City record dry and Benzema's duel with Muriel: what to expect from the Champions League 1/8 finals in Budapest and Madrid

Will City beat Juve's achievement?

After the mentor of Borussia Marco Rose announced the summer transition from Mönchengladbach to Dortmund, his team went wrong completely.

Even at the end of winter, black and white seriously claimed to get into the European cups-2021/22 and looked like a formidable rival for Manchester City in the Champions League playoff round.

However, today there is no trace of the former efficiency.

Since the moment the mentor announced his choice of a new career path on the club website, Borussia have lost in all six matches, conceding a dozen goals.

In the Bundesliga table, she dropped to tenth place.

Whereas a home defeat to the British (0: 2) on the continental arena makes their qualification for the Champions League quarterfinals doubtful.

The level of rivals partly justifies the decline of the team.

The foals have consistently tested the strength of the Bundesliga tops - Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer.

And defeats with a difference in the ball hinted at an even struggle for the possibility of a more positive outcome.

In reality, however, the numbers are misleading.

For example, Julian Nagelsmann's team crushed the opponent in a strong-willed manner, playing two goals and scoring the winning one in the 93rd minute.

Dortmund “Borussia” achieved success, despite another accurate blow, canceled by VAR, and a removal in the very ending.

The outsider Augsburg, who shocked the players to Rose over the weekend, forced Mönchengladbach captain Lars Stindl to grease the penalty and concede 1: 3 despite 63% of the ownership.

In this form, it is almost impossible to win back two goals from the leader of the Premier League.

After all, "City" actually destroys everyone who gets in the way.

If we leave out of the brackets the largely illogical failure in the Manchester derby (0: 2), then since the triumph over Mönchengladbach, Pep Guardiola's team has scored at least twice in every fight.

The defense, however, has ceased to be perfect (not a single dry meeting out of the last five), but in the Champions League, the “townspeople” destroy much more efficiently - for 616 minutes the opponents cannot hit Ederson's goal.

One more match to zero - and Manchester will come out on the second place in impenetrability in history.

So far, this line is occupied by Juventus with an ideal streak of 690 minutes.

History is also on the side of the British, because all 11 duels from two rounds, where they won away at the start, were further brought to overall success.

Now, however, the statuses of home and away matches are relative - like the previous meeting with Borussia, Tuesday's match will be held on a neutral pitch in Budapest.

The staffing situation is also favored by Manchester City, which has already become accustomed to the absence of Nathan Ake - the only injured in the team's numerous and expensive bid.

But Borussia runs the risk of being left without Rami Bensebaini and Chris Kramer.

Important players for the green-white system only started training in the general group on Monday and therefore are not ready to withstand the load of all 90 minutes of intense football in the Champions League.

And there is no doubt that City will offer just such a game to the opponent: Guardiola's team won 23 victories in the last 24 matches largely due to the mobility and aggressiveness of the lines.

Even Rose speaks of the super-efficiency of the opponent's system in delightful tones.

“When City has the ball, it won't be easy for any team to take it.

Counterpressing is also at their best, as are the rapid transitions from defense to attack.

Pep gave the team almost total football, ”the mentor concluded.

The status of the favorite "Manchester" is confirmed by the fact that even those who almost forgot how to do it began to score in the team.

Sergio Aguero scored his first Premier League title in the weekend against Fulham (3-0) after 641 minutes and 24 wasted shots.

John Stones, who also upset Borussia in the previous meeting, also scored.

For the central defender, the ball was the fifth in ten weeks.

He scored exactly the same amount for City in all the previous days spent with the team!

Mönchengladbachs should be alarmed, because in the Bundesliga the team ranks sixth in terms of weakness of defense.

But in the German championship there are at least such dangerous attack groups as Guardiola's team.

Will Real stop Muriel?

Five straight away victories in the Champions League make Atalanta a formidable opponent for Real Madrid.

And the advantage of the Spaniards in the ball, obtained in the away match, globally does not affect the hands of the pair.

Indeed, in March the team of Zinedine Zidane never played to zero, conceding even from the modest Elche, which is in 17th position Examples.

Moreover, Madrid almost lost to the outsider at the weekend: up to the 73rd minute, the guests were 1: 0, not allowing strikes on their own alignment.

But then Karim Benzema got down to business.

Having twice upset Elche, he extended his scoring streak in the national championship to four matches (before Atletico, Valencia and Getafe suffered from the striker).

Thus, he not only helped Madrid to formalize the first March success in the domestic arena, but also brought his own bunch with Luka Modric to the top.

After all, the last five programs of the Croat in Example were wisely completed by Benzema.

Atalanta knows firsthand how dangerous Modric is.

His pass to Ferlan Mendy became an assist in the first leg and determined the outcome.

After all, before the defender's crazy shot, the Italians bravely fought back, allowing only four hits on target.

And this is in the minority since the 16th minute after the removal of Remo Freuler!

The red card did not look unambiguous, but the Bergamascans had to make the decision of the referee, as well as the prospect of a return match without the Swiss midfielder.

However, Gian Piero Gasperini is famous for his ability to find such options for the composition that, even with a personnel crisis, he will not yield to his opponent in anything.

This is confirmed by the finding of the team in the fourth position in Serie A, and only one failure during the last seven games of the national championship.

Moreover, the minimum misfire in the duel with the inflexible “Inter” (0: 1) happened during a meaningful game - if the Bergamasks were a little luckier, they would have got three points.

Gasperini has his own Benzema.

We are talking about Luis Muriel, whose goal helped the team defeat La Spezia at the weekend with a score of 3: 1.

Thanks to a precise shot, the forward was involved in the 14th goal of Atalanta's rivals in 2021.

For comparison, only Robert Lewandowski (16) and Lionel Messi (17) are more productive in the top European championships.

In line-ups equal to Real Madrid, the Colombian will have more opportunities to increase his scoring assets.

True, the Spaniards are waiting for Sergio Ramos to return to service, and with him in the center of defense, order will definitely increase.

But from Eden Azar, it seems, Madrid will not wait for help.

Zidane described the situation of the Belgian with the vague wording "he is not in the best condition."

And Benzema hinted at another relapse, which reset the midfielder's condition.

“Eden was not very lucky with injuries after joining Real Madrid.

I am offended for him, because he is a top footballer who is able to help us a lot.

I think he is also not happy with all this.

I hope Eden will return to service as soon as possible, because we need him, ”said the Frenchman.

The Bergamasks with the roster are much better: except for Freuler, the team will not be lucky to go to Spain, only Hans Hatebora.

This means that there is a likelihood that the last Russian footballer remaining in the Champions League will appear on the field.

Oleksiy Miranchuk, although he did not get a lot of time in the March segment (only 54 minutes in four meetings), nevertheless scored a goal in the 5: 1 defeat of Crotone.

In addition, he was directly related to the eight-game streak without an away defeat.

It was interrupted on March 8 after a visit to Inter.

But on the eve of Atalanta's trip to Madrid, it is appropriate to recall this, since Gasperini's team has already surprised them several times during the season with counter-attacking away models.

And to Real Madrid the traditional 3 - 4 - 1 - 2 will surely provide traps for the most dangerous opponents.