Champions League takeaways: Real Madrid remains on course to repeat

The round-of-16 of the UEFA Champions League wrapped up this week with the final four teams moving onto the next round following their second leg matchups.

Erling Haaland single-handedly destroyed RB Leipzig, Inter Milan advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011, Real Madrid finished off Liverpool and Napoli took care of Eintracht Frankfurt.

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

Real Madrid remains on course to repeat

Liverpool must absolutely hate the sight of Real Madrid by now. These two European giants have clashed in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for three consecutive seasons, including last year’s final. All three times the Spaniards have eliminated their English counterparts with Liverpool’s latest exit following a 1-0 road loss on Wednesday. 

Real Madrid ran rampant in last month’s first leg, coming from a pair of goals down to score five unanswered goals at Anfield thanks in large part to the attacking brilliance of French striker Karim Benzema and Brazilian Vinícius Júnior.  

Benzema found the back of the net again at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in the return leg, but los blancos’ victory owed more to game-management skills than its attacking endeavour. Real displayed the perfect tactical nous on the night, as Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger were the main architects behind a Spanish side that defended with efficiency and kept Liverpool at arm’s length. 

This was a side we rarely see from Real Madrid: the great pragmatists. Over the years, the 14-time European champions have earned a reputation for being great entertainers on account of the “champagne football” they are known for producing. But with the aggregate series essentially over after the first leg, there was no need for Real Madrid to extend itself by putting on a show. Instead, they put in a professional performance that allowed them to see off their rivals without too much trouble.

Napoli reaches final eight for first time

Napoli enjoyed its greatest success with Diego Maradona at the helm, winning two Serie A titles, an Italian Cup, an Italian Super Cup and a UEFA Cup from 1987 to 1990. But the one thing the Argentine legend wasn’t able to do was guide Napoli to the quarterfinals of the European Cup, which was re-christened the UEFA Champions League in 1992. 

Napoli made history on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the club’s home venue named after its greatest player and icon. The result sealed a 5-0 win in the aggregate series and sent the Italian outfit through to the final eight of the Champions League for the first time in history. 

Maradona must surely have been looking down with a big smile on his face as Napoli tore apart Eintracht Frankfurt, as Nigerian Victor Osimhen scored a brace to cement his status as one of the best strikers in the world today. 

Napoli have been the class of Serie A this season, and sit atop the table with an 18-point lead, scoring a league-high 60 goals and only conceding 16 times in 26 matches. The Italians also cruised through the first round of the Champions League, topping a group that included Liverpool by winning five of six games and scoring a competition-high 20 goals.

Based on current form, there’s every reason to believe they can go all the way and win this year’s Champions League final in Istanbul.

"We will keep on dreaming; we have the squad to [win the Champions League]. I think we are on the right path. We have a great coach. We will see what the future holds for us, I think we have a good chance," Osimhen said.

Haaland a one-man wrecking crew for Man City

RB Leipzig never knew what hit them. The German club was feeling pretty good about itself as it strolled into Tuesday’s road game with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg of their series against Manchester City. But a tsunami in the form of Erling Haaland wiped them out — the Norwegian international recorded a first-half hat trick and added two more goals early in the second half to pace Man City to a remarkable 7-0 win.  

In doing so Haaland became only the third player in UEFA Champions League history to score five goals in a single game, joining Shakhtar Donetsk’s Luiz Adriano (vs. BATE Borisov in 2014) and FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (vs. Bayer Leverkusen in 2012). Haaland has scored five hat-tricks for Man City in all competitions in 2022-23, three more than any other player in Europe's big five leagues. He's also the first Premier League player to score five hat-tricks in a single campaign since Harry Kane in 2016-17.

Remarkably, Haaland has scored 30 goals in 25 Champions League games, hitting the special milestone in fewer matches than any other player in the tournament’s history. He is also the youngest player to do it (22 years and 236 days). The previous youngest player to score 30 goals? None other than PSG star Kylian Mbappé (22 years and 352 days).

And here’s a scary thought: despite his incredible scoring record, Haaland believes he can offer even more. 

“It’s an easy thing to say but I could’ve scored more goals. I missed a lot of chances. But the most important thing is the chances [coming] because that is what you want as a striker,” he told CBS Sports after Tuesday’s game. 

“I think I can get better at everything. I’ve been missing a lot of chances with my left foot. I had one with the goalkeeper in the first half that I should have scored, so left foot, right foot — I have to be much better at heading, combining, everything. But if I had to take one, maybe to help the other players get better. This is something I would love. To put people in better positions.”

Inter Milan sees things out against FC Porto

Inter Milan is through to the quarterfinals for the first time in over a decade after a 0-0 draw away to Porto on Tuesday, thanks to a smattering of good fortune and stoic defending. 

Sitting on a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, Inter did not venture forward with reckless abandon to build upon their lead, choosing instead to take a more practical approach. The Italians sat back and absorbed Porto’s advances and hit out against their Portuguese opponents with quick counter-attacking sequences. 

Inter goalkeeper André Onana did well to deflect Mateus Uribe’s swerving shot around the post in the third minute, and he also effectively smothered an effort on goal from Canadian international Stephen Eustáquio. Aside from that, the Serie A outfit brilliantly managed the rest of the 90-minute affair.

In injury time, Porto ramped up the pressure and looked certain of scoring to tie the score on aggregate. But they managed to hit the post and the crossbar while having another shot cleared away on the goal-line as Inter recorded the shutout to win the two-legged series. 

Inter progressed from a Champions League knockout stage without conceding a goal in both the first leg and second leg for the first time since 2009-10 when it bested CSKA Moscow in the quarterfinals. 

“All credit to the group, who managed to draw on energy I didn’t even know they had. We had problems before and during the game, they remained solid and aside from the rather excessive seven minutes of [stoppage time], we ran very few risks,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said.

John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic can be found here.