UEFA Champions League
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: BARCELONA, DORTMUND A STEP AWAY FROM ROUND OF 16
BY APESIN ADEMOLA.
Lionel Messi returned from injury layoff ahead of time and should be in the squad as Barcelona hope to wrap up proceedings in Group B on time.
Three wins in as many matches have set the Catalans ahead of the field, three points clear of tonight’s opponents, Inter.
The Nerazzurri will however be baying for blood at the San Siro having lost the first leg 2-0.
Inter’s resurgence is signposted by their being second placed in Serie A ahead of Napoli.
Since suffering a lone goal home defeat to Parma on Matchday 4 of the current Serie A season, Inter have gone on to win all their matches in all competitions, except the setback at Camp Nou. That is nine matches on the bounce!
In that same group are Tottenham and PSV Eindhoven, who both file out at Wembley chasing their first win of the group stage.
The first leg ended 2-2 in Eindhoven, the only time both times will gain a point in three group fixtures.
Spurs battled out a 3-2 win away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League on Saturday to displace Arsenal at fourth spot.
That followed their 3-1 win over West Ham United also on the road, which extinguished their home lone goal loss to Manchester City.
With five points adrift of the second round qualification bar, Spurs know that this is a must-win encounter.
In Group A, Borussia Dortmund will qualify for the Round of 16 with two matches to spare if they achieve double victory over their Spanish hosts, Atlético.
Diego Simeone’s side crumbled 0-4 at Signal-Iduna Park in Dortmund a fortnight ago but have won two other games since then – 2-0 against Real Sociedad in LaLiga and 1-0 away to UE Sant Andreu in Copa del Rey – and forced a 1-1 draw away to CD Leganés in their last match on Saturday in the domestic league.
The pressure is more on Atlético, who are three points adrift of their opponents as maximum points will draw them level going into the last two fixtures of the group stage.
Given that their subsequent opponents will be AS Monaco and Club Brugge, both posting only one point in three group matches, the chances of Atlético advancing to the knockout stages with Dortmund will be boosted by victory tonight.
In the earlier match in the group, Thierry Henry will be seeking his first win since his managerial career commenced at his former club, Monaco.
Henry, whose club career began at Monaco before he blossomed at Arsenal, signed a three-year managerial deal with his former club on October 18.
He has lost two matches and shared honours in the other two, and hoping to win his first match versus Club Brugge this evening.
Defeat for either Monaco or Brugge, who finished the first leg 1-1 in Brugge, will spell elimination from the elite club competition.
In Group C, despite the highly-prized stars in PSG, the Parisians have failed to match up to pre-tournament rating in the Champions League this season.
Although they established a record of 12 consecutive wins in Europe’s top five leagues with their defeat of Lille last Friday, that impressive run has not been translated into Europe as they have managed only one win against Serbian minnows Crvena Zvezda.
They drew with Napoli and lost to Liverpool to stand at No 3.
Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and company face second place Napoli, who battled to a 2-2 result in Paris two weeks ago.
Napoli have been in decent form in Serie A, currently sitting third in the table after 11 games.
They won their last game against Empoli 5-1, which should give them confidence going into this crucial clash with the French champions.
Victory over Liverpool and a draw with PSG should also give Napoli encouragement that they can challenge PSG again in this fixture.
Fresh from a frenetic 1-1 outcome at the Emirates Stadium versus Arsenal on Saturday, Liverpool go into battle with Group C’s whipping side Crvena Zvezda, who they thrashed 4-0 at Anfield in the first leg. The Reds might have exited the English League Cup quite early – losing to Chelsea at the first time of asking – but they are one of three teams without a loss in the English Premier League this season after 11 rounds of matches.
Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane will all be ready to make it double victory over their hosts, a result that will move them nearer the knockout rounds.
Group D have FC Porto ahead of Schalke 04 by two points, while Galatasaray are a point behind the German side.
Porto will strive at a double over bottom-placed Lokomotiv Moskva, who lost the first leg 3-1, while Schalke welcome Galatasaray to their Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen. The reverse fixture ended goalless.
Fixtures…
Group A:
- AS Monaco v Club Brugge (first leg 1-1) (6:55pm)
- Atlético Madrid v Borussia Dortmund (first leg Borussia Dortmund 4-0) (9pm)
Group B:
- Tottenham Hotspur v PSV Eindhoven (first leg 2-2) (9pm)
- Internazionale Milano v Barcelona (first leg Barcelona 2-0) (9pm)
Group C:
- FK Crvena Zvezda v Liverpool (first leg Liverpool 4-0) (6:55pm)
- Napoli v Paris Saint-Germaine (first leg 2-2) (9pm)
Group D:
- FC Porto v Lokomotiv Moskva (first leg FC Porto 3-1) (9pm)
- Schalke 04 v Galatasaray (first leg 0-0) (9pm)
Spain’s LaLiga will be represented by at least five teams in the Champions League next season after Italy’s Lazio were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday while Athletic Bilbao progressed to the semi-finals.
LaLiga earned the second of two European Performance Spots handed out by UEFA, which go to associations “with the best collective performance by their clubs” in UEFA competitions.
England’s Premier League was the first to secure an extra berth in Europe’s top competition, on top of the four granted to the top four teams in the domestic table.
Villarreal are fifth in the LaLiga standings, with 51 points from 30 matches.
They are three points ahead of sixth-placed Real Betis and eight in front of Celta Vigo and Mallorca, with all three clubs having played one more game than Villarreal.
-Reuters
Real Madrid’s record-breaking manager Carlo Ancelotti had no complaints after his side’s Champions League reign was ended in emphatic fashion by Arsenal in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Italian Ancelotti won a record-extending fifth Champions League trophy last season as Real beat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, but his side went down 2-1 at home to Arsenal for a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat.
“There are two sides to football, the happy part that has happened to us many times and the sad part we have to handle in the same way. It has happened to us fewer times than to other teams, but we have to manage it because it allows us to be better in the next games.”
When Real keeper Thibaut Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s early penalty and minutes later Real were awarded a spot kick for a push by Declan Rice on Kylian Mbappe, it seemed that the great escape might still be a possibility.
But Real’s penalty was overturned after a lengthy VAR check, and in truth, they never looked remotely threatening as their bid for a 16th European Cup crown ended in feeble fashion.
“To change the dynamic, we needed something positive, like the penalty he whistled and then took off. We needed something to have more confidence, but we were not able to change the dynamic of the first leg,” Ancelotti said.
Despite the defeat, Ancelotti said Real’s season still has plenty of possibilities, not least trying to bridge a four-point gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona.
“Now we are in the fight for La Liga. We have a disadvantage, but we have the Barcelona game, we have the Copa del Rey final, the Club World Cup, and we have to manage this part, which is another part of football that we are not used to,” he said.
“It’s time to hold our heads high and learn from our mistakes. It’s sad today, but I have absolutely no worries about how my players will respond. We’ll fight on, we’ll learn from the experience, and we’ll try to be better for the next match.”
-Reuters
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Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semi-finals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabeu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.
Holders and 15-time winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week’s quarter-final first leg, and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.
Vinicius Junior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little too late as Carlo Ancelotti’s side exited feebly.
Arsenal’s superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.
They will face Paris St Germain in their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.
“I think it’s such a special night for this club, it’s a historic night for this club,” said Arsenal’s Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks put his side in control last week.
“There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead, they’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fuelled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.
But Real’s knack of extricating themselves from difficult positions in a competition they won six times in the previous 11 seasons deserted them as they were comprehensively outplayed.
“Did we fall short of what we wanted in pure football terms? Perhaps,” Real captain Lucas Vazquez said. “They really are terrifically organised defensively.”
PENALTY MISS
Real needed a storming start, and Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net in the opening minutes but was offside when chesting in a Vinicius cross.
Arsenal were in no mood to simply sit and protect their lead, though, and Saka forced a great save from Courtois. They were handed the chance to kill off the tie when Raul Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner, and referee Francois Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitch-side VAR monitor.
Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty, and Courtois clawed away the ball.
It looked like a potentially pivotal moment, and when Letexier pointed to the penalty spot at the other end after Kylian Mbappe tumbled under minimal contact from Rice, Arsenal’s night looked like taking a turn for the worse.
After five painstaking minutes, however, Letexier was again invited by VAR to view the monitor and to a chorus of whistles from the home fans, overturned his original decision.
That scare aside, Arsenal coped easily with Real Madrid’s famed frontline who were given little to work with.
Arsenal keeper David Raya was not required to make a save before halftime as Real’s predilection for hopeful crosses into the area proved easy pickings for the visiting defence.
Real’s Mbappe barely had a sniff of a chance as Arsenal showed great control and Saka made up for his first-half miss with a clinical finish after being sent clear by Merino.
William Saliba gifted Real a lifeline when he was caught in possession on the edge of his area, allowing Vinicius to score, but there was never any sense of panic in the visiting ranks.
Martinelli put the icing on the cake in added time, again from a Merino assist, to send Arsenal’s fans into raptures.
-Reuters
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