Champions League 2012-13: The first leg of the quarterfinals, Part I

The four quarterfinal ties are entering the second leg, where the teams know each other better, and it is time to act, at least for some of the teams planning to reach the Champions League semifinals this season. The four matches generated only 9 goals, which is typical for first legs. The most interesting is to follow.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal was the best out of these 9 goals, although Messi’s goal could be a good competitor, considering Daniel Alves’s fantastic pass.

Burak Yilmaz has probably played his last match in this Champions League, as he is suspended for the second leg and a semifinal ticket doesn’t look likely for his team to earn. So the Turkish international is now sharing the second place with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, both having scored 8 goals in 9 matches. The sole topscorer is Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 9 times in his 9 matches.

There are no changes in the table showing the leagues participating in this Champions League. Spain and Germany add points to their account.

	League	Pts.
1 (-)	Spain (3)	65
2 (-)	Germany (2)	51
3 (-)	England (0)	39
4 (+1)	Italy (1)	29
5 (-1)	Portugal (0)	27
6 (-)	France (1)	25
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

The biggest losers of the club ranking are the Italian champions Juventus, who haven’t got lots of chances to overcome Bayern’s hurdle after a toothless first leg. Real and Bayern are confidently leading the table, followed by Barcelona, who returns to Nou Camp with a good away result of 2-2. Borussia is still better in the ranking, though Malaga is now closer after a solid score of 0-0 in the first match. PSG will have some chances to reach the semifinals, unlike Juventus and Galatasaray occupying the last two places in the ranking.

RANKING AFTER THE FIRST LEG OF QUARTERFINALS

Place	Club
1 (-)	Real Madrid (Spain)
2(+1)	Bayern (Germany)
3 (-1)	FC Barcelona (Spain)
4 (-)	Borussia D. (Germany)
5 (+2)	Malaga (Spain)
6 (-)	PSG (France)
7 (-2)	Juventus (Italy)
8(-)	Galatasaray (Turkey)

The most predictable of all, Real-Galatasaray quarterfinal tie produced three goals: all of them were scored by Real players.

Fatih Terim knew the defense was the weakness of his team, so the experienced manager had to push forward and get a goal scored. Having many experienced European scale players in the squad, it was clear that the team wasn’t nervous against the Spanish giant. Galatasaray’s performance can therefore be called brave, but it never got successful. Didier Drogba, together with Emmanuel Eboue, was trying to lead the team to threatening attacks. The Ivorians tried to create problems for Real, but the hosts were getting more and more confident in containing the visitors. Varane got used to Drogba’s style, Eboue got dug in defensive responsibilities, Burak Yilmaz was not given the space he needed, Altintop had a bad match, and Sneijder was substituted after the first half. Terim was trying to avoid more conceded goals after the break.

Mourinho surprised, introducing Micheal Essien in a right defender’s position. The match showed that the Ghanaian was there to assist his side’s attacks from the righ. Having Eboue’s threat from the left, the Portuguese manager had decided to leave Fabio Coentrao alone with his defensive responsibilities and concentrate on right-wing attacks. Other than this, Real’s midfielders not surprisingly outplayed their Turkish fellows, with Ronaldo and Benzema winning half of the battles in Galatasaray’s penalty box. Three scored goals after Oezil’s, Essien’s and Xabi Alonso’s crosses were a good assessment to Real’s dominance over Galatasaray.

The conclusion is that Real had a very good match, with all players actively taking part in it, but no one needed to rush the incidents or make an extra effort. Galatasaray was trying to deliver the surprise. The team even exceeded Real in ball possession, but the opponent was too rational.

There is not much to discuss about the return leg. Real is a team that has scored in all Champions League matches this season, and Galatasaray is not the team to score five, or even three to this Real. The fact that Burak Yilmaz will be suspended for this match doesn’t make the things better, so Terim and assistants, all sent off in their last league match, will have it hard, if not impossible, to find a functional solution on their problem. Both of the teams had good matches during the weekend. Some of the players were given a rest ahead of the Champions League clash, though the teams won their matches, with Galatasaray getting closer to the championship, and Real strengthening its positions on the second place. The news of the match is the likely return of Iker Casillas.

Malaga and Borussia have knowledge about each other now, though the lack of this knowledge never prevented them from demonstrating good football in the first match. Borussia, the favorites to advance to the semifinals from this couple, were closer to open the score, as Juergen Klopp’s side took the advantage of pressing throughout the pitch. The team was using Robert Lewandowski’s skills to open space for partners, in particular Goetze and Reus. Especially Goetze has to blame himself for the zeroes on the scoreboard. He lost all of his duels to Malaga’s goalkeeper Willy. The score of 0-0 assumes that Malaga’s attack wasn’t good either. The team never found the way to feed Isco and Joaquin, who stayed anonymous throughout the match.      

It will not be a big surprise if we see Malaga defending massively during the whole match. But this is surely not going to be the same as the match in Porto, when the team lost and got criticized for boring football. Pellegrini is experienced enough to understand that ultra-defensive tactics in such matches is equal to death. Teams can be unlucky and concede one and never be able to change a defensive mindset into an attacking. The fact that Borussia has scored in all but 4 matches this season means that a scored goal by Malaga looks to be a must in any case. However, if any of the teams would be set for extra time and penalties, it would be Malaga - a team with a lower status and little chances to win the tie. Borussia’s task is not going to be easy either. The fact that they didn’t use any of their goalscoring chances in the first match will make it riskier for them to attack. Considering the suspension of two important Malaga players Weligton and Iturra, Borussia has got 75% chances to appear in the semifinals. Another leader Eliseu has just started to train again, so his name might be on the list on Tuesday evening.  

The teams showed that Champions League success is the main target of the season, as they left their strongest players on the bench on Saturday. Especially Malaga had to stand up for a fight to enter the Champions League next season. The team lost to Real Sociedad after a disastrous flight to San Sebastian, when the plane was struck by thunder three times before the plane had to prepare for an emergency landing. The bad mood in the team continued as the manager Manuel Pellegrini had to leave for Chile to say the last goodbye to his father. He has to find his way to Dortmund by the match kick off. Finding themselves in such circumstances Malaga players will do everything possible not to lose in a match deciding whether the season was successful or not.