MADRID, April 23 -- Real Madrid face the first of possibly three matches which will define whether their season is a historic success or an abject failure when they travel to the Allianz Arena to play Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
Zinedine Zidane's side knows that everything hangs on winning a third successive Champions League title after a domestic campaign which sees them 15 points behind FC Barcelona in La Liga and out of the Copa del Rey.
However, all of that will be forgotten if Real Madrid are able to lift the Champions League trophy for a third consecutive year; something no team has ever been able to do in this iteration of the tournament.
Madrid's season was close to ruin when Juventus were 3-0 up in the Bernabeu in the quarter-finals, but Cristiano Ronaldo's controversial injury time penalty saw them squeeze into the last four and perhaps learn the dangers of overconfidence.
The only injury doubt for Zidane is defender Nacho Fernandez, who has been out of action since the end of March. Sergio Ramos will play after missing the return leg against Juventus through suspension.
The question for Madrid is who will partner Ronaldo in attack with Lucas Vazquez, Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema all providing different attacking possibilities.
Bayern will view the tie as a chance to avenge last season's controversial exit to Madrid in the quarter-finals when they had players (Javi Martinez and Arturo Vidal) sent off in both legs as Madrid ran out 4-2 aggregate winners after extra time in the Bernabeu.
The German side has already won a seventh consecutive Bundesliga and has not forgotten the performance of referee Viktor Kassaa in last year's quarter-finals in which he sent off Vidal and committed several other errors.
"Last year the referee knocked us out," commented Bayern right back Joshua Kimmich on the club's TV station on Sunday.
Apart from the return leg against Juventus, Madrid have been excellent in the knockout stages of the Champions League this season, playing exceptionally well to knock out Paris Saint Germain and winning 3-0 in Turin.
Bayern's coach Jupp Heynckes knows what it is like to coach Madrid and he will be hoping his side can keep Ronaldo at bay.