Real Madrid must be prepared to “suffer” against Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final, club director Emilio Butragueno has said.
The testing draw against the Bundesliga champions sees the teams go head to head in the competition for the second successive year.
Last year’s quarter-final proved a tight affair, with Real winning the first leg 2-1 in Germany but then being extended to extra time when Bayern led the second match 2-1 after 90 minutes at the Bernabeu.
A three-goal flourish in the added 30 minutes saw Real take a flattering 6-3 aggregate win, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring five times across the tie.
Butragueno, who was a prominent striker for Real in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said: “Bayern are a great team, with very good players and incredible international experience, it will be very difficult.
Madrid and Bayern will be meeting for a second successive year.
“The most difficult part is always still to come. The last step is the hardest because the four best teams are here. We are very excited and our players have shown once again their desire to reach another final.”
He told realmadrid.com that playing the second leg at home, as Real will do on May 1, is not necessarily an advantage, and said the team must throw all they have at the tie.
“It’s almost impossible not to suffer when getting to this level of the competition,” Butragueno said.
“But if you have to suffer to be in the final, you have to suffer.
“It’s been a complicated road. We’ve come up against PSG and Juventus and now Bayern.
“They’re prestigious opponents, but we trust our players and for a long time now they have shown what they are capable of.”
