What a wild soccer season for the UEFA Champions League so far. There have been more upsets to go around this year than in recent memory. Not only have the reigning champions been eliminated by AJAX but today saw yet another of last year’s semifinals get eliminated in dramatic fashion.
AS Roma were eliminated in a shocker against FC Porto. No offense to Porto but I don’t believe there were many people who expected last season’s runner-up to give up a 2-1 lead in the quarterfinals. Now, I’ll give Porto some credit. They are having a good season this year and sit within striking distance of Benfica for the top spot in Portuguese Liga. Whether you saw this coming or not at least Roma aren’t PSG.
There might not be a more upsetting team in the UEFA Champions League than PSG. The French’s premiere team lead Ligue 1 by 17 points with a goal differential of +64! There are only 5 teams across Europe’s main leagues to even score 64 goals:
- PSG 79
- Manchester City 76
- Barcelona 66
- Benfica 66
- Liverpool 64
So one can imagine the surprise when PSG, holding a 2-0 away result against Manchester United, failed to advance today by giving up 3 away goals to Man U and losing 3-1 at home! Let’s go back to 2 years when they infamously collapsed versus Barcelona in the 2nd leg of the round of 16 by giving up 3 goals after the 88th minute. Last year they were eliminated in the same round. Now this year they’ve dramatically collapsed again. But hey, at least they’ll absolutely run away with Ligue 1…not sure that’s why they paid 222 Million Euros for him though (as he watched from the sideline).
If the dramatics weren’t good enough already, Real Madrid were eliminated Tuesday by Ajax, losing 4-1 at home. I don’t what’s worse for Real, losing out of the Champions league 1-4 at home against the Dutch or losing Cristiano Ronaldo in the offseason to Juventus.
Speaking of Ronaldo, Juventus look to have their hands full next Tuesday down 0-2 to Atletico Madrid. So if you were a Real Madrid fan or a Cristiano Ronaldo fan, this year’s champions league just isn’t for you and might be a sign of what’s to come in future installments.
The other typical names are still very much in play with Manchester City up 3-2 at home against Schalke 04, Barcelona at home against Lyon, and Bayern Munich hosting Liverpool. We don’t know how next week will hold up but if this week has any indication for what’s to come, next week is sure to be must watch TV.
Teams who’ve punched tickets to the quarterfinals:
- Manchester United
- Ajax
- FC Porto
- Tottenham Hotspur
-Jaracz
*Featured Image found at https://manilafootball.com/international/draw-for-2018-2019-uefa-champions-league-held/
The Other Side Sports 