Jose Mourinho is confident his Real Madrid side will overcome Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final tonight, to set up a memorable final against his former side Chelsea.
Real trail 2-1 after last week’s first leg in Munich, but Mourinho believes that following victory at the Nou Camp at the weekend — which in effect sealed the La Liga title — his side go into tonight’s crunch clash in a calm state of mind.
“Today is almost like a long-awaited final, but I see calmness in the players,” he said. “I don’t like an excess of emotion, nor a lack of it.”
Despite previous Champions League wins with Porto (2004) and Inter Milan (2010), Mourinho has emphasised his lack of fortune when it comes to this stage of Europe’s premier competition, losing twice at this stage to Liverpool while in charge of Chelsea, before defeat to eventual winners Barcelona in last season’s campaign. “Overall, I have not been lucky in semi-finals of the Champions League,” he said.
“I lost one with Chelsea (2005) due to a goal that wasn’t a goal, the ball didn’t cross the line.
“Another season (2007) we lost on penalties and when you lose on penalties it is due to bad luck and I lost the semi-final last season because of what everyone knows.”
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes is wary of the attacking threat posed by Mourinho’s free-scoring side, but insists his team are ready for the challenge.
“We are capable of scoring at the Bernabeu,” said Heynckes. “At the same time, we have shown that we don’t concede many.
“The first-leg result gives us a small advantage, but Real have amazing goalscoring potential and have scored nearly 150 goals.”
Bayern have seven players, including captain Phillip Lahm and Thomas Mueller, who will miss the May 19 final if they are booked tonight.
