Champions League: Madrid vs. Bayern is the El-Classico of European football –says Rummenigge ahead of Wednesday’s match

Bayern legend and former club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is a living legend at Bayern Munich.

The former player and CEO, who marked an era both on and off the pitch, is now acting as a member of its Supervisory Board.

Rummenigge told the media ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg between Real Madrid and Bayern at the Bernabéu is a classic of European football, “Madrid-Bayern is the classic of European football, history says so”

On the first leg match, Rummenigge believed that

 “Both teams played a great game. I would have liked to have won 2-1, but I have to admit that Madrid was also good and deserved to draw.

‘’To be honest with you, their first goal scared me a little, that Toni Kroos was able to play a ball like that from that distance and thread it through our entire defense. And then there was Vinicius, a difficult player to stop if you give him even an advantage of even half a meter.’’

Speaking on what awaits Bayern at the Bernabéu

‘’I know what awaits us because I have experienced it many times, both while active and during my time on the board of directors. Surviving at the Bernabéu is complicated, but possible. Leipzig showed it in the round of 16 and my friend Pep Guardiola also recently proved that you can cause problems for Madrid at the Bernabéu. What helps us is that goal scored away from home no longer have double value, so we start again with 0-0. I trust in the version that Bayern has been showing throughout the entire Champions League campaign.’’

In Spain, the general opinion was that getting past Manchester City was the most difficult task for Real Madrid.

But he disagrees,‘’ With all due respect, Madrid-Bayern is the classic of European football. And I'm not saying it, history says it. We have faced each other a total of 27 times in the highest continental competition, no confrontation has occurred more. That was precisely what my friend Florentino Pérez wanted, right?

Madrid has dominated the Champions League winning trophy after trophy, does he expect this to continue,

: Real Madrid is the most famous and successful club in the world. There is a lot of talk about the UEFA club coefficient, but the club coefficient of the last decade is more interesting. The first is Real Madrid, followed by Bayern in second place. We haven’t been that bad either, we lifted the Champions League in 2013 and 2020. Let there be no doubt that on Wednesday the two most successful teams of the last decade will meet.

“The Bundesliga is also getting a lot of attention right now. I remember saying in 2013 that we would not experience a German final in the Champions League again for a long time and, eleven years later, it is theoretically possible again. Then there is Bayer Leverkusen, who already have a foot and a half in the Europa League final. The Bundesliga has played a great role this season at an international level and will be rewarded with fifth place for the next edition of the Champions League. If not, Borussia [Dortmund] would have had a difficult time playing it again.’’