The names of the eight teams qualified for the quarterfinals have all been known since Wednesday evening, two days before the draw designates the posters.
The knockout stages of the 2022-2023 Champions League bowed out on Wednesday March 15. Real Madrid and Napoli picked up the last two quarter-final tickets, dominating Liverpool and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively. They join Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Benfica, Chelsea, Manchester City and Inter, who qualified before them. Of the sixteen matches that have taken place since February 14, we will especially remember the enormous reversal of the situation at Anfield, during the round of 16 first leg between Liverpool and Real Madrid (2-5).
The defending champion is one step ahead
By going from 0-2 to 5-2 in the space of 45 minutes on the lawn of Liverpool, one of the cadors of European football, Real Madrid warned the competition: it is not because it has lifted the trophy last season that it was used up. Worse, Carlo Ancelotti’s team has lost none of this collective strength which makes it as unsinkable as it is stunning. Nothing seems to be able to happen to her as soon as she arrives in the knockout stage, like the return match against the Reds, silenced when they had to score at least three goals (beaten 1-0).
Real is, at present, the most credible candidate for his own succession. Manchester City, disappointing at first then explosive against Leipzig (1-1, 7-0), and Bayern Munich, not as flamboyant as expected against Paris (1-0, 2-0), seem slightly behind. It is to wonder if Naples does not play in the same court. The Italian club, which flies over its championship, wandered so much against Eintracht Frankfurt over the whole of the 180 minutes of the double confrontation (2-0, 3-0) that it was forgotten that it was This is the very first qualification for the C1 quarter-finals in its history.
No miracle for PSG, France without a representative in the quarters
For the second consecutive season, Ligue 1 will not be represented among the top eight teams in the Champions League. The logical elimination of Paris Saint-Germain, which remained silent in 180 minutes of play against Bayern Munich (0-1, 0-2), is a problem that goes beyond the sole interest of the capital club. Threatened since the start of the season in the UEFA index by Portugal and the Netherlands, the French championship is playing with fire.
This index, which ranks European countries according to the performance of their clubs in European competition over the last five seasons, awards more qualifying tickets for the C1, C3 and C4 to the highest ranked countries. At present, France remains clinging to its 5th place and has left to maintain its European access next season. But if the Dutch clubs (Feyenoord in C3, AZ Alkmaar in C4) and Portuguese (Benfica in C1, Sporting in C3) go far and, at the same time, Nice is quickly eliminated from the Europa League conference, things could take a disturbing turn.
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If France is overtaken by one of these two countries in the UEFA index at the end of the season, it would miss the opportunity to send the first three in Ligue 1 directly to the final phase of the Champions League, but also the 4th in the play-offs (against two direct qualifiers and one in the elimination phase currently), when the new formula comes into force, in 2024-2025.
Three Italian clubs aim for the last four
For the first time since the 2005-2006 edition, Serie A will have three teams in the quarterfinals: AC Milan, Inter and Naples. The Italian championship will be the best represented championship at this stage of the competition, without Juventus Turin, the main transalpine representative in recent seasons. Respectively winners of Tottenham, Porto and Frankfurt, these three clubs will have benefited from a lenient draw. During the next one, Friday (12 p.m.), this time they will not be protected by the rule prohibiting nationals of the same country from competing.