The closure of the round of 16 phase of the Champions League there was no room for surprises and two of the serious candidates that the contest has, Real Madrid and Napolithey advanced smoothly to the next phase.
The Spanish cast, current champions, did not have to do much to win their series after the 5-2 achieved against Liverpool during the first leg in England. However, true to his style, he once again showed himself superior and ended up prevailing. 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu with a goal from Frenchman Karim Benzema at 78 minutes after an assist from the Brazilian Vinicius.
Despite the urgency of their rival, Carlo Ancelotti’s team had the most possession of the ball and the one that built the best scoring chances throughout the match. So, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool closed its participation in the Champions League according to the very weak season it is havingsince in the English Premier League he is sixth, in Europa League positions and 24 points behind the leader Arsenal.
Napoli, unstoppable
The one who knows nothing of lazy seasons is the Napoli, who thrashed Germany’s Frankfurt 3-0 at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium and closed their series 5-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. The unstoppable Nigerian goalscorer Victor Osimhen scored a brace (at 47 minutes into the first half and at 53) while the Pole Piotr Zielinski added to the account with a penalty at 64. The Nigerian has 23 goals in 28 games in 2022/23.
The Argentinian Giovanni Simeone entered for the final 10 minutes in Napoli while the Colombian exRiver started for the Germans Rafael Borrewhile the also exMillionaire and Colón Lucas Alario did not leave the bank.
Napoli is living an unbeatable present since is heading almost without opposition to the title in Serie A, something that only knew how to celebrate at the hands of Maradona, in the 1986/87 and 1989/90 seasons. The cast from the south brings 18 points to Inter, his escort, when there are 12 dates left to play.
So things, The Champions League already has its eight best teams: Real Madrid, Napoli, Manchester City (eliminated Leipzig 8-1 on aggregate), Chelsea (2-1 over Borussia Dortmund), Benfica (7-1 to Bruges), Inter (1-0 over Porto), Milan (1-0 over Tottenham) and Bayern Munich (He dispatched Messi and Mbappé’s PSG 3-0).
The A series reaffirmed that they were at a high level and put three teams in the quarterfinals while England added two. While, Spain, Portugal and Germany They will have one representative each.
When and at what time are the rooms drawn?
The quarterfinal matchups will be raffled this Friday the 17th at 8 in the morning (Argentine time) and the phase will start to be played between April 11 and 12.