Champions League takeaways: Real Madrid remains on course to repeat

The round-of-16 of the UEFA Champions League wrapped up this week with the ultimate 4 groups transferring onto the subsequent spherical following their second leg matchups.

Erling Haaland single-handedly destroyed RB Leipzig, Inter Milan superior to the quarterfinals for the primary time since 2011, Real Madrid completed off Liverpool and Napoli took care of Eintracht Frankfurt.

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

Real Madrid stays on target to repeat

Liverpool should completely hate the sight of Real Madrid by now. These two European giants have clashed within the knockout levels of the UEFA Champions League for 3 consecutive seasons, together with final 12 months’s last. All thrice the Spaniards have eradicated their English counterparts with Liverpool’s newest exit following a 1-0 highway loss on Wednesday. 

Real Madrid ran rampant in final month’s first leg, coming from a pair of objectives down to attain 5 unanswered objectives at Anfield thanks largely to the attacking brilliance of French striker Karim Benzema and Brazilian Vinícius Júnior.  

Benzema discovered the again of the online once more at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu within the return leg, however los blancos’ victory owed extra to game-management abilities than its attacking endeavour. Real displayed the proper tactical nous on the night time, as Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger have been the principle architects behind a Spanish facet that defended with effectivity and stored Liverpool at arm’s size. 

This was a facet we hardly ever see from Real Madrid: the nice pragmatists. Over the years, the 14-time European champions have earned a fame for being nice entertainers on account of the “champagne football” they’re recognized for producing. But with the combination collection basically over after the primary leg, there was no want for Real Madrid to increase itself by placing on a present. Instead, they put in an expert efficiency that allowed them to see off their rivals with out an excessive amount of hassle.

Napoli reaches last eight for first time

Napoli loved its best success with Diego Maradona on the helm, successful two Serie A titles, an Italian Cup, an Italian Super Cup and a UEFA Cup from 1987 to 1990. But the one factor the Argentine legend wasn’t capable of do was information Napoli to the quarterfinals of the European Cup, which was re-christened the UEFA Champions League in 1992. 

Napoli made historical past on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the membership’s residence venue named after its best participant and icon. The outcome sealed a 5-0 win within the mixture collection and despatched the Italian outfit by to the ultimate eight of the Champions League for the primary time in historical past. 

Maradona should absolutely have been trying down with an enormous smile on his face as Napoli tore aside Eintracht Frankfurt, as Nigerian Victor Osimhen scored a brace to cement his standing as among the best strikers on the earth right this moment. 

Napoli have been the category of Serie A this season, and sit atop the desk with an 18-point lead, scoring a league-high 60 objectives and solely conceding 16 instances in 26 matches. The Italians additionally cruised by the primary spherical of the Champions League, topping a gaggle that included Liverpool by successful 5 of six video games and scoring a competition-high 20 objectives.

Based on present kind, there’s each cause to consider they will go all the way in which and win this 12 months’s Champions League last in Istanbul.

“We will keep on dreaming; we have the squad to [win the Champions League]. I think we are on the right path. We have a great coach. We will see what the future holds for us, I think we have a good chance,” Osimhen mentioned.

Haaland a one-man wrecking crew for Man City

RB Leipzig by no means knew what hit them. The German membership was feeling fairly good about itself because it strolled into Tuesday’s highway recreation with a 1-0 benefit from the primary leg of their collection towards Manchester City. But a tsunami within the type of Erling Haaland wiped them out — the Norwegian worldwide recorded a first-half hat trick and added two extra objectives early within the second half to tempo Man City to a outstanding 7-0 win.  

In doing so Haaland grew to become solely the third participant in UEFA Champions League historical past to attain 5 objectives in a single recreation, becoming a member of Shakhtar Donetsk’s Luiz Adriano (vs. BATE Borisov in 2014) and FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (vs. Bayer Leverkusen in 2012). Haaland has scored 5 hat-tricks for Man City in all competitions in 2022-23, three greater than some other participant in Europe’s large 5 leagues. He’s additionally the primary Premier League participant to attain 5 hat-tricks in a single marketing campaign since Harry Kane in 2016-17.

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Remarkably, Haaland has scored 30 objectives in 25 Champions League video games, hitting the particular milestone in fewer matches than some other participant within the match’s historical past. He can also be the youngest participant to do it (22 years and 236 days). The earlier youngest participant to attain 30 objectives? None aside from PSG star Kylian Mbappé (22 years and 352 days).

And right here’s a scary thought: regardless of his unbelievable scoring document, Haaland believes he can provide much more. 

“It’s an easy thing to say but I could’ve scored more goals. I missed a lot of chances. But the most important thing is the chances [coming] because that is what you want as a striker,” he instructed CBS Sports after Tuesday’s recreation. 

“I think I can get better at everything. I’ve been missing a lot of chances with my left foot. I had one with the goalkeeper in the first half that I should have scored, so left foot, right foot — I have to be much better at heading, combining, everything. But if I had to take one, maybe to help the other players get better. This is something I would love. To put people in better positions.”

Inter Milan sees issues out towards FC Porto

Inter Milan is thru to the quarterfinals for the primary time in over a decade after a 0-0 draw away to Porto on Tuesday, because of a smattering of excellent fortune and stoic defending. 

Sitting on a 1-0 benefit from the primary leg, Inter didn’t enterprise ahead with reckless abandon to construct upon their lead, selecting as an alternative to take a extra sensible method. The Italians sat again and absorbed Porto’s advances and hit out towards their Portuguese opponents with fast counter-attacking sequences. 

Inter goalkeeper André Onana did nicely to deflect Mateus Uribe’s swerving shot across the submit within the third minute, and he additionally successfully smothered an effort on aim from Canadian worldwide Stephen Eustáquio. Aside from that, the Serie A outfit brilliantly managed the remainder of the 90-minute affair.

In damage time, Porto ramped up the stress and regarded sure of scoring to tie the rating on mixture. But they managed to hit the submit and the crossbar whereas having one other shot cleared away on the goal-line as Inter recorded the shutout to win the two-legged collection. 

Inter progressed from a Champions League knockout stage with out conceding a aim in each the primary leg and second leg for the primary time since 2009-10 when it bested CSKA Moscow within the quarterfinals. 

“All credit to the group, who managed to draw on energy I didn’t even know they had. We had problems before and during the game, they remained solid and aside from the rather excessive seven minutes of [stoppage time], we ran very few risks,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi mentioned.

John Molinaro is likely one of 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 could be discovered right here.