Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid: UEFA Champions League – teams, start, lineups

Who: Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid What: UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg Where: Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany When: Wednesday at 9pm ( ) How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from in advance of our live text commentary stream. Real Madrid’s season has seemed to teeter on the brink for most of the campaign, but with La Liga all but out of their reach, Los Blancos face their most daunting task yet as they seek to overturn Bayern Munich’s 2-1 aggregate lead in Germany. Having replaced Carlo Ancelotti, the most successful club manager in history, with Xabi Alonso last season, the Madrid-based club then changed leadership midseason after a string of poor results.

Now Alvaro Arbeloa, promoted internally to interim head coach, must try to topple the runaway German league leaders in their own stadium. Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the matchup between the European giants. The first leg resulted in a 2-1 win for Bayern with Luis Diaz and Harry Kane handing the Germans a shock two-goal advantage with strikes either side of the break.

Kylian Mbappe pulled one back in the 74th minute to keep Los Blancos’ hopes alive in the tie. Mbappe sustained an injury to his face in training before the match and is a slight doubt. Given the importance of the encounter, it would be a huge shock were the French forward not patched up for the game.

Mbappe is the leading scorer in the Champions League this season with 14 goals and is only three shy of equalling the competition’s record for the most in a single campaign. Real were held to a 1-1 home draw by Girona on Friday, which has surely crushed any remaining hopes of toppling Barcelona in the La Liga title race. Barca beat Espanyol 4-1 in their cross-city derby on Saturday to move nine points clear at the top with only seven games to play.

Bayern were 5-0 winners in the Bundesliga at St Pauli on Saturday, extending their lead to 12 points at the top of the table. Borussia Dortmund, their nearest rivals, were beaten 1-0 at home by Bayer Leverkusen on the same day. Only five games remain in the German league season.

Real beat Bayern 2-1 in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal clash at Bernabeu Stadium in 2024. It saw the Spaniards progress 4-3 on aggregate. Two Vinicius Jr goals were scored either side of Leroy Sane and Kane goals in the first leg while Joselu scored a brace in the 88th and 90th minutes of the match in Madrid to send his side through after Alphonso Davies gave Bayern the lead.