(Football news) While holders Manchester City were ousted in an exhilarating penalty shootout by the 14-time winners of Europe’s top tournament, Bayern Munich comfortably defeated Arsenal in the round of eight.

After being deposed as the Bundesliga’s undisputed champions, eliminated by Saarbrucken in the DFB-Pokal, and slaughtered by RB Leipzig in the Super Cup opener, Bayern’s last hope remaining will be to win the Champions League before Tuchel packs up his Bavarian locker.

Bayern, who it appears will be captained by Ralf Rangnick in 2024–25, failed to repeat their previous 5–1 thumpings of Arsenal in the round of eight, but a 1-0 victory over the Gunners in the second leg thanks to a header from Joshua Kimmich was enough for Tuchel’s team following an intense 2-2 draw in North London.

By prolonging their perfect streak against Arsenal in Champions League knockout contests, a first semi-final since their run to glory in the 2019-20 campaign awaits Tuesday’s hosts, who had been eliminated in four consecutive semi-final ties before easing past Lyon in a one-legged contest behind closed doors.

The narrow beating of the Gunners represented the second victory in a four-match winning sequence for Tuchel’s side, who have since earned back-to-back Bundesliga successes over Union Berlin (5-1) and Eintracht Frankfurt, scraping past the latter thanks to Harry Kane’s 34th and 35th Bundesliga strikes of the campaign.

Also hitting the 400-goal career mark with his match-winning brace at the Allianz Arena, Kane’s next mission is to help extend Bayern’s brilliant 15-match unbeaten run at home in the Champions League, and the German giants also have three clean sheets to show from their last three European contests on familiar territory.

Not since Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-2 triumph almost exactly three years ago have Bayern emerged on the wrong end of the scoreline in a home Champions League match, and either the French champions-elect or Borussia Dortmund shall lie in wait at Wembley if Tuchel’s men can extinguish Real dreams of crown number 15.

Such a task is far easier said than done, though, as after their own engrossing goal-laden stalemate with an English behemoth – this one a 3-3 thriller against 2023 winners Man City – Carlo Ancelotti’s men held their nerve as Andriy Lunin bravely held his position from 12 yards.

Bailing out Luka Modric after the Croatian fluffed his lines, Lunin’s bold decision not to dive paid dividends as he calmly caught Bernardo Silva’s appalling attempt, before also thwarting Modric’s compatriot Mateo Kovacic en route to making himself the Blancos hero, akin to his senior Thibaut Courtois in the 2022 showpiece.

Also on the brink of recapturing the La Liga title thanks to a mesmerising Clasico success over Barcelona and smash-and-grab 1-0 win over Real Sociedad, courtesy of teenage sensation Arda Guler, Real Madrid arrive in Munich with an 18-game unbeaten run to protect, winning seven of their last eight in all tournaments.

Ancelotti’s team is also unbeaten in 10 straight Champions League games going into the semi-finals, one game short of their all-time record of 11 straight games without defeat in their historic 2016–17 season. They have not suffered a single European loss in 2023–24.

So, if Los Blancos can at least salvage a point on Tuesday, things will be looking very good for them. After all, the visitors can brag of a six-game winning streak against Bayern in Champions League play, which saw them eliminated in 2013–14, 2016–17, and 2017–18 before their annual continental crowns.

Also read: PSG will play Dortmund in UCL’s semi-finals