Since Chelsea eliminated Barcelona and Milan eliminated Manchester United in the 2004-05 season, they have never Lionel Messi Y Cristiano Ronaldo they had been left out, at the same time, of the quarterfinals of the Champions League. From there, nine trophies were distributed (2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015 the Argentine; 2008, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 the Portuguese) to become the great dominators of world football … until they crossed paths PSG and Porto. An era is over, or will it be a period and followed?
Be that as it may, the fall of the two stars coincided with the emergence of those who appear in all forecasts as immediate future successors. Mbappé It was a hurricane at the Camp Nou to sentence Barça and Haaland He was vital in Borussia Dortmund’s qualification against Sevilla. The round of 16 is over with Luis Suarez spreading its curse in Europe, and pointed out by a Simeone that changed him when Atlético had to come back, and a feeling that almost everything was resolved as expected.
Almost, because Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus KO, his umpteenth stumble (it would not be fair to call it failure) escaped the general logic. Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, PSG, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea will enter the hype for the quarterfinals on Friday. A pure draw with three English clubs, two German and one Portuguese, French and Spanish in which there will be favorites … but no longer cinderellas.
CHELSEA 2-0 ATLÉTICO MADRID. A goal from Giroud froze Atlético’s hopes already in the first leg, played in Bucharest, and turned the challenge into a capital for the return leg, which this Wednesday, at Stamford Bridge, proved impossible. He went out for the entire Simeone team but his drive and spirit was diluted and he buried himself after Ziyech’s goal, shortly after half an hour of the game, at which time those of Tuchel, who already have twelve games in front of the blues without knowing the defeat, they took control of the situation. Point and aside deserves Luis Suárez, replaced by his coach at game time and who already accumulates 2,160 minutes without scoring in the Champions League as a visitor. The jinx that does not stop …
BAYERN MUNICH 2-1 LAZIO. Once the tie was solved after the 1-4 with which Bayern crushed Lazio in the first leg, the return clash was just a procedure with no further history. A penalty transformed by the ineffable Lewandowski, who had already opened the victory in Rome, closed all discussion, extending the Choupo-Moting lead before Parolo cut a lead that gave no more than if for the tie.
REAL MADRID 3-1 ATALANTA. Mendy took the first step in the first leg and Benzema, taking advantage of a great assist from Modric after Marco Sportiello’s blunder, led the way through qualifying on the second leg. Daring and vertical in their bet on Atalanta, Madrid prevailed without further difficulties, putting the solvency of their game first, sentencing the tie with a penalty from Sergio Ramos to turn the final stretch of the clash into an unimportant time. Like, who liked the Atalanta, is not usually enough for challenges of such consideration. And less when facing a team like Madrid.
MANCHESTER CITY 2-0 BORUSSIA MÖNCHENGLADBACH. Like Bayern against Lazio or Liverpool against Leipzig, Guardiola’s Manchester City enjoyed a very comfortable second leg. Borussia wanted, from the start, to recover some option with a very offensive scheme, but it was quickly diluted after the goal, a great goal, by Kevin de Bruyne, which left the German team without an option, already kneeling definitively after the immediate 2-0 by Gundogan. As happiness is never complete, the discordant note was put by Kun Agüero, who complained bitterly about being ignored on the pitch by his teammates.
PSG 1-1 BARCELONA. The resuscitated Barcelona faced an impossible mission in Paris and said goodbye with a good face but sad, and forceful, elimination. The key was guessed at the end of the first half, when with 1-1 on the scoreboard Keylor Navas, the great protagonist of the night with magnificent saves, rejected a penalty from Leo Messi who could, who knows, give another color to the second half. The 1-4 of the first leg, however, was too heavy a slab to dream of, and PSG took a full revenge four years after suffering the worst comeback in the history of the tournament at the Camp Nou.
LIVERPOOL 2-0 LEIPZIG. For more than an hour, Leipzig held on to the miracle, with 0-0, thinking about, perhaps, scoring a goal that could give them hope of coming back from 0-2 in the first leg, but as soon as Salah put the team ahead. reds it’s all over. Without time to react, Mane made it 2-0 and Liverpool returned with absolute consistency, and tranquility, to the quarterfinals.
JUVENTUS 3-2 PORT. The hit of the eighths. If in the first leg Juve breathed relieved with 2-1 thanks to the late target of Federico Chiesa to take the role of favorite, a penalty transformed by Sergio Oliveira in Turin that advanced to Porto caused a state of absolute nerves in the Italians, who turned it around in the second half with a double from Chiesa himself to take the duel into extra time. Orphan of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals, Andrea Pirlo’s team panicked in added time, without solutions in attack and demoralized until Oliveira himself equalized. In the end, the final 3-2 of Rabiot was useless for a Juventus that added a new disappointment, and they are already uncountable, in Europe.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 2-2 SEVILLA. If Haaland was transcendental in the 2-3 achieved by Borussia at the Sánchez Pizjuán, Haaland was the lace that began to bury the hopes of Sevilla in Dortmund. He scored 1-0 at half an hour into the game and from a penalty, on the second attempt (one missed in the first half), he extended the lead after the break. En-Nesyri discounted and he himself equalized in the last breath, achieving an insufficient draw and that, not at all, caused it to be thought that Lopetegui’s team could dream of reaching extra time.
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