Napoli 1-1 (agg 1-2) AC Milan
I expected Napoli to look better in this match but frankly Milan casually parried them away from goal and maintained possession better than the home side. Milan missed a 1st half PK (good call, good save) but were able to steal the lead before halftime on a beautiful 80-yard run by Leao for the assist to Giroud and at that point the game kinda felt over. Napoli really needed to come out strong after halftime and, well, they didn't--they missed a PK, too! I still suspect Napoli was the better team but they didn't play like it and they're not moving on.
Chelsea 0-2 (agg 0-4) Real Madrid
Chelsea tried hard, had solid possessions but just couldn't generate any good chances. But it still felt like a game until Chelsea gambled on defense and let Vii got wide up the wing, chaos in front of the goal and Real put the game away midway through the 2nd half. Then Chelsea's defense stretched to the breaking point and Real's counter was just too deadly. Chelsea looked sluggish and out of sorts all through this match up, they're clearly not ready for the tippity top of Europe right now. Real Madrid is really winning me over, they look like the team to beat.
Bayern Munich 1-1 (agg 1-4) Manchester City
After Man City scored early in the 2nd half, I kinda faded on the return match. I did see the new Bayern coach get red carded, an ignominious way to go out for the panic-hire (to make an American parallel: Alabama finished #5 this year, made the SEC final and their QB looks to be the #1 pick...obviously time to fire the coach--he's clearly past his prime! Yeah, that's how unnecessary it was for Bayern to sack their coach just last month). Bayern is still strong, they're still one of the premiere squads in Euro soccer, but clearly something is going haywire in Munchen, wonder how long it'll be before they regain their dominance (not that they have far to go). As for Man City, they're playing loose and free, moving the ball well and getting results. Feels like the Real-Man City semifinal is the real championship, no?
Inter Milan 3-3 (agg 5-2) Benfica
Didn't catch much of this one (why only the split viewing, Paramount+?), kinda wish I did looking at that fat score line. Benfica is a nice team but they just didn't have the finishing power to hang this deep in the tourney (though they did get three across in their final game, perhaps they just needed to get going sooner). Not sure Inter is one of the four best teams I've seen so far, but they're still here, so good luck to 'em. A derby in the semifinals? Nice!
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