Champions League: a City-Bayern clash, the Real-Chelsea remake, what you need to know before the quarters

Europe 1 with AFP 19:03 p.m., April 10, 2023

Manchester City host Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League, the first summit of the European spring before a Real Madrid-Chelsea the next day, enticing remake of last season's stunning quarter-final. Before he can dream of lifting his first big-eared cup with City, Pep Guardiola will have to pass the obstacle of Bayern Munich, executioner of Paris Saint-Germain, the new coach and rival of the Spaniard, Thomas Tuchel. While at the head of Chelsea, the German coach had deprived "Pep" of a European title with City in May 2021 in Porto.

The arrival last summer of Erving Haaland, author of a historic quintuple in the eighth against Leipzig (7-0), could allow Guardiola to finally fill this gap. But first he will have to eliminate the Bavarian ogre. Bayern, who recently lost coach Julian Nagelsmann, sidelined and replaced by Tuchel, will have to do without their centre-forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, scorer against PSG but forfeit due to a knee problem. Serge Gnabry could take the place of the former Parisian at the forefront of the attack, as was the case Saturday against Freiburg in the league (1-0).

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Two other historic quarters

For Madrid, the defending champions, Wednesday's reception of Chelsea is a remake of last season's quarter-final: a memorable opposition for Karim Benzema's team, virtually eliminated until the 79th minute of the return match at the Bernabeu stadium. It took a goal from Rodrygo to snatch extra time, then a goal from the inevitable Benzema to continue on their path to their 14th Champions League title.

Since last season, the London team has changed significantly, boosted by recruits (Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez ...) and expenses without counting driven by the new American owner. But the waltz of coaches has taken on surprising proportions: Tuchel, who had started the season, was replaced in September by Graham Potter, who took the door at the beginning of the month for insufficient results. The interim was entrusted to Frank Lampard. But the return of the former player and ex-coach of the Blues has not yet had the expected impact with a defeat and a very poor performance this weekend on the lawn of Wolverhampton (1-0) on the 30th day of the Premier League.

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The Italians at the rendezvous

In addition to these two shocks, the last two posters of the quarter-finals are certainly less flashy but still historic with Benfica-Inter Milan and AC Milan-Napoli. Three Italian clubs, a first since 2006 - and a Portuguese team for a place in the final, it is very rare in recent seasons. For Italy, we have to go back to 2017 and Juventus Turin to find a finalist. As for the Lusitano teams, they have been dreaming of finals since the title of FC Porto in 2004.

Napoli, qualified for the first quarter of its history and quiet leader of its championship, will have to master the reigning national champion Milan. And it will not be easy, as Olivier Giroud's team outclassed Napoli last week in Serie A, deprived of Victor Osimhen, top scorer. On Wednesday, the Rossoneri will be all the more excited as a Milan derby could await them in the semifinals, if Romelu Lukaku's Inter overcomes the Lisbon Benfica (out at the top of its group ahead of PSG).

But Inter, who fell to Porto in the knockout stages of the Champions League (1-0, 0-0), arrived at the Estadio da Luz in a rather worrying phase. The Italians have not known the taste of victory since March 5 and a success against Lecce in Serie A (2-0).