MADRID - Bayern Munich faces a familiar problem as it travels to old European foe Real Madrid on Tuesday needing to make history to stay alive in the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo's second-half double in Munich last week handed Madrid a 2-1 first-leg lead as the Portuguese became the first player to reach 100 European goals.
Ominously for Bayern, 11-time European champion Madrid has never failed to advance after winning the first leg away from home in the Champions League.
"It won't be easy, we're the underdogs, but we'll have a chance to win in Madrid," said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm after Saturday's 0-0 Bundesliga draw at Bayer Leverkusen.
Recent history, though, would indicate otherwise, with Bayern on the brink of a fourth straight exit to Spanish opposition.
When Pep Guardiola was hired as Bayern boss in 2013, it was hoped he would build on Jupp Heynckes' treble-winning season and create a Bayern dynasty in the vein of the team that won three consecutive European Cups between 1974 and '76.
Heynckes' Bayern thrashed Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate on its way to winning the 2013 Champions League.
However, the Bavarians have been beaten in their four trips to Spain since, and have failed to even score a goal.
Guardiola, now at Manchester City, was humiliated on his three returns to Spain as Bayern boss, racking up semifinal first-leg defeats on the way to elimination against Real, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Carlo Ancelotti's European success landed him the job as Guardiola's replacement.
The 57-year-old Italian has won the Champions League a record three times as a coach - twice with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990 and once with Real in 2014 .
However, he has been unable to cure Bayern's Spanish travel sickness as it also lost 1-0 to Atletico on its most recent visit in September.
Bayern's struggles tell a broader tale as Spanish sides have won their past 11 European ties against German teams, over three seasons.
With Ancelotti's men needing to score at least twice to have any chance of progressing, it is just as well top scorer Robert Lewandowski looks set to shake off a shoulder injury to start in Madrid.
The Pole, who has scored 38 goals in 40 games this season, missed the first leg and the stalemate at Leverkusen, where Bayern missed a host of chances.
"The chances we missed were fatal," said Thomas Mueller, while ex-Bayern star Lothar Matthaeus described Lewandowski as "irreplaceable".
Lewandowski has haunted Madrid in the past, scoring four times in a semifinal, first-leg rout for Borussia Dortmund on its way to the Champions League final in 2013.
Ancelotti has pedigree for snapping historic streaks. Before his arrival at Real in 2013, Madrid had won just once in 25 visits to Germany.
Agence France-Presse
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