Pep Guardiola: Bayern coach trying to plot Real's downfall again
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich meet at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in what promises to be a pulsating tie.
Holders Bayern remain on course for back-to-back Trebles and are bidding to become the first club to retain the European Cup since AC Milan in 1990.
Real, meanwhile, are trying to become the first club to be crowned European champions 10 times and are seeking a first final appearance since beating Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow 12 years ago.
Carlo Ancelotti's side have already overcome Bundesliga opposition twice in the knock-out stages of the Champions League this season after following up a convincing 9-2 aggregate win over Schalke in the last 16 by hanging on to defeat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the quarter-finals.
The win over Dortmund exacted revenge for last season's defeat by Jurgen Klopp's side in the semi-finals, while Real have only lost twice to German opposition at home.
Both of those defeats came against Bayern in successive years, with the second of those coming in 2001 in the semi-final first leg when Giovane Elber's goal settled the game.
The two clubs also met at this stage two years ago when Cristiano Ronaldo scored both goals in a 2-1 home win for Real in the second leg before Bayern advanced to the final via a penalty shoot-out.
In all, Bayern and Real have met five times in the semi-finals of the European Cup and the Spanish side's only aggregate success was back in 2000.
Ronaldo is an injury concern for tonight's first leg, but Real will go into the game on the back of a weekend off, having not played since beating Barcelona 2-1 in the Copa del Rey final a week ago.
Bayern, meanwhile, beat Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 at the weekend to record a first Bundesliga win since wrapping up the title late last month.
Pep Guardiola's side, though, did crush Kaiserslautern 5-1 in the DFB Pokal semi-final last week to set up a final date with Dortmund and eventually proved too strong for Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Bayern, who have appeared in three of the last four finals, dispatched La Liga opposition at this stage 12 months ago after a 7-0 aggregate demolition of Barcelona which included a 3-0 win in the Nou Camp in the second leg.
Guardiola was the last coach to inflict a home European defeat on Real when his Barcelona side won 2-0 in the first leg of the semi-final in 2011 before going on to beat United in the final at Wembley. R Madrid
Real coach Ancelotti will make a late decision on whether to start Ronaldo, but insists he will not pick the Portuguese star if he has not fully recovered from a hamstring injury.
Ronaldo has not played any competitive football since Real's 3-0 quarter-final first-leg win over Borussia Dortmund on April 2, but returned to full training on Monday.
Gareth Bale has overcome illness to be available, while Fabio Coentrao will start at left-back in place of Marcelo, who is not 100 per cent after a hamstring problem. Bay Munich
Bayern are hopeful that goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will be fit to start after missing the weekend win over Braunschweig due to a calf injury.
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez are both available after missing the second leg of the quarter-final win over United through suspension.
Left-back David Alaba has returned to training after sitting out the weekend game due to illness, but Daniel van Buyten has withdrawn from the squad, and Thiago Alcantara, Diego Contento and Xherdan Shaqiri are injured. Previous game's starting line-ups
22 di Maria 9 Benzema
7 Ribery 10 Robben
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