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Sports activities Mole selects its Champions League staff of the week for the final 16 second legs, together with Lionel Messi, Erling Braut Haaland and Fabinho.
The quarter-finalists for the 2020-21 Champions League have been confirmed, with all three English golf equipment making it via the final 16 and Barcelona and Juventus among the many high-profile groups to overlook out.
Barca failed to drag off a repeat of La Remontada of their second leg in opposition to Paris Saint-Germain because the glamour tie of the spherical ended 1-1 on the night time and 5-2 on combination to the French giants.
Juventus, in the meantime, slumped to the most important upset of the spherical as Porto pulled off an exciting away-goals combination victory over the Italian outfit, shedding 3-2 after further time within the second leg however nonetheless going via.
Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea all made comparatively mild work of their opponents, profitable to nil on combination in opposition to RB Leipzig, Borussia Monchengladbach and Atletico Madrid respectively.
Holders Bayern Munich additionally cruised via with out fuss on the expense of Lazio, whereas 13-time champions Real Madrid noticed off Atalanta BC and Borussia Dortmund edged previous Sevilla.
Right here, Sports activities Mole selects its Champions League staff of the week for the final 16 second legs.
DEFENCE
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One other Barcelona comeback in opposition to PSG was all the time unlikely, but it surely was not out of the query and, with out Keylor Navas in such good type between the sticks, it might have grow to be a actuality.
The shot-stopper made no fewer than 9 saves and, whereas he might do nothing in regards to the rocket which did beat him, PSG might afford to ship that one purpose with out worrying an excessive amount of attributable to their first-leg lead.
Two Liverpool defenders make the lower in a again three this week, and one requires further clarification on condition that Fabinho‘s efficiency was notably notable because it got here in his favoured midfield place, giving a reminder as to simply how a lot the Reds had missed him in that a part of the sector.
Nevertheless, a dearth of left-back choices this week has compelled us into pulling Fabinho again into defence as soon as once more, the place he companions Nat Phillips, who was a towering presence on the again as Liverpool put their home difficulties to at least one aspect to dispatch Leipzig.
Whereas Phillips is on the very starting of his Champions League profession, Pepe is coming in direction of the top and the wily 38-year-old used each drop of his expertise to guide Porto over the road in opposition to Juventus.
A 3-time winner of the competitors, Pepe made clearance after clearance and, regardless of ending up on the shedding aspect on the night time and conceding three targets, produced arguably the standout defensive efficiency of the spherical to beat Kurt Zouma and Sergio Ramos to a spot at centre-back.
MIDFIELD
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The midfield quartet all come from the identical match, with Porto’s dramatic victory over Juventus undoubtedly happening because the tie of the spherical.
It’s maybe unusual to have the staff that fell to probably the most stunning exit of the spherical because the most-represented staff on this week’s XI, however Juventus did win on the night time and their three alternatives all benefit a spot within the midfield.
Juan Cuadrado truly performed at right-back however is pushed ahead into a well-known extra attacking place to accommodate the again three, having created a whopping 12 possibilities on the night time – the primary participant to do this in a Champions League recreation since April 2011, when Mesut Ozil did so for Actual Madrid in opposition to Tottenham Hotspur.
Regardless of that, Cuadrado, who additionally hit the woodwork himself, ended the sport with just one help, which got here for Federico Chiesa‘s second purpose.
The winger nearly single-handedly dragged Juventus into the quarter-finals with a advantageous brace, changing into the primary Italian to attain twice in a Champions League knockout recreation for Juve since 1999, whereas he additionally hit the woodwork as his aspect fell agonisingly brief.
It was Adrien Rabiot who gave them hope till the final second with a bullet header lower than two minutes after that hope appeared to have been extinguished, and the midfielder’s contribution earns him a spot in the course of the park forward of Joshua Kimmich, N’Golo Kante, Kevin De Bruyne, Georginio Wijnaldum, Thiago Alcantara and Luka Modric.
Amongst these Juve gamers is the person who did probably the most harm to them – Sergio Oliveira. The midfielder opened the scoring from the penalty spot to go away Juve with a mountain to climb after which acquired what proved to be the winner within the one hundred and fifteenth minute as Porto held on for a well-known victory.
ATTACK
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The final 16 this season has been painted as a passing of the torch, with neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi making it via to the quarter-finals whereas their heirs obvious have finished so.
Messi proved that there’s loads of life in him but, although, producing a surprising particular person efficiency throughout Barcelona’s draw with PSG. The large blot on his copybook was a missed penalty which, if scored, might have raised hopes of one other memorable comeback, however the purpose he did rating was sensational and worthy of marking what could possibly be his last Champions League match for the membership.
One in all Messi’s touted heirs because the world’s finest participant is Erling Braut Haaland, and the deadly striker fired one other instance of precisely why with a fourth consecutive Champions League brace – one thing no participant has ever finished earlier than.
That’s not even probably the most spectacular statistic about Haaland’s goalscoring exploits on this competitors; he has scored extra Champions League targets than some other participant since his debut (20), has overtaken Kylian Mbappe for many Champions League targets earlier than the age of 21 and extremely has now reached 20 targets in simply 14 Champions League video games – 10 fewer appearances than earlier record-holder Harry Kane took to achieve that landmark.
Extra importantly, the goal-machine’s newest clinic took Dortmund into the quarter-finals on the expense of Sevilla, regardless of one of the best efforts of Youssef En-Nesyri, who matched Haaland’s return of two targets however ended up on the shedding aspect on combination.
Karim Benzema, Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez and Lucas Vazquez all deserve honourable mentions within the attacking positions too.
SPORTS MOLE’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Champions League Workforce of the Week (3-4-1-2): Navas; Phillips, Fabinho, Pepe; Cuadrado, Rabiot, Oliveira, Chiesa; Messi; Haaland, En-Nesyri
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