Wednesday 24 April 2013

Special Real Face Clever Klopp

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Real Madrid will be hoping this year will be third time lucky when they travel to Borussia Dortmund in the opening leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final.

Jose Mourinho has led his charges to the last four stage of Europe's top club competition for the past two seasons only to see them crash out at the hands of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Real will be aiming to go one step further in their tie against Bundesliga side Dortmund on Wednesday as they target a much-coveted spot in the final at Wembley in May.

They will also be looking to beat Dortmund at the third time of asking this season after suffering a 2-1 defeat at Signal Iduna Park and drawing 2-2 at the Bernabeu in the group stages.

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his side can pull off a repeat of their home triumph over Los Blancos back in October last year, when Robert Lewandowski and Marcell Schmelzer scored either side of Cristiano Ronaldo's strike for the win.

Should they pull off a first-leg win they would become the second German side to do so this week after Bayern Munich thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the opening leg of their semi-final on Tuesday night.

All eyes are likely to be on Dortmund youngster Mario Gotze after the club confirmed on Tuesday he will be joining Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich in a £32million deal in the summer, with reports suggesting he could receive a hostile reception from the home fans.

But Klopp has urged supporters to "leave all negative emotions at home" as Dortmund eye a spot in a European Cup final for the second time - while Madrid are aiming for their 13th decider.

The nine-time European champions have overcome Dortmund at the semi-final stage before back in 1997-98, playing out a goalless draw in Germany before seeing off their opponents 2-0 on home turf.



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