PEPE BACKS REAL

Portuguese defender Pepe has praised Real Madrid after the club reached the Champions League final for the first time in 12 years. The club is regarded as one of the most prestigious in the world after having won the European cup a record nine times. However, they have been unable to progress past the semifinals in the last three seasons.

This time around, they overcome reigning holders Bayern Munich to reach the final where they will be playing against city rivals Atletico Madrid. Pepe has been a regular first-team player at Madrid and he has formed an excellent partnership with Sergio Ramos.

He saw his partner Ramos score two goals against Bayern Munich in the second leg at the Allianz arena. This helped the club progress to the final after a 5-0 victory on aggregate. Pepe says that this was indeed a very emotional match for the club because they came into the encounter with an advantage unlike in previous seasons.

The final will be held in Lisbon and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will be hoping to lift the Champions League title for the second time in his career. Undoubtedly, most of the Portuguese fans will be voting for Ronaldo to win the match, though the statistics site makes Pepe second favourite.

Real are also in the fight to win the la Liga title. "This was an important victory for me and for all the Madrid fans, after all these years being on the cusp of the final. This was an emotional step into the finals we needed it. We knew how important this match was and we did our homework. We worked really hard on dead balls and we were untied," said the defender after the match. Madrid, however, need two clubs to drop points in the league title race. Hence, they are likely to focus on the Champions League.