immediately became more focused.
Zidane turned toward the tactics board.
"We are changing the formation."
---------
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