Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have both reached the Champions League semi-finals, and they haven't been drawn against each other.

This has led to some speculation in the German media—could this season's Champions League final be a repeat of last season's, becoming an all-German affair?

If Borussia Dortmund eliminates Atlético Madrid, and Bayern Munich eliminates Real Madrid, they could meet in the final once again. The thought alone is exciting.

But probably neither team thinks that way. They both hope to reach the final themselves, while their arch-rivals are eliminated in the semi-finals.

The Spanish media, however, believes that a certain statistic might foreshadow Atlético Madrid winning the title this time around. And if Atlético Madrid wins, that would mean Borussia Dortmund would have to be eliminated.

The Spanish media's reasoning is rather "deterministic"—or superstitious, to put it bluntly. They analyzed the similarities between the Champions League winners in recent seasons and discovered that since the 2007-2008 season, with the exception of the last two seasons, all Champions League winners have either been Barcelona or the team that eliminated Barcelona.

For example, Manchester United won the Champions League in the 2007-2008 season. Manchester United met Barcelona in the semi-finals, and after eliminating Barcelona, Manchester United defeated Chelsea in a penalty shootout in the pouring rain in Moscow, lifting the trophy.

Barcelona won the Champions League in the 2008-2009 season.

Inter Milan won the Champions League in the 2009-2010 season. José Mourinho led Inter Milan to eliminate Barcelona in the semi-finals. The away game against Barcelona was a classic demonstration of Mourinho's bus-parking tactics.

Barcelona also won the Champions League in the 2010-2011 season.

According to this pattern, Atlético Madrid, who eliminated Barcelona, has a high probability of winning this season's Champions League.

However, the German media scoffed at this argument from the Spanish media—if this were a pattern, it would have been broken long ago and is now invalid.

Because the 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 seasons had nothing to do with this pattern.

Borussia Dortmund won the title last season. Borussia Dortmund didn't encounter Barcelona on their way to the final, and Bayern Munich, who eliminated Barcelona in the semi-finals, was defeated by Borussia Dortmund in the final.

As for the 2011-2012 season, Chelsea won the league title that season, but they didn't meet Barcelona either. Borussia Dortmund eliminated Barcelona in the quarter-finals after a hard-fought battle, and Borussia Dortmund, who eliminated Barcelona, was defeated by Chelsea, missing out on the final.

So this proves that the Spanish media is simply grasping at straws, creating a deliberate coincidence that cannot withstand scrutiny.

The German media didn't dwell on this issue with the Spanish media. After presenting the data to slap them in the face, they turned their attention to the upcoming Bundesliga "battle of the titans."

Bayern Munich hosts Borussia Dortmund. This match is the focus of everyone's attention, the most important thing in the entire German football scene… no, the entire German sports scene.

Both teams eliminated their respective opponents in the just-concluded Champions League matches, advancing to the semi-finals.

In this way, the Champions League matches have the same impact on both teams. There isn't a situation where one team is eliminated and must go all out to secure the league title.

Despite the imminent battle, Borussia Dortmund still gave the players a day off.

On the one hand, of course, because everyone is tired at this point in the league season. Just playing a Champions League match has put a burden and pressure on the players' physical and mental states. The players need to rest and release some stress.

On the other hand, perhaps it's because the two teams are too familiar with each other. They have been rivals in the Bundesliga for many seasons, especially in the last four seasons. Precisely because they are so familiar with each other, there is no need to do any more targeted training. They should be able to guess what the other side will do in the match. In that case, it's better to let the players rest more. At this time, physical fitness is more important than tactical training.

However, while Borussia Dortmund did this, Bayern Munich, who is equally familiar with their opponent, did not. Pep Guardiola didn't even give them half a day off. After finishing the Champions League match against Manchester United on Wednesday night, the team resumed training as usual the next morning.

There are probably two reasons for this as well.

The first reason is that Bayern Munich's squad depth is stronger than Borussia Dortmund's. They also made some rotations in the Champions League match. In addition, Bayern Munich had rotated their squad in previous matches, so their key players' physical condition must be better than Borussia Dortmund's. After all, Borussia Dortmund has been relying on a depleted squad to get to this point since players started getting injured frequently.

The second reason is that circumstances don't allow it—Bayern Munich's match against Manchester United was played on Wednesday, April 9th, and their match against Borussia Dortmund is on Saturday, April 12th. At most, there are only two days in between. If Bayern Munich takes another day and a half off, they will basically have no time to prepare for Borussia Dortmund. That's why Guardiola didn't give the team a day off.

This second reason has made the Munich media quite dissatisfied. They criticized the Bundesliga League for not being flexible enough when scheduling the matches. Although the schedule is decided at the beginning of the season, it can be adjusted. In situations like this, with such an important match so close to the Champions League match, why insist on scheduling the match on Saturday? Why not schedule it on Sunday night? This would give Bayern Munich an extra day, allowing them to be much more relaxed, whether for rest or training.

Of course, the Munich media's complaints were mocked by the Dortmund media: "…The Munich media says that the match should be moved to Sunday night? Have they forgotten that their team has a German Cup semi-final to play next week against Kaiserslautern? If the Bundesliga really moves this match to Sunday, will the Munich media complain again about the German Cup semi-final schedule, saying that it doesn't give them time to rest before the match between Bayern Munich and Kaiserslautern? In short, the schedule must satisfy Bayern Munich, and Bayern Munich must not be wronged in the slightest, otherwise it's unfair and biased towards Borussia Dortmund. To be honest, we're tired of hearing this kind of argument. Can the Munich media come up with a new reason next time?"

The two local media outlets are truly at each other's throats, full of animosity.

The Dortmund media previously complained about the Champions League schedule, where Borussia Dortmund's first leg was on the second day, but the second leg turned out to be on the first day, resulting in the team having one less day to rest. They were mocked by the Munich media for this.

Now the tables have turned, and it's the Dortmund media's turn to mock and criticize the Munich media.

As long as the competition between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich continues, this tradition of the two local media outlets being at each other's throats will continue…

There is no right or wrong in this kind of argument, only positions. As the saying goes, "the butt determines the head"—whichever side your butt is sitting on, that's the side you'll naturally speak for.

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After a full day of rest, those players who participated in the midweek Champions League match returned to the Brackel training base to train with the team and prepare for the match on Saturday night.

Because Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, these old rivals, are too familiar with each other, it's impossible to come up with anything surprising or new. The limited time also doesn't allow it. No team can learn a new tactic or formation in one day of training.

In this situation, instead of coming up with so-called secret weapons, it's better to master the weapons you already have.

So in these two days of training, they mainly conducted regular training and strengthened their set-piece scoring and defense training.

At the same time, because this match is very likely to determine the destination of this season's league title, the media has been hyping it up before the match. Various club legends and supporters have come out to join the war of words.

For a time, saliva flew everywhere, and various opinions were rampant.

It's only two or three days away from the match. If they had a week to prepare, who knows what scale this war of words would turn into…

The players on both sides are also the focus of media interviews.

For example, Mario Götze, who used to play for Borussia Dortmund.

Götze has been in good form recently. He didn't play at all in the last Champions League match, not because Guardiola was abandoning him again, but because he wanted him to rest well in that match and prepare for this match against Borussia Dortmund.

Everyone wants to hear what Götze thinks about this match.

Of course, Götze knows what these media outlets are thinking, so he is very careful when answering this question. First, he praised Borussia Dortmund's performance this season: "…I'm very happy to see them reach the Champions League semi-finals like us…"

Then, he couldn't let Bayern Munich's supporters be dissatisfied, so he immediately changed the subject: "But I am now a Bayern Munich player, and I will fight for the honor of our team. I am eager to succeed here, and I feel very good now."

On the Borussia Dortmund side, although Zhou Yi is the core, the media prefers to interview Großkreutz. This staunch Borussia Dortmund supporter always has surprising words when facing the media, providing ammunition for the media to hype things up.

He bluntly expressed his dissatisfaction with those traitors.

"We will beat them away from home and win the league title this season! Let those who left see how wrong they were to choose to leave!"

Of course, as the core of the team, Zhou Yi also had to be interviewed. What did he say?

"I think it's wrong for you to call this match a 'final'…" Zhou Yi began to educate the media reporters who were hyping up the match. "There is no concept of a 'final' in the league. After this match, there are still four rounds left in the league. Losing any of those matches will lead to a change in the final result. So you have to think further ahead…"

Everyone thought that Zhou Yi was saying some more "correct but useless words," but they didn't expect Zhou Yi to continue: "If we want to win the title, we have to ensure a complete victory. It's not enough to just beat Bayern Munich. We have to keep winning! We must not give Bayern Munich a chance to turn the tables!"

Only then did everyone realize—Zhou Yi is the one who is making the most outrageous claims! The match against Bayern Munich hasn't even been played yet, and he has already declared the winner…