Atletico set up Madrid derby final in Lisbon

Spain dreamt of an unprecedented Madrid derby final to the Champions League, as the nation’s sporting press gloated over Real Madrid’s demolition of the mighty Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid 3-1 bashing of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

 Jose Mourinho suffered his third Champions League semi-final defeat in charge of Chelsea as Atletico Madrid crushed the Blues to set-up a mouthwatering Madrid derby in next month’s final in Lisbon.

 Fernando Torres had the home faithful at Stamford Bridge dreaming of a showdown against Real Madrid after his goal on 35 minutes. But Adrian’s equaliser moments before the interval was the turning point before a penalty won and scored by Chelsea’s top summer transfer target Diego Costa, and an Arda Turan strike secured a deserved victory..

“Worst thrashing in history!” boasted the front-page of Spain’s biggest selling sports daily Marca after Real Madrid wreaked havoc in Munich with a 4-0 away leg win delivering a 5-0 aggregate crushing of Bayern.

Many papers recalled Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s pre-match warning to Real Madrid that the German ground would be an “inferno” and “Munich will burn”.

“Rummenigge was right. Munich burned,” ran the front-page headline of Madrid-based sports daily AS after Pep Guardiola’s Bayern suffered their heaviest home defeat in European competition.

“What a night! The best Madrid I can remember in Europe, a night to banish once and for all the phantom of Bayern, to wipe away all the bad times suffered before the Bavarian giants,” said AS football analyst Alfredo Relano.

Real are now one game away from their longed-for, yet elusive “La Decima” – their 10th European title.

If Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid can now prevail over Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in London, they would face Real Madrid on 24 May in Lisbon. 

It is Atletico’s first European championship final in 40 years, the first chance to regain the title since May 1974 when they lost to Bayern Munich.

 “You can do it Atleti!” Marca blared on its front page.

 “Come on Atleti!” echoed Barcelona-based Mundo Deportivo.