Fiasco PSG
The confrontation between Bayern and Paris Saint-Germain was rightfully considered one of the most intriguing at the 1/8 final stage.
If only because this two-match series could be the last for Lionel Messi in the Champions League.
At least that's what former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher thought.
He predicted a triumph for Munich, and for the Argentine - the completion of his performance in the main club tournament of the Old World.
Thus, hinting at his imminent departure from the capital of France.
However, they clearly did not agree with this in the camp of the Ligue 1 grandee. Messi himself was not going to give up and promised to do everything possible for the sake of success in the response, and Kylian Mbappe did express confidence in victory.
And this despite the absence of Neymar, who is currently preparing for ankle surgery.
According to the press service of the club, the Brazilian will soon be operated on in Doha, after which he will miss three to four months.
It is noteworthy that not everyone considered this a serious problem for PSG.
For example, the formerly famous French footballer Christophe Dugarry called Neymar's injury a real gift for the team and noted that Christophe Galtier had long needed to take drastic measures and remove the Brazilian star to the reserve.
In his opinion, in this way he could improve the balance between attack and defense and make the team less vulnerable.
To some extent, this is exactly the effect of the absence of Neymar.
Three central defenders, two high-speed laterals and a powerful fist in the center of midfield in the person of Marco Verratti, Fabian Ruiz and Vitigny had to not only skillfully restrain the opponent's attackers, but also untie the hands of Mbappe and Messi, completely freeing them from defensive actions.
True, Leo sometimes went down quite deep and even helped in the selection.
But it did not bring special dividends.
They played moderately hard with the Argentine and regularly forced him to make losses in the center of the field.
And transmissions practically did not reach Kilian.
In total, in the first half, PSG had only two good episodes.
The first was created by Messi, who still broke through to the goal, but both of his blows were blocked.
And the second arose thanks to the grossest mistake of Jan Sommer.
The goalkeeper, famous for his technique, has once again demonstrated that dribbling in his own penalty area is not the best solution.
Under pressure from Ashraf Hakimi, he left the ball to Vitinye, but he struck extremely weakly.
Matthijs de Ligt saved his team in a desperate tackle.
By this point, the Parisians had already been forced to rebuild a bit.
Nordi Mukiele, who replaced the injured Marquinhos, took the position of the right central defender, and Danilo Pereira transformed into the left.
And it was through the zone of the Frenchman that Munich organized two good attacks in the end.
Perhaps this is what prompted Galtier to remove the ex-football player of Leipzig from the field during the break and release the 17-year-old El Shadai Bitshiaba, and return the Portuguese to a more familiar edge.
And it so happened that it was the young Frenchman of Congolese origin who was guilty of the missed goal.
But he could have two, if Daniel Orsato counted both goals of Eric Choupo-Motinga.
But if VAR corrected Bitshiaba's positional error (although the verdict was more than ambiguous), then no one could fix the technical one.
Yes, his pass reached Verratti, but put Marco in an extremely difficult position and actually provoked a loss in his own penalty area.
The Italian was instantly covered, and the Bayern forward had only not to miss the empty net.
And you can not say that this goal was not in the game.
In the second half, Bayern seized the initiative and minimized the number of dangerous attacks by Paris Saint-Germain.
With the exception of Sergio Ramos' corner kick and Mbappe's attempt, the guests had nothing to brag about.
Kilian was almost invisible at all, as was Messi, who unsuccessfully continued to seek happiness in the middle of the field.
Surely, the fans of the Parisians were waiting for Mbappe to finally come out of the shadows and perform a miracle, as he did in the World Cup final in Qatar.
Or Messi will finally demonstrate why he was named the best player of the year.
But instead, PSG conceded for the second time and lost hope of success.
Serge Gnabry, who started the game in reserve, had three minutes to score and dot the i's in the confrontation.
Sadio Mane could complete the rout, but he hurried a little and went offside.
Bayern Munich players Serge Gnabry, Alphonso Davies and Joao Cancelo
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© Richard Sellers / Contributor
"Dry" series "Tottenham"
On the eve of the second leg, Milan head coach Stefano Pioli was more than confident in his abilities.
Although he did not call the dispute for a ticket to the next round resolved, he literally guaranteed that Tottenham would not be able to surprise his wards.
And he had reason to believe so.
Three weeks ago, the Italians did not allow anything to be done by the British, who had accumulated only 0.44 of the expected goal (xG).
And this time, not much has changed.
It would seem that Tottenham, driven by native fans, will immediately rush forward and begin to besiege the opponent’s penalty area, but this did not happen.
In the first half hour, the hosts struck only two shots on goal Mick Menyan, but did not force the goalkeeper to demonstrate his skills.
Yes, in this segment, "Milan" was no better, but he did not need this.
The guests confidently controlled the ball and practically did not make mistakes in defense, and the star Harry Kane and Son Heung Min were completely shut down.
There were no significant changes before the break, in connection with which Antonio Conte tried to refresh the game of his team with the help of substitutions.
And he partially succeeded.
Pedro Porro really added movement on the right flank, but this was clearly not enough.
After all, the most dangerous moments arose precisely at the gates of the Londoners.
First, recovering from an injury, Braim Diaz almost caught Fraser Forster by surprise, and then attacked Olivier Giroud, who had a cold, at close range.
The goalkeeper miraculously left Tottenham afloat.
The Spurs responded with a Pierre-Emile Højbjerg "shot", but it turned out to be rather spectacular.
From such an acute angle, it was almost impossible to break through Meignan.
Tottenham was in a difficult situation, but it became almost hopeless in the 77th minute.
Christian Romero received a second yellow card for a flagrant foul on Theo Hernandez and left the field.
And it was at this moment that the Son-Kane connection almost said its weighty word.
The South Korean performed a cross from a free kick, and the Englishman struck a great header, but the goalkeeper rescued Milan.
The Londoners did not give up and even ten of them continued to put pressure, but it did not come to bright episodes.
But the Rossoneri could well strengthen the advantage.
Divock Origi had a great chance to decide all questions about the winner of the confrontation, but hit the post.
However, Milan still held on to a draw and made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 11 years.
Tottenham striker Harry Kane
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© James Gill - Danehouse / Contributor