Champions League Takeaways: Davies shines for Bayern, Buchanan and Brugge routed by Benfica

The round-of-16 of the UEFA Champions League resumed this week with four teams moving on after winning their second leg matchups. 

A marquee showdown between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain didn’t quite live up to the hype, Chelsea advanced thanks to a fantastic performance at Stamford Bridge, Benfica steamrolled Club Brugge, and AC Milan humbled Tottenham in London.

Here’s what stood out from this week’s games: 

Alphonso Davies shines in Bayern’s win over PSG 

Bayern Munich is through to the quarter-finals for the fourth straight season — and for the 10th time in 11 years — following Wednesday’s 2-0 home win over PSG. 

Goal scorers Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry will grab the majority of the headlines for the Bavarian giants, and that’s more than understandable. Both took their chances exceptionally well to kill off PSG after earning a 1-0 win in France in last month's first leg. 

But Bayern’s win owed just as much to the performance of its defence as it did to its goal-scoring exploits. The Germans’ back line was outstanding on the night, negating the efforts of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in registering its seventh clean sheet of this season’s competition. 

A lot gets written about Alphonso Davies’ attacking prowess, and how he ruthlessly bombs forward down the left flank in support of Bayern’s offensive efforts. Somewhat overlooked is how the Canadian has grown into his own as a solid defender over time. PSG found no love down that side of the pitch on Wednesday, with Davies effectively holding things down and providing his team with a study defensive presence on the left wing. 

Davies, a 22-year-old from Edmonton, accepted the stiff challenge of going up against Messi and Achraf Hakimi with aplomb, and did an effective job of helping his defensive cohorts to shut down the PSG duo. On top of registering one shot on target, the Canadian also made three tackles, two interceptions and one clearance on the night, giving further evidence of why he’s one of the best left fullbacks in the world right now. 

Tottenham no match for AC Milan 

Down 1-0 from the first leg in Italy last month, Tottenham had to like its chances of clinching a quarter-final berth in Wednesday’s return match against AC Milan in London. But the home field advantage didn’t prove to be any kind of advantage at all for Spurs, who were outplayed and outwitted by the Italians in a 0-0 draw. 

Seven-time European champions Milan put on a masterclass in game management. Its three-man defence comfortably repelled the attacking advances of Spurs striker Harry Kane, while its front three of Olivier Giroud, Rafael Leao and Brahim Diaz produced enough moments of danger to keep the English club on edge. 

Spurs' lone scoring chance came deep into injury time when Kane’s header off a cross into the box was swatted away by Mike Maignan. Other than that, the French goalkeeper had nothing to do all game, as the English hosts couldn’t break down their Italian counterparts. With the draw, AC Milan secured their first berth in the Champions League quarter-finals since 2011-12 

“We did well. We asked the team to play with character and we could’ve had more possession in the first half, to be honest,” Milan manager Stefano Pioli told Amazon Prime Italia after the match. 

“We never let go. It is a thoroughly deserved qualification considering the way we played over the two legs.” 

Bigger things ahead of Canadian Tajon Buchanan 

Benfica wiped the floor with Club Brugge on Tuesday in a 5-1 victory in Lisbon to seal a 7-1 aggregate win. It was a less-than-stellar debut in the knockout round of the competition for the reigning Belgians champions, as they were thoroughly outplayed by their Portuguese opponents over the two legs. 

On the bright side, Canadian international Tajon Buchanan distinguished himself in the series against Benfica — he was his club’s man of the match in the opening 2-0 loss in Belgium and recorded an assist in the return leg in Portugal. 

Buchanan, a 24-year-old from Brampton, Ont., is in his second season with Brugge, but it could very well be his last campaign in Belgium. His pace, trickery with the ball and directness when in possession has made him one of Brugge’s biggest assets since he joined the club from MLS in 2021. He’s also proven to be quite versatile, lining up as a winger, wingback and fullback. 

The Canadian’s eye-catching form hasn’t gone unnoticed, especially since making his World Cup debut in Qatar late last year. Ever since, a number of big European clubs have been linked with a transfer move for Buchanan, most notably Italian outfit Inter Milan and Leeds United of the English Premier League. 

It’s clear that Buchanan has outgrown the modest confines of Brugge and the Belgian league, and there is a growing sense that he could be sold off by the club this summer. He’s more than ready to make the move to one of Europe’s top five leagues where his talents can be showcased to a larger audience and where he can test himself against the best clubs in the world. 

Chelsea turns back Dortmund’s challenge to advance 

This has been a disastrous season for Chelsea. The London-based club was eliminated in the third round of both the FA Cup and League Cup, and currently sit 10th in the Premier League table and 21 points out of the top four. 

Former manager Thomas Tuchel was fired in September after a shocking loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and a mediocre start to the Premier League campaign. Replacement Graham Potter hasn’t fared much better, as the Blues continued to slip down the domestic league table. 

All of which just underscores the significance of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge. With that result against the second-best team in this season’s Bundesliga, Chelsea overturned a 1-0 loss in Germany last month to book its spot in the Champions League quarter-finals. 

Goals have been hard to come by for Chelsea for the last few months — before this game they hadn’t scored twice in a match in 70 days since they beat Bournemouth on Dec. 27 in the Premier League. As a result, calls for Potter to get axed had grown louder over the last few weeks. 

But the embattled manager earned himself a reprieve with Tuesday’s result. Chelsea was brilliant in outwitting Dortmund, with Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz supplying the goals. In doing so, the Blues have now progressed from five UEFA Champions League knockout stage series after losing the first leg, the joint-most of any team in the competition's history (with Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid).