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Hello! Pump out the white smoke, we have our Champions League semi-finalists and some breaking news from Anfield.
On the way:
Silencing The Bernabeu
Finding calm among the chaos
Real Madrid insisted it was going to be different, a comeback, or ‘Remontada’, of epic proportions. “Ninety minutes at the Bernabeu are very long,” they posted on social media, in 20 languages. And because they had done it so many times before, many believed their manifestation.
But Arsenal did not. They managed the game calmly to secure a 2-1 win on the night and a 5-1 aggregate triumph — as Arsenal writer James McNicholas says, this was a night that Mikel Arteta’s team came of age.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, flew out with emotion, but it was only realised in white shirts flying into Arsenal players. They ended the game with the same number of yellow cards as shots on target (three).
Bukayo Saka, who made up for a fluffed Panenka penalty with his second-half goal, was halved by David Alaba and later confronted by Madrid’s injured club captain, Dani Carvajal, at half-time. After scoring, he shushed the Bernabeu a la Thierry Henry in 2006 (above). Meanwhile, Antonio Rudiger used 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly, outstanding throughout, as a dancefloor (below).
But the night was typified by Declan Rice’s duel with Jude Bellingham.
England’s midfield pairing tangled and quarrelled several times, but while Rice saw a penalty given against him overturned, Bellingham was left on the verge of tears and reduced to tossing Arsenal players to the floor.
Diverging paths
This was arguably the biggest win of Mikel Arteta’s career, but for Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid’s first quarter-final exit in 21 years leaves questions about his future. “Your final Champions League game?” he was asked. “This season, yes,” the Italian replied. Dermot Corrigan has written about how Madrid lacked fundamentals.
While Arsenal enjoyed one of their greatest nights, two former players of rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Harry Kane and Eric Dier, were scoring for Bayern Munich against Inter. But it was to no avail as Inter went through.
Vincent Kompany’s debut season looks likely to bring the Bundesliga title, but as Seb Stafford-Bloor writes, quarter-final exits are not viewed as successful seasons in Bavaria. Bayern were left frustrated — Josip Stanisic even pushed a ball boy off his stool in exasperation.
As for the semi-finals, the line-up is set. Paris Saint-Germain will play a Premier League side for the third round in a row, travelling to Arsenal for the first leg on April 29. One night later, Barcelona will host Inter — the competition’s most prolific attack against its tightest defence.
They are ties that show European football at its best and as Michael Cox notes, with the final in Munich, the competition’s final five games will be played in the homes of each of the continent’s big five leagues.
Breaking: Van Dijk Signs New Deal
Captain joins Salah in committing to Liverpool
Some piping hot news for your Thursday newsletter. Virgil van Dijk will play for Liverpool next season — the club captain has signed a new two-year contract that will keep him at Anfield until 2027.
His contract, along with the club’s other central player, Mohamed Salah, was set to expire at the end of season, leaving it unclear for many months whether this era of Liverpool was over. Both players received approaches from elsewhere.
Salah re-signed last week and now, just six days later, Van Dijk has followed. David Ornstein has all the details.
The Athletic’s senior writer Simon Hughes has analysed the news:
“Only the most unreasonable observers would dispute Van Dijk’s status as a Premier League legend. There is equally no quibbling that someone of his size, speed and personality would have been able to cope with English football’s more bruising era.
“The best defender in Liverpool’s history? He is surely the most complete.”
News Round-Up
This Summer’s Central Character?
Where could Dean Huijsen move?
Each transfer window, there are a handful of blue-chip players on which the market rests. More often than not, this is a striker or winger. But this summer, one of the central characters will be a centre-back, Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen.
David Ornstein reported last week that Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are all interested and that he has a £50million ($64.8m) release clause.
Born in the Netherlands but having already represented Spain at senior level, the 20-year-old’s passing range and defensive nous means he is widely viewed as having one of the highest ceilings in the game. As Anantaajith Raghuraman points out, Huijsen is excellent at progressing play with switches or line-breaking passes (see above). And that release clause makes him affordable to many top clubs.
The Athletic’s club writers have covered why their sides want him, but whose style of play would he fit the best?
Around The Athletic FC
Catch A Match (Times ET/UK)
(Selected games, all 3pm/8pm kick-offs unless stated)
Europa League quarter-final second legs: Athletic Club vs Rangers — Paramount+, Fubo/TNT Sports; Frankfurt vs Tottenham — Paramount+/TNT Sports; Lazio vs Bodo/Glimt— Paramount+/TNT Sports; Manchester United vs Lyon — Paramount+/TNT Sports
Conference League quarter-final second legs: Chelsea vs Legia Warsaw — Paramount+/TNT Sports; Fiorentina vs NK Celje, 12.45pm/5.45pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports
And Finally…
I’d like to fist-bump TAFC reader Matheus Fiuza, who flagged this bizarre penalty incident in the Brazilian Under-20 Championship.
With the ball bouncing around the box, an Atletico Mineiro player decides to catch it, before dropping it like a scalding baking tray when he realises his mistake. Well, they say the best defenders never need to make a challenge to stop an attack…
(Top image: OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images)
