Messi vs. Manchester United, return of Ronaldo and 23 years of "Ajax" without a home win: the main intrigue of the matches 1/4 final of the Champions League

Manchester United - Barcelona

After Manchester United was defeated by PSG in a home game, few English fans believed in the positive outcome of the confrontation in the first round of the Champions League playoffs. However, the wards of Ole-Gunnar Solskher in Paris managed to achieve an away victory with the necessary score 3: 1 thanks to the controversial penalty, which the judge appointed at compensated time after watching the replay. After this success, the club management signed a full-fledged contract with Sulscher.

Meanwhile, the draw was again not too supportive of Manchester United, identifying him as a rival in the quarterfinal of Barcelona. The Catalans in the sum of two matches defeated Lyon, and the role of the first violin was traditionally played by Lionel Messi. The Argentinean in the current season has already scored 43 goals in all tournaments (8 - in the Champions League) and scored a total of 60 points for performance (43 + 17).

In this football player can be called the evil genius of “MJ”, because he scored in both the Champions League finals with the participation of teams. In 2009, opponents fought for a trophy in Rome, and Barça won - 2-0. Two years later, the rivals' paths crossed again in the decisive match at Wembley, but this did not prevent the Catalans from winning a second victory. Blue garnet won - 3: 1, and one of the goals again recorded at his own expense Messi.

It is noteworthy that, in addition to him, Gerard Piquet and Sergio Busquets took part in both finals of the current blue garnet squad. For the "MJ" in those meetings played the current assistant Solskhera Michael Carrick. In 2011, Antonio Valencia also appeared on the field, who is likely to miss the reported game due to injury, and Chris Smalling spent 90 minutes on the bench.

The current meeting will be the 12th in the history of confrontation teams in European competition. In the previous 11, Barça scored four wins with three defeats, another four ended in a draw. For the first time, teams met in the final of the tournament in 1991. Then rivals challenged the Cup Winners' Cup, and the victory went to “MJ” - 2: 1.

Recently, however, the English team is not easy battles with the Spanish teams. Suffice it to recall the matches of the 1/8 final of the Champions League with Sevilla last season, at the end of which Manchester dropped out of the tournament. In total, in the last 15 matches, “United” scored only two victories over opponents from Spain, and not one in the six nearest matches.

“Barcelona”, by contrast, successfully opposes teams from England. In the last 13 matches, the Catalans suffered only one defeat, and in the last tournament draw in the first round of the playoffs knocked out Chelsea.

And in the semi-finals of the UCL-2011/12, the blue-garnet Londoners lost, and they eventually won the main European Cup for the first time in history.

Returning to the current confrontation, “MJ” in the first match will not help several football players at once: Eric Bey, Valencia, Matteo Darmian, Alexis Sanchez. Also questionable is the participation in the game of Marcus Rushford and Ander Herrera. Guests in Manchester, most likely, will not help Usman Dembele.

It will be especially insulting not to enter the field of Sanchez, because from 2011 to 2014 he defended the colors of Barcelona. But as part of the Catalans fully prepared for the game Piquet, who at the dawn of a career made a not too successful attempt to gain a foothold in the “MJ”.

It is worth noting that Sir Alexis suffered two defeats in the last three meetings of the Premier League and dropped to sixth place in the standings, which may indicate a slight crisis, while Barça is confidently moving to the next championship.

Ajax - Juventus

In another match of the day, the main sensation of the Ajax tournament and one of the favorites, Juventus, confidently moving to the eighth consecutive title of Italy, will meet. In this case, at the previous stage, both teams managed to show character. The Dutch, after losing a home game on the road, defeated Real Madrid and knocked the current trophy holder out of the fight. Turintsy left no stone unturned by Atletico in the return match thanks to hat-trick Christan Ronaldo, thereby quitly quitting for the defeat in Madrid.

Perhaps the main intrigue for the Italian fans on the eve of the match at the Johan Cruyff Arena was the health of the Portuguese, who was injured in the Euro 2020 qualifying match with Serbia. Until recently, it was not clear whether the football player will have time to recover for the first game with Ajax. But Massimiliano Allegri after meeting with Milan on Sunday said that the team leader is ready to enter the field.

Now Ronaldo will try to record at his own expense new goals in the Champions League. At the moment, he has four goals in seven games, while the leader of the race scorers in the tournament is Ajax midfielder Dusan Tadic with nine goals.

And defenders Martin Caceres and Andrea Barzalía “Juve” will definitely not help, as well as Nasser Mazraoui - “Ajax”.

Participation in the match Ronaldo will give a special piquancy to the already principled confrontation, because the teams crossed in the final of the main European Cup twice in history. In the decisive match of KECH-1973, Ajax won with a minimum score. And in the final of the Champions League 1995/96, the success was already celebrated by Juventus, which turned out to be stronger in the penalty shootout.

However, in general, Turints more often won Amsterdam. The last victory of Ajax over the Italian opponent came in the 1/8 finals of the UEFA Cup season 1973/74. Then it was “Ajax” that went further in the sum of two matches. Since then, in the playoffs, “Old Lady” has consistently knocked out an opponent.

The change in the distribution of forces in the European arena as a whole had a strong impact on the results of Ajax in the Champions League. The team made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in 16 years. And before the victory over Real Madrid, the team did not win the playoffs of the main European Cup for seven years. At home, “Ajax” last took the upper hand in the Champions League matches to fly 23 years ago. The Amsterdamians celebrated their last home victory over their rival from Italy back in 2002. Then, “Ajax” in the group stage of the Champions League turned out to be stronger than the “Roma” - 2: 1.

“Juventus” only once allowed the team from the Netherlands to knock themselves out of the European cups and won four victories with two draws in the last six matches with the representatives of this country.