The Beautiful Game 2023 Chapter 7.5: Elite
Many notable clubs can get out of a UEFA Champions League group, especially if they had an easy draw. However, once you take down another decent opposite in a knockout tie, you are a legitimate threat. There are still stronger contenders than others, but typically the quarterfinals of the Champions League are where elite players and clubs thrive and establish themselves. This article will focus on the Leg 1 matchups of the Quarterfinals and what we should look out for in the second legs.
Tuesday, April 11
Estádio da Luz: Benfica 0–2 Inter
1–0 Barella 51’ (Bastoni)
2–0 Lukaku 82’ (pen)
Benfica XI: Odysseas Vlachodimos; Gilberto Junior, Antonio Silva, Morato, Alex Grimaldo; Florentino Luis(64’ David Neres), Chiquinho; João Mario(c), Rafa Silva, Fredrik Aursnes; Goncalo Ramos
Inter XI: Andre Onana; Matteo Darmian, Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni(90’ Stefan de Vrij); Denzel Dumfries(86’ Danilo D’Ambrosio), Nicolò Barella(c), Marcelo Brozovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Federico Dimarco(63’ Robin Gosens); Lautaro Martinez(63’ Joaquin Correa), Edin Dzeko(63’ Romelu Lukaku)
So far it’s been a good but perhaps not great season for Inter Milan, but that could change if they can make good on this 2–0 lead against Benfica when they return to the San Siro. Benfica have done well to get this far for the second consecutive UCL campaign, but it looks like the quarterfinals remain their ceiling. Alessandro Bastoni was particularly impressive, keeping a clean sheet on one end and assisting the opening goal on the other.
Etihad Stadium: Manchester City 3–0 Bayern
1–0 Rodri 27’ (Silva)
2–0 Silva 70’ (Haaland)
3–0 Haaland 76’ (Stones)
Manchester City XI: Ederson; Manuel Akani, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake; Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan(c); Kevin de Bruyne(68’ Julian Alvarez), Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish
Bayern XI: Yann Sommer; Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt, Alphonso Davies(80’ João Cancelo); Joshua Kimmich(c), Leon Goretzka; Kingsley Coman, Jamal Musiala(69’ Sadio Mane), Leroy Sané; Serge Gnabry(80’ Thomas Muller)
Aside from Kevin de Bruyne needing to get subbed off due to injury, this couldn’t have gotten any better for the Citizens. Bayern Munich are one of the most consistent threats in the Champions League, only outdone by Real Madrid, but they had a disaster class on the night. The player that had the toughest time was Dayot Upamecano who is immensely talented but has had his poor games since his move from RB Leipzig. This is one of the most impressive wins by Pep Guardiola during his time as Manchester City boss and seeing Erling Haaland regain his confidence and Bernardo Silva become an integral player again should have everyone else they play against worried. The Bayern board deserve a lot of blame as well for sacking Julian Nagelsmann over a slightly harder Bundesliga campaign than usual (along with some locker room drama). Things also went from bad to ugly with Sadio Mane punched Leroy Sané behind closed doors, resulting in the Senegalese forwards’ suspension. Mane hasn’t scored for Bayern since October in what’s been a nightmare of a season for him.
Wednesday, April 12
San Siro: AC Milan 1–0 Napoli
1–0 Bennacer 40’ (Leao)
Milan XI: Mike Maignan; Davide Calabria(c), Simon Kjaer, Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Rade Krunic, Sandro Tonali; Brahim Diaz(80’ Ante Rebic), Ismael Bennacer(67’ Alexis Saelemaekers), Rafael Leao; Olivier Giroud
Napoli XI: Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo(c), Amir Rrahmani, Kim Min-jae, Mario Rui(81’ Mathias Olivera); Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa(74’ Red Card via Second Yellow), Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zieliński(81’ Tanguy Ndombele); Hirving Lozano(69’ Giacomo Raspadori), Eljif Elmas, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia(81’ Matteo Politano)
A mental edge over your opponent is priceless, and AC Milan are living proof of that at the moment. No doubt they are living rent free in Napoli’s heads after a 4–0 win in Serie A and now a victory in this first leg tie. While the scoreline appears close and anything can happen when the scene shifts in Naples, Napoli are very vulnerable due to the players they’re missing. They’re thin up top with Victor Osihmen and Giovanni Simeone both out with muscle injuries and now they’ll be without Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (red card) and Kim Min-jae (yellow card accumulation) through suspension. The stage is set for AC Milan to punk Napoli one more time before the latters’ inevitable Serie A title is confirmed.
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu: Real Madrid 2–0 Chelsea
1–0 Benzema 21’ (Vinicius)
2–0 Asensio 74’ (Vinicius)
Real Madrid XI: Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Eduardo Camavinga(71’ Antonio Rudiger); Federico Valverde, Toni Kroos(84’ Aurelien Tchouameni), Luka Modric(81’ Dani Ceballos); Rodrygo(71’ Marco Asensio), Karim Benzema(c), Vinicius Junior
Chelsea XI: Kepa Arrizabalaga; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Thiago Silva(c)(75’ Conor Gallagher), Kalidou Koulibaly(55’ Marc Cucurella due to injury), Ben Chilwell(59’ Red Card); N’Golo Kante(75’ Mason Mount), Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic; Raheem Sterling(65’ Trevoh Chalobah), João Felix(65’ Kai Havertz)
This Chelsea season just needs to be put out of its misery, and Real Madrid are just the club to ensure that. Real Madrid played like they’ve been there before (imagine that), and there’s nothing quite like seeing Toni Kroos and Luka Modric still pulling the strings together with their partnership that goes back almost a decade. Chelsea on the other hand were as disjointed and lifeless as ever. Frank Lampard is out of his depth (thankfully he’s only caretaker) and Ben Chillwell’s red card was the nail in the coffin. There are a lot of spare parts at this club and it’ll take next season away from European football to figure out who is the future at Stamford Bridge, because it’s just not fun at the moment. Hard to have fun when you go 360 minutes without scoring in all competitions.
What did you think of this week’s UEFA Champions League action? Which of these elite clubs do you think will lift the trophy when all is said and done? Who has the best chance of turning this around out of Bayern, Benfica, Chelsea, and Napoli? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @IvanOrnelas2.
Image Credits
Romelu Lukaku and Denzel Dumfries
Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne
