On Friday, Paris-Saint-Germain will know which route their European destiny takes: the draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League will be made at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon (Switzerland), and should reserve a piece of choice for Parisians, given the range offered.
By eliminating respectively Lazio (2-1) and Atlético de Madrid (2-0), Wednesday March 17, Bayern Munich and Chelsea have completed the list of possible prestigious opponents, alongside Liverpool, Dortmund, Porto, the Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Bayern Munich – Lazio Rome (2-1)
Easy winner in the first leg in Italy (4-1), Bayern Munich did not need to force his talent to qualify, at home, against the Italians, by chaining a nineteenth game without defeat in the competition . Without genius or passion, but with his usual weapons, the defending champion did the job: discipline, combativeness, and always a huge pressure on the opponent.
Despite his three-goal lead after the first match, Munich coach Hansi Flick had taken no chances. In the absence of his goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (cooling, replaced by the young Alexander Nübel) and Kingsley Coman (muscle pain), he had aligned his best possible team, with his stars Joshua Kimmich, Robert Lewandowski or Thomas Müller in particular.
Opposite, Simone Inzaghi had on the other hand visibly the gaze already fixed on the rest of the season: the captain and scorer Ciro Immobile was not on the pitch at kick-off, left to rest on the bench.
Amidst a long soporific game, Bayern’s inevitable Polish scorer Lewandowski opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 33e minute, signing his fifth goal this season in the Champions League, the 73e of his career in the competition, only beaten by Lionel Messi (120) and Cristiano Ronaldo (134).
For more than seventy minutes, the two goalkeepers did not have much to do to warm up under the few snowflakes that fell on the huge Allianz Arena empty of spectators. But the entry late in the game of the Bayern substitutes – anxious to show themselves – gave the game a bit of pace. Lewandowski’s understudy Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored a fine goal in the 73rde minute, well launched in depth by David Alaba (2-0). Marco Parolo closed the gap in the final minutes for the Italian club (2-1, 82e).
We must now go back more than two years, to March 13, 2019 to be exact, to find traces of the last setback of the Bavarians in the Champions League. They were beaten at home 3-1 in 8e final by Liverpool, future winner of the event. Since then, Lewandowski and his teammates have claimed eighteen wins and a draw.
Chelsea – Atlético de Madrid (2-0)
Chelsea also mastered their game by not giving Atlético de Madrid a chance. At no time did the Colchoneros give the feeling of being able to reverse the advantage offered to the Blues by the beautiful goal of Olivier Giroud, in Bucharest, where the match had been relocated due to the limitations of travel related at Covid.
Sign of his helplessness, the Argentine coach of Atlético, Diego Simeone, released before the hour mark a completely transparent Luis Suarez, causing a smirk from the Uruguayan. Nine minutes from the end, Stefan Savic was even excluded for a nudge to the sternum of Antonio Rüdiger, even if the German added. The only one to emerge a little from this very dull collective performance was Joao Felix who had all the actions worthy of the name on the Spanish side.
The sterility of the game of the leader of La Liga owes a lot to the new very convincing performance of Chelsea who finds the quarterfinals of the C1 for the first time since 2014. Deprived, in the middle, of Jorginho and Mason Mount, suspended, Thomas Tuchel had made confidence in his attack at 170 million euros, Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Kaï Havertz. A paying option since the trio perfectly combined for the opening of the score of Ziyech (1-0, 34e).
The second goal ended up coming at the start of added time, by Emerson who had just returned a few seconds earlier (2-0, 90 + 4).
Even if he does not seem as strong as Manchester City, this Chelsea, with his impressive defensive strength – 11 out of 14 games without conceding a goal -, especially given the absence of Thiago Silva, may have his say for the final victory.
As for crossing the road of his recent former club, Thomas Tuchel did not show an overwhelming enthusiasm. ” I am not sure. They are very, very strong, I know them well. We have to wait, it’s always a moment of suspense but we can’t change anything ”, said after the qualification, the German coach fired from PSG less than three months ago.
