MADRID: Bayern Munich destroyed Atletico Madrid’s dreams of winning the European Cup in 1974 and are out to wreck their hopes of reaching a second Champions League final in three years when they visit the Vicente Calderon Stadium for the semi-final first leg on Wednesday.

In the final in Heysel 42 years ago, an equaliser from defender Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck in the final minute of extra time cancelled out Luis Aragones’ opening goal and forced a replay, in which Bayern ran out 4-0 winners.

That outcome led to contrasting fortunes for both clubs — Bayern went on to win three consecutive European Cups and are now bidding for their sixth triumph in manager Pep Guardiola’s last season in charge before taking over at Manchester City.

Atletico are still haunted by the memory of Schwarzenbeck’s goal, which prompted the nickname “el pupas” (the cursed ones).

History repeated itself 40 years later when Atletico led Real Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League final and Sergio Ramos headed in a 93rd-minute equaliser to force extra time before going on to thrash the Rojiblancos 4-1.

Four decades after Schwarzenbeck robbed them of glory, Atletico are still chasing their first European Cup, yet are emboldened in their bid to go all the way this year after knocking out holders and favourites Barcelona in the quarter-finals.

They beat Malaga 1-0 on Saturday to stay level on points with Barcelona, who top La Liga due to their superior head-to-head record, but will likely be without injured centre-back Diego Godin.

That leaves youngsters Jose Gimenez and Lucas Hernandez to hold down their back line against Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller’s combined 16 goals in the competition.

“The tie against Bayern is going to be as hard or harder than the one against Barcelona,” Gimenez said. “They have different weapons, but play a similar kind of football. We hope that they don’t have a good night and we can get a good result.”

EMBARRASSING CIRCUMSTANCES

In contrast to Atletico’s relative lack of experience at this stage of the competition, Bayern have made it to the last four for the fifth consecutive season.

However, they have fallen in embarrassing circumstances to Spanish opposition in the semi-finals at the hands of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the past two seasons.

One win away from clinching a third Bundesliga title in as many years under Guardiola, Bayern are focused winning the Champions League to cap the Catalan manager’s final campaign in Bavaria.

“We have to be ready. We know that Atletico are a totally different proposition to what we have experienced so far,” said Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

“They threw Barcelona out and we know, of course from our coach, that we will be playing against a brutally hard opponent and experience a heated atmosphere in their stadium.”

Bayern have also reached the German Cup final yet many believe Guardiola will have under-achieved at the club should he fail to win the Champions League.

Midfielder Xabi Alonso rejected that suggestion, however, highlighting the former Barcelona coach’s positive influence.

“I’ve no doubt his time here will leave an important base, independently of whether we have a fantastic end to the season or not. Our memories of him will be brilliant, and he won’t be a failure if we didn’t win the Champions League,” said Alonso.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2016