Chelsea and Benfica have some work to do to erase their 3-1 losses to Real Madrid and Liverpool respectively, but Bayern and Atlético will at least have home advantage to try to reverse the trend, following their loss 1 -0 in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
With Expedia, we go around these four return matches scheduled for Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 April.
Bayern mistreated
“We can’t hide, we were lucky to take just one,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich said following the first leg. The newspaper ‘Der Spiegel’ published a similar analysis: ‘Bayern’s dreaded attack stunned Villarreal with its sterility’. For the first time in 32 Champions League matches, Bayern did not shake the net.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team has 90 minutes to rectify the situation. Robert Lewandowski and his cronies have the task of hustling Unai Emery’s team in Munich. But Villarreal still have it under their feet. The striker Arnaut Danjuma was back following the first leg: “If you win 1-0 once morest Bayern and you can still improve, that’s a positive point”.
Real Madrid in a strong position
While Real had to make a fantastic “comeback” to get out of Paris in the round of 16, the context is totally different for this round. This time, Karim Benzema delivered his hat-trick in the first leg away from home, giving the Spaniards a big lead.
For their part, defending champions Chelsea were completely dejected, following losing for the first time in their history once morest the White House, which they had dominated in the semi-finals last season, with two 2-1 victories.
Thomas Tuchel, the London coach, reported “the worst first period” since he joined the Blues, a team that scores a lot outside of Europe, however. He will also need to find an effective defense at the Bernabéu.
Benfica: delicate mission
Benfica showed what they might do in the second half of the first leg once morest Liverpool, only to be devastated by Luis Díaz’s third goal for the Reds. Portuguese sports newspaper ‘A Bola’ concluded that the Portuguese club had “a soul, but not the glory that goes with it”.
Barring Liverpool from the semi-finals seems like a tall order for Nélson Veríssimo and his men, but with the talent of Darwin Núñez, the Eagles are not yet eliminated. They can also take inspiration from the 2005/06 season. They had won 2-0 at Anfield.
City ahead of Atleti
Phil Foden came on to provide the ball that Kevin De Bruyne sent deep into the Spanish net to give Manchester City the lead in the first leg: the strength of Pep Guardiola’s bench made the difference to crack the concrete defense of Atletico. “A 1-0 here is not such a bad score,” said ex-City defender Stefan Savić. “When we receive them in Madrid, it will be very different.”
Words full of defiance, but Diego Simeone’s side haven’t always had their best results at the Estadio Metropolitano of late. They haven’t won in their last six home Champions League matches (D4 L2) and Guardiola insisted he wouldn’t go to Madrid to defend.
The following
Semi-finals first leg (April 26 and 27)
Return semi-finals (May 3 and 4)
Finale (May 28 at the Stade de France)