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)
UEFA Champions League
Premier League left sweating on extra Champions League place after bad night for England
Tottenham Hotspur supporters would have had little sympathy for archrivals Arsenal after their Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Bayern Munich but they may not be laughing so hard come the end of the season.
Arsenal’s 3-2 aggregate defeat, combined with holders Manchester City’s penalty shoot-out loss to Real Madrid, did more than just rule out the possibility of an English club appearing in the Wembley showpiece on June 1.
Those defeats also gave Germany’s Bundesliga the edge over England’s Premier League in the race to secure an extra spot in next year’s expanded Champions League.
Until Wednesday’s wipe-out, England were fractionally behind Germany in UEFA’s co-efficient table, opens new tab — the system used to decide how many places a country is entitled to in Europe’s club competitions.
The top two nations in that table will be awarded five places, rather than four, in next season’s Champions League and with Italy secure in first place the battle between Germany and England was, until Wednesday, too close to call.
However, Germany now look favourites with Bayern Munich having joined Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals. Dortmund edged out Atletico Madrid in a thriller on Tuesday.
Italy are on 18.428 with Germany on 17.642 while England are on 16.875 and that is before Bayer Leverkusen’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Premier League West Ham United taking place later on Thursday.
Newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Leverkusen lead 2-0 from the first leg and unless West Ham can pull off a shock comeback at the London Stadium, Germany’s advantage over England will be strengthened further, especially with Liverpool facing a 3-0 deficit in their Europa League quarter-final with Atalanta.
All that has huge implications in the Premier League and the battle for fourth place between Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Villa’s superb win at Arsenal last weekend, combined with Tottenham’s thrashing at Newcastle United, left Villa three points clear of the north London club, who until recently might have thought fifth place would be enough to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
That now looks increasingly unlikely, and with a horror run-in that includes games against Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, Tottenham’s hopes of playing among Europe’s elite next season are diminishing.
Tottenham could end up hoping that Aston Villa win the Europa Conference League as they might be the only English club left in Europe come Friday. They lead Lille 2-1 after the first leg of their quarter-final.
There is a similar battle for fourth spot taking place in the Bundesliga between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, although it now looks as though both could be playing in the Champions League.
UEFA’s coefficient is based on the results from the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League with every win by a club from a nation worth two points and a draw one.
Bonus points are accrued by progressing through various stages of each competition with the total then divided by the number of teams from that nation in Europe.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Champions League exit not the end of Arsenal’s season, says Arteta
Arsenal’s players have been stung by their Champions League quarter-finals exit on Wednesday but manager Mikel Arteta said they still have something “beautiful” to play for in the last few weeks of the season as they chase the Premier League title.
Arsenal campaign in Europe’s elite club competition came to an end with a 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich and follows their elimination from both domestic cup tournaments.
The north London club are still in the hunt for the league title, however, sitting second on 71 points, level with Liverpool and two behind leaders Manchester City.
With City in action in the FA Cup this weekend, Arsenal can return to the top of the table with a win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
“What (the players) need is that we stand right next to them, give them our support, our love, and I will have to pick it up because on Saturday we have a big, big, big game,” Arteta told reporters on Wednesday
“We’re still playing for the Premier League and I really want it. We have to show now that we are capable of turning this around.
“(The pain) is there and it’s not going to go away, certainly tonight, but I can guarantee you by tomorrow we are fully focused on Wolves and everybody’s lifted.
“What we still have to play for is beautiful.”
This was Arsenal’s first season in the Champions League since 2017, and their first quarter-final since 2010, and Arteta said small margins separated the clubs at this stage of the competition.
“Those margins sometimes are coming from something else, that maybe we don’t have yet,” he added.
“We have to learn it, when you look historically, all the clubs to get to certain stages, it took them seven, eight, some of them 10 years to do it
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Silva penalty save down to pure luck, says Real keeper Lunin
Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was their penalty shootout hero as they beat Manchester City on Wednesday to reach the Champions League semi-finals but he said his save from Bernardo Silva’s spot-kick was down to pure luck.
Real midfielder Federico Valverde was named UEFA’s man-of-the-match, but Lunin had made a strong case to be handed the award after making two saves in their 4-3 shootout win after an inspired performance as they drew their quarter-final second leg 1-1.
Silva’s penalty was struck tamely straight down the middle of the goal but Lunin said that a decision taken before the shootout with Real’s coaches enabled him to make what turned out to be an easy save.
“I needed to take a risk with one of the kicks, we picked one (to stay in the middle) and thank goodness it worked out in our favour,” Lunin told Movistar Plus+ with a sigh of relief.
“It’s an away Champions League game and we went through a lot of suffering… but I’m very grateful to the team for everything they’ve fought for. I can’t imagine myself running like my team mates did today.”
The 25-year-old Ukraine keeper was forced to wait for his chance at Real, having been behind Belgium star Thibaut Courtois in the pecking order.
Before this season, he had made only nine Spanish league appearances for the club since signing from Zorya Luhansk in 2018.
He spent his first two seasons in Spain on loan at Leganes, Valladolid and Oviedo, but after Courtois tore his ACL earlier this season, he was given the chance to battle for a starting spot with Kepa Arrizabalaga, who had been signed on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea
Lunin eventually asserted himself as first choice and his performance on Wednesday will have gone a long way towards proving to fans and pundits that he deserved his chance.
“There are games that you have to suffer, that you have to overcome the challenges, that you can’t always play with the ball and be the best team on the pitch. Tonight was like that,” Lunin said.
“For me it has been a great experience. I’m exhausted, it’s the first time in my career that I play a game like this, 120 minutes, penalties, the pressure and the responsibility. It’s hard to explain the feeling.”
-Reuters
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