Champions League Takeaways: Davies shines for Bayern, Buchanan and Brugge routed by Benfica

The round-of-16 of the UEFA Champions League resumed this week with 4 groups transferring on after successful their second leg matchups. 

A marquee showdown between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain didn’t fairly stay as much as the hype, Chelsea superior due to a improbable efficiency at Stamford Bridge, Benfica steamrolled Club Brugge, and AC Milan humbled Tottenham in London.

Here’s what stood out from this week’s video games: 

Alphonso Davies shines in Bayern’s win over PSG 

Bayern Munich is thru to the quarter-finals for the fourth straight season — and for the tenth time in 11 years — following Wednesday’s 2-0 residence win over PSG. 

Goal scorers Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry will seize the vast majority of the headlines for the Bavarian giants, and that’s greater than comprehensible. Both took their possibilities exceptionally effectively to kill off PSG after incomes a 1-0 win in France in final month’s first leg. 

But Bayern’s win owed simply as a lot to the efficiency of its defence because it did to its goal-scoring exploits. The Germans’ again line was excellent on the night time, negating the efforts of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in registering its seventh clear sheet of this season’s competitors. 

So much will get written about Alphonso Davies’ attacking prowess, and the way he ruthlessly bombs ahead down the left flank in help of Bayern’s offensive efforts. Somewhat neglected is how the Canadian has grown into his personal as a stable defender over time. PSG discovered no love down that aspect of the pitch on Wednesday, with Davies successfully holding issues down and offering his group with a research defensive presence on the left wing. 

Davies, a 22-year-old from Edmonton, accepted the stiff problem of going up towards Messi and Achraf Hakimi with aplomb, and did an efficient job of serving to his defensive cohorts to close down the PSG duo. On high of registering one shot heading in the right direction, the Canadian additionally made three tackles, two interceptions and one clearance on the night time, giving additional proof of why he’s among the finest left fullbacks on the earth proper now. 

Tottenham no match for AC Milan 

Down 1-0 from the primary leg in Italy final month, Tottenham needed to like its probabilities of clinching a quarter-final berth in Wednesday’s return match towards AC Milan in London. But the house area benefit didn’t show to be any type of benefit in any respect for Spurs, who have been outplayed and outwitted by the Italians in a 0-0 draw. 

Seven-time European champions Milan placed on a masterclass in recreation administration. Its three-man defence comfortably repelled the attacking advances of Spurs striker Harry Kane, whereas its entrance three of Olivier Giroud, Rafael Leao and Brahim Diaz produced sufficient moments of hazard to maintain the English membership on edge. 

Spurs’ lone scoring probability got here deep into damage time when Kane’s header off a cross into the field was swatted away by Mike Maignan. Other than that, the French goalkeeper had nothing to do all recreation, because the English hosts couldn’t break down their Italian counterparts. With the draw, AC Milan secured their first berth within the Champions League quarter-finals since 2011-12 

“We did well. We asked the team to play with character and we could’ve had more possession in the first half, to be honest,” Milan supervisor Stefano Pioli informed Amazon Prime Italia after the match. 

“We never let go. It is a thoroughly deserved qualification considering the way we played over the two legs.” 

Bigger issues forward of Canadian Tajon Buchanan 

Benfica wiped the ground with Club Brugge on Tuesday in a 5-1 victory in Lisbon to seal a 7-1 combination win. It was a less-than-stellar debut within the knockout spherical of the competitors for the reigning Belgians champions, as they have been completely outplayed by their Portuguese opponents over the 2 legs. 

On the intense aspect, Canadian worldwide Tajon Buchanan distinguished himself within the collection towards Benfica — he was his membership’s man of the match within the opening 2-0 loss in Belgium and recorded an help within the return leg in Portugal. 

Buchanan, a 24-year-old from Brampton, Ont., is in his second season with Brugge, however it may very effectively be his final marketing campaign in Belgium. His tempo, trickery with the ball and directness when in possession has made him certainly one of Brugge’s greatest belongings since he joined the membership from MLS in 2021. He’s additionally confirmed to be fairly versatile, lining up as a winger, wingback and fullback. 

The Canadian’s eye-catching type hasn’t gone unnoticed, particularly since making his World Cup debut in Qatar late final yr. Ever since, numerous huge European golf equipment have been linked with a switch transfer for Buchanan, most notably Italian outfit Inter Milan and Leeds United of the English Premier League. 

It’s clear that Buchanan has outgrown the modest confines of Brugge and the Belgian league, and there’s a rising sense that he could possibly be bought off by the membership this summer time. He’s greater than able to make the transfer to certainly one of Europe’s high 5 leagues the place his skills may be showcased to a bigger viewers and the place he can check himself towards the perfect golf equipment on the earth. 

Chelsea turns again Dortmund’s problem to advance 

This has been a disastrous season for Chelsea. The London-based membership was eradicated within the third spherical of each the FA Cup and League Cup, and at present sit tenth within the Premier League desk and 21 factors out of the highest 4. 

Former supervisor Thomas Tuchel was fired in September after a stunning loss to Dinamo Zagreb within the Champions League and a mediocre begin to the Premier League marketing campaign. Replacement Graham Potter hasn’t fared a lot better, because the Blues continued to slide down the home league desk. 

All of which simply underscores the importance of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge. With that end result towards the second-best group on this season’s Bundesliga, Chelsea overturned a 1-0 loss in Germany final month to guide its spot within the Champions League quarter-finals. 

Goals have been laborious to come back by for Chelsea for the previous couple of months — earlier than this recreation they hadn’t scored twice in a match in 70 days since they beat Bournemouth on Dec. 27 within the Premier League. As a end result, requires Potter to get axed had grown louder over the previous couple of weeks. 

But the embattled supervisor earned himself a reprieve with Tuesday’s end result. Chelsea was sensible in outwitting Dortmund, with Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz supplying the objectives. In doing so, the Blues have now progressed from 5 UEFA Champions League knockout stage collection after shedding the primary leg, the joint-most of any group within the competitors’s historical past (with Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid). 

John Molinaro is among the main soccer journalists in Canada, having coated the sport for over 20 years for a number of media shops, together with Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is at present the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, an internet site devoted to in-depth protection of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic may be discovered right here.

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