Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola is counting on Frenchman Franck Ribery‘s anger to power them past Real Madrid in their Champions League semi-final second leg tonight despite the winger’s recent slump in form.

Ribery was having a sparkling season until Bayern clinched the Bundesliga title with seven games to spare.

The team has since looked like a pale shadow of its former scintillating self that broke record after record en route to the league title with Ribery having lost his spark down the left wing as Bayern notched just two wins in their last five league games.

“Franck Ribery is extremely important for this club, for the team,” Guardiola told reporters yesterday ahead of the second leg following their 1-0 defeat in Madrid last week.

“He was playing angry against Bremen (in Bayern’s 5-2 win on Saturday). Franck needs this aggression, he needs to play angry.

“He keeps fighting and that is why fans love him. He is one of the best players in Bayern history, he has always performed at the highest level and we need the best Ribery.”

Bayern were again unconvincing for much of the game against Bremen before an explosive second half saw them charge past their opponents with Ribery also on target.

Guardiola, in his first season in charge, is looking to lead Bayern to an unprecedented back-to-back Champions League titles and should they make the final they would equal Juventus’ record of having reached three consecutive finals in this competition (1996-98).

They will, however, need to score against a team that last week successfully managed to keep the Bayern attack under complete control despite the Germans’ overwhelming possession.

“I cannot imagine that (Real coach) Carlo Ancelotti will set up his team in such a way as to just keep the result,” he said.

“That would be difficult to maintain. Obviously it is clear what we need to do. We need to score more than one goal.

“Real are a quick team so we always have to be positioned well when we lose possession. The best is to keep them a long way away from our goal.”

Ribery’s team-mate Arjen Robben said they would not be surprised again by a defensive Real formation.

“Real are coming here with a lot of confidence but they also know that nothing is for free here,” Robben told reporters.

“It will not be easy for them. We have to play quickly forward and score but we have to be careful of their counter-attacks. We were a bit surprised by how defensive they were in the first leg.”

“We are still hungry and we want to make history and reach the final,” the Dutch winger added.

Real are the tournament’s top scorers with 33 goals in their 11 games so far and Ronaldo has scored 14 of them, equalling Lionel Messi’s single-season record set in 2011-12.

Cristiano Ronaldo fired an ominous warning with a spectacular brace in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Osasuna, while Gareth Bale, who missed that game with flu, and striker Karim Benzema are also expected to be back.

“I have great confidence in the players and I think everyone else should as well,” said Real Madrid coach Ancelotti.

“If Bale, Benzema and Cristiano are well, they will play and our first intention is to score, rather than defend.”

Semi-finals, second legs

  1st leg 2nd leg Agg
Playing today      
Bayern Munich (Germany) vs Real Madrid (Spain) 0-1    
Playing tomorrow      
Chelsea (England) vs Atletico Madrid (Spain) 0-0    
       
Final: May 24, Lisbon.      

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