On March 17 (Hanoi time), UEFA conducted a draw to divide the Champions League quarter-finals. Accordingly, the lucky draw brought Man City to face the most difficult team, Bayern Munich. This is an interesting matchup. Pep Guardiola meets his old team again, while Joao Cancelo will play against the host club.
Pep led the Gray Lobster for 3 years (2013-2016) but never reached the top of the Champions League. In the event that Cancelo plays well and helps Bayern continue, it will be a great pain for the Premier League representative.
Teams in the quarterfinals this season.
Real Madrid reunited with Chelsea for the third consecutive season. In the 2020/21 season, the Blues defeated Los Blancos in the semi-finals, before taking the throne. A year later, it was Chelsea’s turn to be defeated as Real headed straight for the championship.
Notably, Bayern or Man City will meet the winner of the match between Real Madrid and Chelsea in the semi-finals. This is considered a difficult branch in the Champions League at the moment.
On the other side, fans will witness the Serie A civil war between AC Milan and Napoli in the quarterfinals, while Inter Milan will meet opponents from Portugal, which is Benfica.
Of course, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Man City are still top candidates. However, looking at the draw results, Experts predict Napoli can create the biggest shock in the Champions League this season.
Napoli’s bracket shows that they are the team with the highest chance of winning the right to play in the final. AC Milan or Inter Milan are not rivals of coach Luciano Spalletti’s teachers and students in Serie A this season.
Put on the scale, Benfica can hardly stop Napoli. AS confirmed: “The way Napoli beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the round of 16 of the Champions League (5-0 total) is a sign that no one can stop this team.”
Napoli’s strength is spread in all 3 lines. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the soul in the gameplay. He scored 11 goals and had 9 assists in Serie A, as well as contributed 2 goals and 4 assists in 7 Champions League games.
Napoli can create shock.
Statistics show Napoli create more goalscoring opportunities per game (4.75), launch more shots per game (17) and score more goals per game (3.13) than any other team in the Premier League. Europe this season.
The 0-2 loss to Liverpool at Anfield can be considered the only black point in an almost perfect season. And with Victor Osimhen leading the charge, scoring 19 goals in 22 games and providing four assists, every team needs a really good performance to beat Napoli.
In terms of defense, they keep a clean sheet 50% of the matches. But it doesn’t matter, because if the opponent scores 1 goal, they will score 3 or more. In defense, Kim Min-jae is considered the best central defender today. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka form a good and tactically conscious central midfield pairing.
Overall, Napoli is very strong. If crowned champion, this is a shock contrary to all predictions from the beginning of the season. But it is not too big of a shock if you look at what Napoli have shown all the time.
Xiao Lam | 22:58 18/03/2023
