The eight matches of the Champions League Round of 16
second leg were full of beautiful football and
drama. Big clubs like Milan, Manchester
United and Porto, who together have won the Champions League 12 times, former
vice-champions Celtic, Valencia, Arsenal and former UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar
and Schalke 04 all will not be a part of Champions League 2012-13 any longer.
But stronger teams are left in the tournament. Out of the 8 teams only Juventus
and Borussia are
unbeaten up to now.
unbeaten up to now.
There were scored as many as 23 goals in these 8
matches. At least 4 players scored magnificent goals. It is difficult to choose
one from this quartet of Modric, Altintop, Messi and Isco, but I will vote for
the Galatasaray player, as it was not only a beautiful strike, but probably also
the most important strike in Altintop’s career. He celebrated his goal to his
former club with a great joy, pointing out the current club logo on his chest.
Topscorers Burak Yilmaz of Galatasaray and Crisitano
Ronaldo of Real Madrid scored again. They have 8 goals each next to their
names. The two topscorers will meet each other in the quarterfinals and only
one of them will enter the round of last 4. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is getting
closer and closer. After the brace in the last match, the Argentine has now
scored 7 goals in 8 Champions League matches this season.
Spanish teams are still superior despite losing one of
their fellow clubs. There are only 5 leagues represented in the Champions
League quarterfinals. The most successful teams will have to play maximum 5
matches from now on, and the worst ones will be satisfied with 2, so the
following table showing the placement of the leagues is not expected to change
much by the end of the tournament. If the Spanish teams don’t lose all of their
matches, they will surely be the winners again. Germans have to be satisfied
with the second place, as England and Italy are too far to catch them. For a
few years ago the German teams were not even considered when the top three places
were allocated between Italian, English and Spanish clubs. The hopes for
Italian football to rise again are still far from becoming reality. The league
has only got one top class club, so the 4th place is still all the
Serie A teams can reach, despite the big opportunities open after the English disaster.
PSG can help France enter the top 5 instead of Portugal, but they will need to
win against Barcelona to do so.
League
|
Pts.
|
|
1 (-)
|
Spain (3)
|
60
|
2 (-)
|
Germany
(2)
|
47
|
3 (-)
|
England
(0)
|
39
|
4 (+1)
|
Italy (1)
|
29
|
5 (-1)
|
Portugal
(0)
|
27
|
6 (-)
|
France (1)
|
24
|
7 (-)
|
Ukraine (0)
|
16
|
8 (-)
|
Turkey (1)
|
14
|
9 (-)
|
Romania (0)
|
10
|
10 (-)
|
Scotland (0)
|
10
|
11 (-)
|
Russia (0)
|
10
|
12 (-)
|
Greece (0)
|
9
|
13 (-)
|
Belarus (0)
|
6
|
14 (+1)
|
Belgium (0)
|
5
|
15 (-1)
|
Netherlands (0)
|
4
|
16 (+1)
|
Croatia (0)
|
1
|
17 (-1)
|
Denmark (0)
|
1
|
Barca is back in track, which once again changes the
odds in the Champions League. The three absolute top favorites to win the
trophy are Real, Barcelona and Bayern. Only one of these teams has received an
equal opponent in the quarterfinals, therefore the German team goes down in the
ranking. Juventus is only on the 5th position just because of the
tough road to the final. Malaga, not expected to enter this stage after a loss
in Porto, has climbed up to the 7th position, which is the biggest jump
in the table.
RANKING BEFORE THE FIRST LEG OF QUARTERFINALS
Place
|
Club
|
1 (+2)
|
Real Madrid (Spain)
|
2(+2)
|
FC Barcelona (Spain)
|
3 (-2)
|
Bayern (Germany)
|
4 (+3)
|
Borussia D.
(Germany)
|
5 (-)
|
Juventus (Italy)
|
6 (-)
|
PSG (France)
|
7 (+6)
|
Malaga (Spain)
|
8(+3)
|
Galatasaray (Turkey)
|
Quarterfinals
The encounter between Bayern and Juventus is
definitely the central duel of the Champions League 2012-13 quarterfinals. Both
of the teams are in the middle of amazing seasons, having almost secured the
league title already by the Easter holidays. Not only the overall season has
been good, but also the current form is impressive. The Italian club won
against archrivals Inter at Giuseppe Meazza last weekend, while Bayern scored
all 9 goals to humiliate Hamburger. The teams have no serious absences, so
there is no excuse for the losers of this thrilling tie.
Bayern very often plays the way they played against
Arsenal at home, the Bundesliga fans will agree. They sometimes don’t show some
astonishing performance, as if proving they can even win saving some energy.
And they usually do. In their previous Champions League match Bayern was too
relaxed. Even a 3rd minute wake-up call didn’t help them arouse.
Even when the score became 0-2 the team was still playing their confident
football. This is the strength of Jupp Heynckes’s team. No team and no
circumstances can ever break them. Schweinsteiger, Javi Martinez, Kroos,
Mueller, Robben, Ribery, Mario Gomez, Mandzukic, Pizarro, Shaqiri: all of these
superstars are members of the Bayern attack. No statistics is needed to add to
these names to demonstrate the huge attacking potential of the Champions League
vice-champions. They are also backed by captain Lahm and goalkeeper Neuer. Are
there any experts doubting this team to score 9 goals in their next matches?
Scoring nine goals is an extraordinary occasion, but
Bayern’s next opponent is not very famous for conceding a lot. In fact, no one
has scored to the Old Lady in this Champions League since the team conceded a
direct shot from a free kick back in November. The goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon
has held 5 clean sheets since then. The domestic record is impressive, too:
last time Antonio Conte’s team conceded twice in a match was three months ago. So
the defense is the strongest side of Juventus. The midfield is not weaker
either. With the genius Andrea Pirlo in the center and Vidal-Marchisio couple
next to him everything is possible for the opponent to expect. The attack has
been the most discussed topic around the Italian champions, but Antonio Conte’s
side is still one of the most scoring teams both in Italy and in Champions
League.
How the match will develop is not too difficult to
guess. It is going to be a reasonable football, where teams are not going to
risk a lot. Bayern is going to take the advantage of the wings, if Juve backs
ever dare to leave their positions, and long distance shots, which has probably
been Juventus’s weakest point this season. What the visitors may suggest is the
quick counterattacks with Pirlo’s killing crosses, which might catch Bayern’s occasionally
slow defense, or set pieces. Antonio Conte saw Bayern score 9 times in the last
match, but he also saw Bayern concede two from corners the same evening. But
the main battle is going to take place in the midfield, where maestros like
Schweinsteiger and Pirlo will be the central figures of the match. What
Juventus can hope for is that the team can fit better to the opponent. The
proof of this is Euro 2012 semifinal encounter, where the German and Italian national
sides played similar football as the two big clubs, having plenty of Bayern and
Juventus players within their squads. Another fact that Barzagli and Vidal
spent several successful years in Bundesliga doesn’t harm either. However,
Bayern will have a tiny advantage in this tie thanks to their Champions League
experience. This is the 4th time in the past 5 years for Bayern to
play in a Champions League quarterfinal, while Juventus has returned to this
stage after a 10-year break.
The other match is taking place in Paris, where PSG
will host Barcelona. Both of the teams have great news for their fans before
the Champions League quarterfinal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s suspension was reduced,
so that the Swede can play against his former club. Barcelona can look forward
to the coach Tito Vilanova’s return after a two-month absence.
These facts are definitely going to impact the match
concerned. As the other two teams playing their quarterfinal match on Tuesday,
PSG and Barcelona are almost champions of their domestic leagues. The current
form of PSG is undisputable. The team has been winning almost everything at
home. This is the main reason why Carlo Ancelotti’s team has got no competitors
for the French gold this season. Barcelona’s top form can be proven by Messi’s
unrealistic record of scoring in 19 league matches in a row.
What we learnt from the previous stage is that the
teams are strong enough to go all the way to the London-final. PSG has been the
only team in this tournament to eliminate a Spanish team. Although the team
didn’t show anything extraordinary in matches against Valencia, it was clear
that the French team was not one of those that concede goals occasionally.
They were calm in defensive actions and witty in
counterattacks. Claiming to become a superclub, PSG promised to show the home
public how they aimed to take the Champions League trophy. However, the coach
was the one losing to Deportivo and Liverpool after obtaining three-goal
advantages in Champions League editions of 2003-04 and 2004-05 respectively, so
the goal advantage had to be preserved no matter the price. And the price for
the PSG playing without Zlatan, was the boring defensive strategy. The opponent
may have dictated the play; PSG had the match tempo under control. And again, calm
defensive play, hard-work by Alex and Chantome, plus attackers Pastore and
Lavezzi who were fighting for the ball way behind the zone they were used to.
The result: no serious attacks conceded, despite the countless corners and a
goal conceded from a long distance. PSG was quick to score the equalizer, which
was more of a psychological answer for the home side. The nervousness was
present up until that moment. Despite the fact that Beckham never appeared on
the pitch, the team managed to earn the quarterfinal tickets. They need to show
the same calmness in defense to advance to the last 4.
Barcelona was mesmerizing when tearing Milan into
pieces in the second leg match of the Champions
League Round of 16. Many were
expecting the team to be blocked again, but the managerial staff came up with a
great idea of surprising the opponent with a nominal striker. David Villa was
unexpectedly active in front, so Milan’s attention was turned to him for Messi
to get the ball more often and having better time to create something tangible.
Iniesta and Xavi were there to assist the attackers, as usually.
The main profiles not eligible to play in the match
are Thiago Motta of PSG and Carles Puyol of Barelona. Both are injured. PSG has
got about 25-30% chances to defeat Barcelona. The main weapon has to be
Sirigu’s and Ibrahimovic’s extraordinary actions. Lavezzi and Pastore have the
quality to beat Barcelona’s defenders in quick counterattacks, while nobody has
disallowed David Beckham’s unofficial title of a set piece master. Although Barcelona
is believed to be weaker than it has been the past 5 years, there is no team
able to distract opponents’ defenders as well as the Catalan team. This was the
case against Milan and PSG is not more experienced than Carlo Ancelotti’s
former club. With such quick players as Lionel Messi, David Villa and Andres
Iniesta there are not many chances for Alex and Thiago Silva to win all the low
balls in the PSG penalty box.
But it is going to be 11 against 11 when the referee
blows his whistle at 20:45. Let Zlatan prove he is stronger than Lionel Messi.
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