The 2017/18 UEFA Champions League quarter-final line-up is complete and once again, for the sixth season in a row, the country with the most clubs still standing is Spain.
With a record five clubs present in the round of 16, England was expected to end Spanish dominance in the latter stages of the competition, but while Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla all went through, the Premier League’s representation shrank to just two following the elimination of Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea.
It was a good round also for Italy and Germany, who, like Spain, achieved a 100% success rate, with Juventus and Roma both recovering from disappointing first-leg results and Bayern Munich continuing to carry the flag alone for the Bundesliga thanks to their 8-1 aggregate annihilation of Beşiktaş.
While three English teams fell, the round of 16 turned out to be the end of the road for five other nations, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine all losing their last remaining participant.
What that means is for the first time ever all eight of the Champions League quarter-finalists are from the Big Four nations of Spain, England, Germany and Italy.
Let’s hope that Friday’s draw, which is fully open – i.e. without ‘country protection’ – does not spoil the competition’s international appeal and pair two teams from the same country. Only Bayern know for certain that they will be travelling abroad next month. It would be nice if all eight of them are obliged to get their passports out.
Here are some reflections on this week’s four matches:
Mourinho messes up
Manchester United’s exit to Sevilla was the shock of the round of 16, no doubt about that. The pairing of the last two Europa League winners was universally welcomed as a good draw for United. Instead it proved to be anything but, with José Mourinho’s reputation taking quite a battering after Tuesday night’s sorry 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford – not just in the media but also from legions of United supporters.
Mourinho tends to view the world from an odd, blinkered perspective at the best of times. But his post-match comments after United’s elimination from the competition he – and the club – treasures the most were truly bizarre. He thought his team “played well” and, furthermore, suggested that elimination was no big deal as he had knocked United out of the competition himself with Porto and Real Madrid.
United did not play well. They played very badly. In fact, they were woeful in every department, with Mourinho’s tactical tweaks and tinkerings following the weekend win against Liverpool bordering on the nonsensical. His players certainly seemed as confused by his pre-match instructions as we all were by the manager’s post-match mutterings.
Mourinho has skin as thick as the rear end of an African elephant, but this defeat will have got to him. The mention of those wins against United with Porto and Madrid, presumably made in a desperate bid to protect his ego, betrayed both his discomfort and anger at having messed up his team’s biggest match of the season.
United fans in general do not much care for Mourinho, nor for his style of play. He may wish to deny it publicly, but the club’s early elimination from the Champions League means he is now a man under pressure. Big pressure.
No home comforts for Premier League’s elite
It’s a remarkable fact that five matches were played on English soil during the Champions League round of 16, yet not one of them was won by the home team.
Chelsea (1-1) and Liverpool (0-0) drew, while Manchester City, Tottenham and Manchester United all succumbed to 1-2 defeats. For Liverpool and City, clearly, there was no damage done after their massive first-leg away wins against Porto and Basel respectively, but even so, it is a pretty damning state of affairs.
The trouble is, it’s not a one-off. If you look at the knockout phase of the past four Champions League campaigns, there have only been a paltry three home wins by Premier League clubs in 17 matches staged in England: two by Manchester City – 1-0 against Paris Saint-Germain in the 2015/16 quarter-finals and 5-3 against Monaco in last season’s round of 16 (though they lost the tie after a 3-1 defeat in the return) – and one, the most recent, by Leicester City – 2-0 against Sevilla, which ensured their qualification (3-2 on aggregate) as the lone English representative in the 2016/17 quarter-finals.
Let’s see if Liverpool and Manchester City can do something to alter this disturbing trend in the remainder of the competition.
Are Barcelona increasingly Messi-dependent?
The question has to be asked because the Greatest Player of All Time scored three goals and made the other in Barcelona’s 4-1 aggregate win over Chelsea.
Messi’s second strike at the Camp Nou was an absolute gem – an extraordinary burst of pace into the area followed by a razor-sharp finish – and a fitting way for him to bring up his century of goals in the Champions League. But it was scored totally against the run of play – as indeed was his equaliser at Stamford Bridge.
Without the sudden, opportune interventions of their incomparable No10, I doubt Barcelona would today be celebrating a record 11th successive qualification for the Champions League quarter-finals. The way I saw it, Chelsea were the more balanced and accomplished team in both matches. But they didn’t have the X factor that Messi always seems to provide when Barça need it most.
While the Catalans defended well at home – Samuel Umtiti’s blocking and positioning was particularly eye-catching – they did not control the game as they normally do. Chelsea, for whom Willian was a constant menace with his thrusting runs and N’Golo Kanté far and away the best midfielder on show, let themselves down with their final ball and finishing – and, for the first goal, their goalkeeping – but otherwise were the better side. And it was the same story in the first leg.
But Barcelona had Messi – the ultimate match-winner. He really is something else.
Sublime N’Zonzi
If Messi’s was obviously the individual performance of the week, Steven N’Zonzi’s masterful midfield display for Sevilla was not that far behind.
Time and again the giant Frenchman managed to find time and space in the centre of the pitch to keep his team in possession of the football and to launch attacking raids into the United half. His expensive compatriot Paul Pogba, who entered the fray in the second half, was risibly flyweight in comparison.
A year earlier N’Zonzi was largely responsible for Sevilla’s exit at the hand of Leicester when his timid penalty was saved by Kasper Schmeichel, but at Old Trafford he righted that wrong in spectacular fashion to help send the Andalusians into the Champions League quarter-finals for the very first time.
Expect plenty of speculation linking the ex-Stoke City player’s return to the Premier League between now and August.
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