Real Madrid, Spain, and Manchester City, England, appear to be the closest candidates for a fiery confrontation in the semi-finals of the European Champions League football competition, when they visit Chelsea, England, and Bayern Munich, Germany, on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, in the second leg of the quarter-finals.
The two royal clubs, the holder of the title and record in the prestigious continental competition, and Al-Samawi, won the second leg matches at home, with the first defeating its London guest 2-0, and the second beating its Bavarian giants, 3-0.
The draw had drawn the winner from the Real and Chelsea confrontation with the winner from the Bayern and City confrontation, provided that the second semi-final match brought together the winner in the Italian confrontation with Napoli and Milan with the winner with the confrontation of their compatriot Inter and Benfica of Portugal.
What raises the shares of Real Madrid and Manchester City is the shaky morale of their opponents. Chelsea lost the third match in a row, led by its interim coach Frank Lampard, successor to Graham Potter, who was dismissed from his position due to the negative results when he fell to his guest Brighton 1-2 in the domestic league on Saturday.
It seems that the dismissal was not feasible, but rather exacerbated the situation. Chelsea did not win in the last six matches in various competitions, and its last victory dates back to the 11th of last March when it beat its host Leicester City 3-1.
The boos at the final whistle, something that has become almost familiar at the end of the Blues’ home matches, were directed at the players, the management and even Lampard, who was greeted by the fans with banners two hours ago “Welcome back, Super Frankie”.
Lampard said after the match, “I will not try to embellish anything. There must be a sense of pride when you defend the colors of Chelsea. In order to restore our reputation and our balance, we need new energy. You must restore it.”
However, the task will not be easy tomorrow against Real Madrid, who consider winning the competition title a main goal for him this season, especially after his chances of defending the La Liga title faded.
The Royal Club prepared well for tomorrow’s match, with a deserved victory over its host, Cadiz, 2-0, on Saturday, in a meeting in which Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti rested his main pillars, most notably Brazilian Vinicius Junior and German Toni Kroos.
When Lampard took over the Chelsea training mission for the second time, Chelsea fans dreamed of the story of his former player, Roberto Di Matteo, who took over the team’s training at the end of the 2011-2012 season and led him to overturn his loss by two goals (1-3) against Napoli, Italy, in the first leg of the final price, to his victory 4- 1 after the extension back, and then to the first title in its history in the prestigious continental competition.
Lampard remembers it well as he scored that evening. “In football, we can change history very quickly,” Saturday said. “We will need a lot of desire to achieve (this feat) and it will be a different game. We have to ignite the atmosphere in the stands.”
In turn, Bayern Munich, led by its new coach Thomas Tuchel, successor to Julian Nagelsmann, is suddenly dismissed from his post.
The Bavarian giants achieved two wins against two losses and drew once in five matches, with the last of them stumbling in front of modest Hoffenheim 1-1 in a rehearsal for its upcoming summit against City, during which it needs a miracle to dissolve the three-goal difference.
Tuchel said he was surprised by Bayern’s poor performance against Hoffenheim and his neglect of “a great opportunity to create an atmosphere for us and our fans and raise their confidence in our ability to turn the tables” on Manchester City.
He added, “There is a clear disappointment for us in the result and in the way we played. We only had very rare moments of good play. In some moments we committed six or seven passing errors in 60 seconds in the first half.”
He continued, “We played with little energy, little spirit, a slight change in rhythm, lack of conviction, and little confidence,” indicating that he was “very surprised” compared to what his team showed in Freiburg last week in the league and for 70 minutes in Manchester in the first leg of the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, City enters the match with high spirits after narrowing the gap to four points from Premier League leaders Arsenal by beating Leicester City 3-1, including a brace for Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, who was relieved by Spanish coach Josep Guardiola after the end of the first half.
It is certain that Haaland will be among the deadly weapons that Guardiola possesses and relies on in the face of his former team to continue his career with City in the hope of fulfilling the dream of his Emirati owners to win the title for the first time in the club’s history.
But Guardiola was careful after the first leg, and said, “I expect anything (forward). The players on and off the field saw Bayern’s performance, so there is no need to alert them. They are good and performed wonderfully from the group stage to here…” referring to his lead in the role. The groups scored the full mark, and then the star-studded French Paris Saint-Germain was eliminated from the final price.
Inter Milan is seeking to turn the page on its disappointments in the domestic league and focus on hosting Benfica on Wednesday to confirm its 2-0 win outside its home bases and book its ticket to the semi-finals for the first time in 13 years, specifically since 2010 when it won the third title in its history after 1964 and 1965.
Inter has been suffering recently and achieved one victory in its last eight matches in various competitions, and it was at the expense of Benfica (2-0) last Tuesday, when it fell to a draw three times compared to four defeats, the last of which was against its guest Montsa (0-1) Saturday in the league.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi expressed his dissatisfaction, especially since his team “did everything in the match: control, possession and chances, but we failed to score.”
He added, “It is no coincidence that the goalkeepers of our rival teams are chosen as the best in matches. We must be more effective in attack and this is what we talk about every day, and I am confident that we will succeed in that.”
On Tuesday, all eyes will be on the “Diego Maradona” stadium in Naples, where the third summit between the owner of the land and Milan in three weeks.
This is the first Italian confrontation in the knockout stages since the Milan Derby in the 2005 semi-finals.
Milan came out victorious in the previous two confrontations, 4-0 in Naples in the league, and 1-0 in San Siro in the first leg of the Champions League.
Napoli and Milan prepared for the upcoming confrontation, with two disappointing draws on Saturday against Hellas Verona, 0-0, and Bologna 1-1, respectively, in the thirtieth stage of the league.
Napoli restored the services of its Nigerian top scorer, Victor Osimhen, after recovering from an injury during his participation with his country in the international match window at the end of last month, which kept him out of the last three matches, and he will be a deadly weapon in tomorrow’s match.
Spalletti confirmed that Osimhen, who entered in the last quarter of an hour, will start Tuesday. enthusiasm for it.”