The Uefa Champions League is down to its last four teams.
1 from Spain: Barcelona
1 from Netherlands: Ajax
2 from England: Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool
The semifinals begin tomorrow but before we get to that, let's discuss what happened in the previous round.
Porto 1 x 4 Liverpool
Porto 1 x 6 Liverpool on aggregate.
After the first leg in England everyone more or less felt like this was a done deal and that comes with no disrespect towards the Portuguese side, considering the roster talent on each side, the level they are currently playing in and the result of the first leg this was the Reds' trip to the semifinal to lose and in a somewhat more pragmatic style of play than the one they employed last year they managed to keep Porto at bay throughout the 180 minutes, Virgil Van Dijk continues his extraordinary run of form that has turned him into undoubtedly the best defender in the world and at least to me a lock to be amongst the top 3 for the Ballon D'or award, Messi is also a lock that goes without saying, he maybe should be even a lock to win it regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season.
Getting back to both teams this seemed like Porto's ceiling and it would take something truly extraordinary for them to go through as for Liverpool accounting for every factor in play I really see them as the favourites to win the competition and also obviously favourites to beat Barcelona in the semifinals, this doesn't mean that there is too much between the two sides and beyond Messi pulling something out ofof nowhere, there's not much more to rely on for Barcelona fans, I just see Liverpool at a higher level collectively, individually it's a coinflip but for anyone that's seen both of them this year it's clear there's a gap there.
Barcelona 3 x 0 Manchester United
Barcelona 4 x 0 Manchester United on aggregate
Before we address anything I have a small rant to go on.
For anybody that follows football closely and even more for all of the Manchester United fans aren't you just sick and tired of hearing about Paul Pogba transfer rumors I mean enough either stay or ask for a transfer, this is a guy that's been there for three years and every other week we get the same stuff whether is Real Madrid, Juventus or even Barcelona is just exhausting.
When Solskjaer came in and they improved their level of performance while still maintaining a counterattacking style of play that's for those of you who said United can't be a counterattacking team because of their history all while praising the job Solskjaer had done, did you see the win at Wembley against Tottenham if that game happened with Mourinho at the helm I can already imagine the headlines and none of this is a knock on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but merely acknowledging that in the end of Mourinho's run as United manager they were a bad counterattacking team that didn't defend well nor was effective while counterattacking and with Solskjaer especially against good to great opponents they became a good or at least a better counterattacking side but getting back to Pogba well for all of his time at United the one big game against a world class opponent where he actually has shown up is the game against City at Etihad last season when United came back from behind 2 x 0 and won the game 3 x 2 delaying Manchester City's celebration of the Premier League title and that game didn't have much meaning beyond pride really. He got sent off in the first leg against PSG which meant he didn't even play in the match at Paris and he was a complete no show for both legs against Barcelona as well as the match against City in the Premier League and several others, okay I'm done.
The actual game it didn't start off in the way you'd assume given the final outcome, if United were by any means going to pull through and reach the next round they were going to have one chance, not one single goal scoring chance but one chance as in there was not much room for error and the first 15 minutes saw United with its chance to pounce on Barcelona and they didn't, the efficiency that they demonstrated at Paris didn't made the trip to Spain and in those moments where things went their way in Paris well they didn't this time, in the first act of the game Marcus Rashford on a beautiful piece of finishing hit the crossbar, De Gea killed any sort of chance they had of coming from behind by conceding that ridiculous second goal by Lionel Messi who once again put the ball in his back pocket and decided the game like he so often has done this season and in his whole career.
Barcelona advances through the quarterfinals with some questions marks and they will most definitely have to improve if they want to go through to the final but they are still Barcelona and Jurgen Klopp's side will do all but underestimate them. Just notice that even in this set of circumstances Barcelona is still widely considered to be the favourite.
Juventus 1 x 2 Ajax
Juventus 2 x 3 Ajax on Aggregate
The dutch side pull off another major upset, if you have been following my articles you know that I didn't share the opinion that Ajax beating Juve was an upset by any stretch of imagination, what they have managed to do in this season is beyond words really, they dominated matches against Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich in those encounters they've looked like the shot callers, time and time again proving people wrong, they especially in the midfield made Real Madrid and Jiventus look old, Tadic seems to have mastered the art of controlling and dribbling the ball in extremely short spaces and I'm sure you can find individual merits for each player.
Talking about Juventus especially for a moment, in the last 4 matches in the Champions League, the two against Atletico and these two against Ajax no one other than Ronaldo has scored a goal and that's concerning mostly because Dybala is completely out of sync and seems to be playing without a position at least not an effective one he just seems to be in there, Kean is still too young to carry a big part of the load, I really like Douglas Costa but he is always hurt, Bernardeschi is a fine option but not much more than that Mandzukic is getting old and if you look at the midfielders literally none of them have great finishing skills, now Juventus is still a terrific side that should be able to eliminate Ajax and this is more about praising Ajax and Erik Ten Hag than anything else but it'd be negligent on my part to not address those minor issues that the Italian side has.
One last note, despite all the quality they have presented to us in these 4 games, Ajax conceded the first goal in 3 of them including both ones at home so this is a group of players that does not get fazed by the moment even when they get knocked back.
Manchester City 4 x 3 Tottenham
Manchester City 4 x 4 Tottenham on Aggregate. Spurs go through on away goals
A night to remember at the Etihad, 4 goals in the first 10 minutes set the tempo and the rest of the match did not disappoint.
This City side showed an ability to bounce back and be resilient that we haven't seen before, conceding two goals in a span of a few minutes both on defensive blunders by one of your better defenders in Laporte this could have easily gone sideways but right afterwards Bernardo Silva scored the fourth goal of the game and gave the Citizens some momentum and in the end despite their best efforts Tottenham go through on away goals which is to me a completely arbitrary rule that should not exist but that's a debate for another day.
It's obviously a disappointment for Guardiola and his side to once again be eliminated in the quarterfinals but to me this is the most honourable defeat out of the 3, against Monaco despite being the first year they really looked bad in the second leg and after winning the game at home 5 x 3 I expected that they'd qualify for the semifinals but a 3 x 1 caused their elimination also on away goals, last season not so much the elimination but they were embarrassed by Liverpool in the first leg and the duel was pretty much decided there. Overall they probably deserved at least as much as Tottenham to be amongst the last four, Kevin De Bruyne showed why he is one of the 10 best players in the world and Lloris once again proved just how important he can be.
A side note to think about, when Pep looked at his bench he saw Stones, Fernandinho, Sané, Mahrez, Jesus and when Pochettino looked at his bench Llorente was his best option to replace an injured Sissoko unless he wanted to put Skipp in a baptism by fire that gives you an idea of the difference in terms of investment on both sides.
As for the matches against Ajax, Harry Kane will surely be missed and Son being out for the first leg will also hurt Tottenham chances but given what we have seen so far this is as much of a coinflip as it can be, maybe just a slight 52-48 % chance in favor of Ajax strictly because of the aforementioned absences, but what levels the playing field to me is that I see room for improvement in terms of what they performed so far in the Champions League for Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, especially the latter which would give Spurs a huge boost where as for Ajax this is pretty much their ceiling nonetheless it is a very high one.
The fact is we are in for two great matchups that I can't wait to watch.
See you all for the next article debating the first leg matches.
Spread the word, comment, share your opinion let's get some discussions going.
1 from Spain: Barcelona
1 from Netherlands: Ajax
2 from England: Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool
The semifinals begin tomorrow but before we get to that, let's discuss what happened in the previous round.
Porto 1 x 4 Liverpool
Porto 1 x 6 Liverpool on aggregate.
After the first leg in England everyone more or less felt like this was a done deal and that comes with no disrespect towards the Portuguese side, considering the roster talent on each side, the level they are currently playing in and the result of the first leg this was the Reds' trip to the semifinal to lose and in a somewhat more pragmatic style of play than the one they employed last year they managed to keep Porto at bay throughout the 180 minutes, Virgil Van Dijk continues his extraordinary run of form that has turned him into undoubtedly the best defender in the world and at least to me a lock to be amongst the top 3 for the Ballon D'or award, Messi is also a lock that goes without saying, he maybe should be even a lock to win it regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season.
Getting back to both teams this seemed like Porto's ceiling and it would take something truly extraordinary for them to go through as for Liverpool accounting for every factor in play I really see them as the favourites to win the competition and also obviously favourites to beat Barcelona in the semifinals, this doesn't mean that there is too much between the two sides and beyond Messi pulling something out ofof nowhere, there's not much more to rely on for Barcelona fans, I just see Liverpool at a higher level collectively, individually it's a coinflip but for anyone that's seen both of them this year it's clear there's a gap there.
Barcelona 3 x 0 Manchester United
Barcelona 4 x 0 Manchester United on aggregate
Before we address anything I have a small rant to go on.
For anybody that follows football closely and even more for all of the Manchester United fans aren't you just sick and tired of hearing about Paul Pogba transfer rumors I mean enough either stay or ask for a transfer, this is a guy that's been there for three years and every other week we get the same stuff whether is Real Madrid, Juventus or even Barcelona is just exhausting.
When Solskjaer came in and they improved their level of performance while still maintaining a counterattacking style of play that's for those of you who said United can't be a counterattacking team because of their history all while praising the job Solskjaer had done, did you see the win at Wembley against Tottenham if that game happened with Mourinho at the helm I can already imagine the headlines and none of this is a knock on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but merely acknowledging that in the end of Mourinho's run as United manager they were a bad counterattacking team that didn't defend well nor was effective while counterattacking and with Solskjaer especially against good to great opponents they became a good or at least a better counterattacking side but getting back to Pogba well for all of his time at United the one big game against a world class opponent where he actually has shown up is the game against City at Etihad last season when United came back from behind 2 x 0 and won the game 3 x 2 delaying Manchester City's celebration of the Premier League title and that game didn't have much meaning beyond pride really. He got sent off in the first leg against PSG which meant he didn't even play in the match at Paris and he was a complete no show for both legs against Barcelona as well as the match against City in the Premier League and several others, okay I'm done.
The actual game it didn't start off in the way you'd assume given the final outcome, if United were by any means going to pull through and reach the next round they were going to have one chance, not one single goal scoring chance but one chance as in there was not much room for error and the first 15 minutes saw United with its chance to pounce on Barcelona and they didn't, the efficiency that they demonstrated at Paris didn't made the trip to Spain and in those moments where things went their way in Paris well they didn't this time, in the first act of the game Marcus Rashford on a beautiful piece of finishing hit the crossbar, De Gea killed any sort of chance they had of coming from behind by conceding that ridiculous second goal by Lionel Messi who once again put the ball in his back pocket and decided the game like he so often has done this season and in his whole career.
Barcelona advances through the quarterfinals with some questions marks and they will most definitely have to improve if they want to go through to the final but they are still Barcelona and Jurgen Klopp's side will do all but underestimate them. Just notice that even in this set of circumstances Barcelona is still widely considered to be the favourite.
Juventus 1 x 2 Ajax
Juventus 2 x 3 Ajax on Aggregate
The dutch side pull off another major upset, if you have been following my articles you know that I didn't share the opinion that Ajax beating Juve was an upset by any stretch of imagination, what they have managed to do in this season is beyond words really, they dominated matches against Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich in those encounters they've looked like the shot callers, time and time again proving people wrong, they especially in the midfield made Real Madrid and Jiventus look old, Tadic seems to have mastered the art of controlling and dribbling the ball in extremely short spaces and I'm sure you can find individual merits for each player.
Talking about Juventus especially for a moment, in the last 4 matches in the Champions League, the two against Atletico and these two against Ajax no one other than Ronaldo has scored a goal and that's concerning mostly because Dybala is completely out of sync and seems to be playing without a position at least not an effective one he just seems to be in there, Kean is still too young to carry a big part of the load, I really like Douglas Costa but he is always hurt, Bernardeschi is a fine option but not much more than that Mandzukic is getting old and if you look at the midfielders literally none of them have great finishing skills, now Juventus is still a terrific side that should be able to eliminate Ajax and this is more about praising Ajax and Erik Ten Hag than anything else but it'd be negligent on my part to not address those minor issues that the Italian side has.
One last note, despite all the quality they have presented to us in these 4 games, Ajax conceded the first goal in 3 of them including both ones at home so this is a group of players that does not get fazed by the moment even when they get knocked back.
Manchester City 4 x 3 Tottenham
Manchester City 4 x 4 Tottenham on Aggregate. Spurs go through on away goals
A night to remember at the Etihad, 4 goals in the first 10 minutes set the tempo and the rest of the match did not disappoint.
This City side showed an ability to bounce back and be resilient that we haven't seen before, conceding two goals in a span of a few minutes both on defensive blunders by one of your better defenders in Laporte this could have easily gone sideways but right afterwards Bernardo Silva scored the fourth goal of the game and gave the Citizens some momentum and in the end despite their best efforts Tottenham go through on away goals which is to me a completely arbitrary rule that should not exist but that's a debate for another day.
It's obviously a disappointment for Guardiola and his side to once again be eliminated in the quarterfinals but to me this is the most honourable defeat out of the 3, against Monaco despite being the first year they really looked bad in the second leg and after winning the game at home 5 x 3 I expected that they'd qualify for the semifinals but a 3 x 1 caused their elimination also on away goals, last season not so much the elimination but they were embarrassed by Liverpool in the first leg and the duel was pretty much decided there. Overall they probably deserved at least as much as Tottenham to be amongst the last four, Kevin De Bruyne showed why he is one of the 10 best players in the world and Lloris once again proved just how important he can be.
A side note to think about, when Pep looked at his bench he saw Stones, Fernandinho, Sané, Mahrez, Jesus and when Pochettino looked at his bench Llorente was his best option to replace an injured Sissoko unless he wanted to put Skipp in a baptism by fire that gives you an idea of the difference in terms of investment on both sides.
As for the matches against Ajax, Harry Kane will surely be missed and Son being out for the first leg will also hurt Tottenham chances but given what we have seen so far this is as much of a coinflip as it can be, maybe just a slight 52-48 % chance in favor of Ajax strictly because of the aforementioned absences, but what levels the playing field to me is that I see room for improvement in terms of what they performed so far in the Champions League for Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, especially the latter which would give Spurs a huge boost where as for Ajax this is pretty much their ceiling nonetheless it is a very high one.
The fact is we are in for two great matchups that I can't wait to watch.
See you all for the next article debating the first leg matches.
Spread the word, comment, share your opinion let's get some discussions going.
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