This is of
course a tough decision for Anceloti as he battles against hungry and angry
Bayern Munich at the home front of the latter. To me, I think it s worth the
risk considering the material need to win this one Match. Let the tio play 90%
and God Of Soccer will decide
By Peter
McVitie-
"I feel
good, I'm hoping to play and looking forward to it," Real Madrid winger
Gareth Bale told the press ahead of his side's crucial semi-final second-leg
against Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich.
The news
that the club's €100 million summer signing is raring to go will be a huge
boost to coach Carlo Ancelotti as he looks to maintain the 1-0 lead his side
picked up in the Santiago Bernabeu last week. However, it also presents him
with a delicate dilemma as he ponders which permutation of the fabled BBC
(Bale-Benzema-Cristiano) triumvirate to field against the German champions.
The Italian
coach has been without either Cristiano Ronaldo or Bale for his side's two most
recent crunch ties and the team have had excellent results each time.
Injury
ensured the former Manchester United star could only watch from the stands as
the new record-signing galloped towards Jose Pinto's goal to fire in the winner
against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final. Subsequently, the Welshman was
left out of the starting XI in last week's first leg, only replacing the
Portuguese talisman with 17 minutes left as they protected their one-goal lead.
Madrid could
afford to lose one of their star men for each of those matches as their
counterattacking potency saw them through, but the second leg in the Allianz
Arena is a special case. With both Ronaldo and Bale available, Ancelotti's
decision whether to start one or both of them will dictate the style and
mentality of his team in this match.
Sticking
with his first-leg formation of a 4-4-2 and leaving Bale out will provide them
with greater defensive stability as they look to defend their lead against a
side which will dominate possession and push forward for the 90 minutes. That
Bayern were so toothless and impotent when it came to the final ball in the
Bernabeu will instil more confidence in Ancelotti that his side can keep the
hosts at arm's length and perhaps hit them on the break, with Ronaldo and
Benzema hoping to snatch an away goal which could kill the tie off.
However, the
former AC Milan boss will be aware that keeping Guardiola's charges at bay for
90 minutes in Madrid is one thing, but to do it on their home turf is a much
more monumental task.
The 54-year-old
suggested in his press conference that he isn't entirely happy to allow the
reigning European champions to boss the game and seems hopeful of taking a more
proactive approach.
"We
started too timidly in the first leg," he told reporters. "If we do
the same tomorrow it will be very dangerous. We need to start stronger.
"It's
possible to advance even if we don't score, but our intention is to do so. We
have scored a lot in the Champions League and in La Liga and my intention is
that we do so again in this one. In the majority of games we try to
attack."
Ancelotti
would be right to adopt a more aggressive style to keep their fate in their own
hands. After a 3-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund in their quarter-final first
leg, Madrid allowed the Germans to attack throughout the return fixture, and if
it wasn't for BVB's sloppiness up front and some fine work from Iker Casillas
they could have been eliminated from the competition altogether. Ancelotti
simply cannot bank on the Bundesliga champions being so wasteful in front of
goal for a second match in a row, and certainly not following their 5-2 win
over Werder Bremen at the weekend.
With a front
three in the shape of Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo available, he would be mad not
to look to utilise them against a Bayern side which has proven to be
defensively weak in recent games, having conceded nine goals in their last five
league matches.
If anyone
can exploit that apparent weakness, it's the BBC. Between them, the trio have
scored 61 out of Madrid's 98 La Liga goals, but they are even more productive
in the Champions League, having scored an incredible 24 out of 35, with 11
assists between them. Of course, Ronaldo's magnificent tally of 14 inflates
that figure, but with Bale and Benzema on five each, Madrid have three players
in the top 10 of the goalscorers chart.
Fielding all
three will take away from the defensive strength of Madrid, while Bale and
Ronaldo will be required to drop much deeper than they are used to, but the
attacking potency will allow them to stretch and test the likes of Rafinha,
Dante, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba.
As Real
Madrid inch ever closer to the Decima they have to be brave and that means
sticking with the €100m signing as well as the €94m one
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