UEFA Champions League (UCL) Fantasy continues this evening, which means a chance for managers to make further changes to their teams.
Here, our European football writer ‘Stats Don’t Lie’ looks back on last night’s matches and previews Wednesday’s action.
For a recap of his captaincy and differential picks for tonight, read this piece.
MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FANTASY TEAM HERE
Four Things We Learned Last Night
Liverpool’s new guard step up
Liverpool took away a 3-1 away victory from the first leg against Benfica, though the scoreline perhaps makes the game seem like it was far more comfortable for the Reds than was actually the case, particularly in the second half. The goals for Liverpool came courtesy of Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz, two of whom have been new additions to their squad this season. Konate started the game well, though his second-half howler looked to have given Benfica a way back into the game before Diaz bagged his first Champions League goal for Liverpool. Diaz also provided an assist for Mane’s goal and put in the kind of performance he has been threatening in every appearance for Liverpool so far, culminating in a deserved Man of the Match award.
Benfica play a classic game of two halves
The first half of last night’s game was plain sailing for Liverpool really as they cruised into a 2-0 lead. Benfica looked off the pace, perhaps a little shy, and just couldn’t put a glove on Liverpool. It may have been the case that the 17th-minute goal from Konate in particular ruined any plans they had for the game. In the second half, however, they looked much more threatening, brave and much more like the team that knocked out Ajax in the round of 16 and beat Barcelona 3-0 in the group stage. They put much more pressure on the Liverpool defence and after getting a gift from Konate that led Darwin Nunez to make it 2-1, they should’ve then arguably had a penalty after Virgil van Dijk brought down the Uruguayan in the 66th minute. Benfica now face an uphill task travelling to Anfield if they are to cause one of the bigger upsets in recent UCL history.
Pep never likes to keep it simple
Following a funny press conference where Pep Guardiola joked about his tendency to overthink on big UCL nights, he put out another squad yesterday that made many think “oh dear, he’s doing it again”. Guardiola chose to not use any of Gabriel Jesus, Jack Grealish or Phil Foden from the start and instead opted to make room for all three of Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in the side. The end result was a narrow 1-0 victory where Man City were comfortable for most of the game, with De Bruyne once again being the hero for Guardiola’s side as he has been so often in recent weeks. Interestingly, it was Foden who came off the bench to provide the decisive assist, which just reinforced the questions being asked as to why he didn’t start. One thing is for sure, we will never be safe from Pep roulette.
Smash-and-grab strategy lacks execution for Simeone’s Atletico
From the first minutes of last night’s game, it was clear that Atletico Madrid had travelled to the Etihad with the aim of securing a draw and trying to steal a victory if the opportunity presented itself. Diego Simeone has shown many times that his side are happy to sit back and soak up the pressure waiting for a counter-attack opportunity. They played large parts of the game with two banks of five and lacked any endeavour going forward, as evidenced by their tally of zero shots the whole game. Their best opportunity perhaps came early in the second half when a mix up at a Manchester City corner led to Antoine Griezmann breaking on the counter but Gundogan did just enough to deny him a clear one-on-one opportunity versus Ederson. Atletico have now left themselves with a challenge when they take on Manchester City at the Wanda Metropolitano next Wednesday, where they will have to be a bit more adventurous.
What can we expect on Wednesday Evening?
Emery’s Villarreal face their toughest challenge in years
Bouncing back from successive league defeats is never an easy task. Doing so against probably the best attacking side in Europe at the moment in a Champions League quarter-final is all the more difficult. Yet in Unai Emery, Villarreal have a coach with tremendous European pedigree who has won the most Europa League titles by any manager (four). He has also said that the league is the priority for his side and their current UCL achievements are a bonus, clearly aiming to instil some energy and freedom in his side ahead of this match-up.
Bayern will have to live up to the “favourites” tag
Julian Nagelsmann has challenged his side to live up to the title of favourites against a side that Bayern cannot risk underestimating. He also admitted that there is much more pressure on the result for his club than their opponents but believes his team are more than capable of coping with that pressure. The biggest question will perhaps be who will line up from the start for Bayern, with a plethora of in-form attacking options at Nagelsmann’s disposal and many more players fit and available than has been the case in recent months. Whoever starts, you can be sure that Bayern will look to take the game to Villarreal and they will hope to give another masterclass in attacking football.
Chelsea need crowd support in tough tie
Thomas Tuchel admitted in his pre-match press conference that both the crowd and his players were flat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and that a strong performance from the home support could make all the difference. Chelsea start with a home leg and Tuchel emphasised that it is important that his team can light a spark in this game which they can carry into what will likely be an even more difficult away game in Madrid next week. He also downplayed any comparison to last season’s semi-final tie between the two sides, saying that this quarter-final will be a new challenge against one of the most underrated players in the world in Karim Benzema.
New year, New Madrid
Real Madrid will be looking to make good on the painful semi-final exit against Chelsea last season and that starts at the Bridge tonight. This feels like a completely different side to the one that played those semi-final matches last year. This year, Real Madrid have transformed into a frightening attacking side with their Batman in Karim Benzema being effectively supported by his Robin (Vinicius Jr). Those two will be the key as Real Madrid search for a win against the Londoners, and form would certainly suggest that they will prove nigh-on impossible to stop. Much will also depend on whether Carlo Ancelotti will be able to take to the touchline for this match, with the Italian testing positive for COVID last week and needing a negative PCR before he is able to travel. His potential absence will be just one of the challenges that Real Madrid will have to overcome tonight.
