On Wednesday, Bayern Munich and AC Milan joined Chelsea-Benfica, who have already reached the quarter-finals, in the direct elimination stage of the Champions League, after the Bavarians beat PSG (2-0) with Messi and Mbappé at home (2-0), and the Italian team retained one-goal lead at home to Tottenham (0–0)
. This is how the protagonists saw the two rematches.
We paid a heavy price for not being able to convert our huge chances into goals in the first half
– he evaluated Christophe Galtier, head coach of Paris Saint-Germain, then continued. “Overall, I was satisfied with our performance in the first half, but after the break we conceded a silly goal that shouldn’t be allowed at this level, and from then on we were in an extremely difficult situation.”
The French specialist is disappointed by the elimination, according to him the injuries that afflicted the Parisians decided the duel. “Several of our key players were dropped for these two matches, while at the rival’s side almost everyone could be used in the matches, this was the biggest difference.” Finally, regarding the questions about his future, he said:
it would be too early to talk about his possible departure.
Of course, he is aware that everyone is disappointed after the CL farewell, as well as the fact that the president and sports management of the club will decide on his fate, but he wants to stay and is currently concentrating on the rest of the season.
The goalkeeper of the Parisians, the European champion, Gianluigi Donnarumma nor did he hide his disappointment. “In the Champions League, small nuances decide on rallies like this, and we often came out badly from the key moments of the two matches. In the first half, we could have turned the game around, but we didn’t, and that later paid off.”
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsman he succinctly told the UEFA website that although they did not play very well in the first match despite the 1-0 victory, they corrected the mistakes they experienced there for the second leg, leaving much less space for PSG’s stars, so overall they fully deserved their success and advancement .
In the other match of the matchday, AC Milan played a goalless draw at home to England’s Tottenham, so a 1-0 victory in the first leg gave Stefano Pioli’s team a quarter-final spot. This is how the Italian master assessed it.
We emerged victorious from a tough battle. We were perfectly focused throughout, and our will paid off. It’s amazing to be in this series, and it’s good to dream. There is no such thing as the impossible in sport, we are waiting for the draw and then it will be clear what we are capable of. We have faith and self-confidence for the quarter-finals!
His colleague and compatriot, the Italian head coach of the Londoners, was understandably not so cheerful. “It is a long and difficult road for our team to be competitive at the highest level. Last season we were eliminated in the group stage of the Conference League, compared to this, the Champions League round of 16 is definitely an improvement, regardless, we are all extremely disappointed. We have to climb the ladder all the way, we must not skip steps, our fans must understand this as well. We struggled, we fought, but we weren’t decisive enough in the attacking third. However, we lost the duel not in London, but in Milan.” he said Antonio Conte.
The Italians’ BL winning battle, Olivier Giroud he talked about a great result and a well-deserved promotion.
I kept telling my teammates that we didn’t get to this point by accident, but if we’re here, let’s make the most of it. We deserved to advance, we could have scored goals in both games, we were even closer to victory in yesterday’s match.
The second leg of the other four round of 16 matches will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, the defending champion Real Madrid can look forward to the rematch against Liverpool with a 5-2 advantage, and RB Leipzig, which employs Dominik Szoboszlai and Willi Orbán, among others, will visit Manchester City’s home. match continues at 1-1.
The draw for the quarter-finals will be held on Friday, March 17, where the draw for the semi-finals will also be revealed.
(Cover photo: Christophe Galtier. Photo: Angelika Warmuth / Archyde.com)