Abraham P. Romero
Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-12:38
Direct This is how we live it
Some said, and say, that these
Champions League quarterfinals
are the best in history.
The eight clubs that have reached the penultimate round of the biggest continental competition are scary, although some are always more than others.
The three Spanish teams knew what they wanted and what they didn't want, and in the draw for the crosses, we could say that one of them has been luckier than the others.
Atlético
de Madrid
will face
Borussia Dortmund
, the weakest rival, while
Barcelona
will receive
Kylian Mbappé
's
PSG
and
Real Madrid
will once again face the ogre of Europe,
Manchester City
, suffering the match of return at the
Etihad Stadium
.
The
four ties
are as follows, with the first team playing the first leg at home:
Arsenal - Bayern Munich
Atlético de Madrid - Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid - Manchester City
PSG - Barcelona
The first thing to highlight is the
return of Carlo Ancelotti's team to Manchester
, to the home of the current champion, home of
Pep Guardiola, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne
... A team that last year was able to endorse him Real Madrid's worst defeat of the season.
A 4-0 that left them out of the final and that hurt more than any other defeat in recent years.
In the first leg, in the same situation that they will experience this year, the Madrid team was able to take the lead with a great goal from
Vinicius Júnior
, but De Bruyne's goal in the second half left the tie a bit uphill.
On English soil, City devastated the whites and emerged as the best team in Europe.
Ancelotti will land in the tie without Alaba and with the doubts of
Courtois and Militao
, who are in the last steps of their recovery from cruciate ligament injuries and could be part of the team during the match.
But above all, it will arrive with
Bellingham and Vinicius
becoming one of the best couples in Europe.
Benzema is not there, but Jude is.
Therein lies Madrid's enthusiasm against a City that has not changed compared to last season.
On the contrary, it is even better.
In
Barcelona
, the news of
Kylian Mbappé
's return has sparked some fear.
In the
round of 16 of the 2020-2021
, the French striker scored a hat-trick at the Camp Nou to seal the second leg and eliminate the team led by
Leo Messi
.
It will be a tie to judge at the highest level the defensive capacity of
Xavi Hernández
's men , in a defense in which Cubarsí has surprised, against a PSG now guided by
Luis Enrique
, former culé coach.
Another reunion with crumb.
The French,
without Messi or Neymar
, now look like more of a team than before despite having fewer names.
In the round of 16 they were better than
Real Sociedad
, always with Mbappé as the executor of their offensive.
At the
Metropolitano
, always with a certain calm, they could not hide their smiles this morning.
In a quarterfinal with City, Bayern, Madrid or PSG, luck has crossed them with Borussia Dortmund, on paper the weakest rival of the eight that were in contention.
The most worrying thing may be that second leg at the
Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund
, but Simeone's men appear as favorites against the team led by Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho.
Arsenal and Bayern
will play the only tie without Spanish teams in the quarterfinals.
Mikel Arteta
will try to continue making history with the
Gunners
on his return to the Champions League against the Germans that Harry Kane now leads after his departure from Tottenham.
The return in Munich clinches the crossing a bit for Bayern, although the German team has left many doubts this season in the Bundesliga, surpassed by Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen.