Declan Rice’s magical Champions League night for Arsenal; Why PSG and Barcelona look like potential champs

Happy Wednesday. Halfway through the first legs of the quarterfinals of the Champions League and Wow, what was a Tuesday. A thriller at the Emirates, a crucial victory for Inter in Munich. I am James Benge, let’s look back on what happened before we dive into the treats for us.

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Wednesday 9 April
🇪🇺 UCL: Barcelona vs. Dortmund, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 UCL: PSG vs. Aston Villa, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 CCC: Inter Miami vs. Lafc, 8 p.m. ➡️ FS1

Thursday, April 10
🇪🇺 UECL: Legia Warsaw vs. Chelsea, 12:45. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 EL: Tottenham vs. Eintracht Frankfurt, 3 pm ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 EL: Lyon vs. Man United, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

⚽ The forward line

Rice delivers the best hour of the Emirates

Imagine that you wake up this morning to discover that you are in fact Declan Rice. You would certainly feel forced to check that what you think has just happened to you. It really did it, really. Two of the biggest free kicks that the Champions League has ever seen and with them, plus a little extra from Mikel Merino, Arsenal blew the great Leviathan in Europe from the water.

The Emirates Stadium has seen a number of impressive moments in the history of almost 20 years, not as much as it should, but in the coming two decades it will take something very remarkable to the jubilation that fell through North Londs on Tuesday evening. Certainly, there were a few in the Tollington late in the night after the game that were intended for painful heads the next morning. Don’t ask me how I know.

What made this all the more remarkable is that the night was just not played that way. If there is something, it would go as you would expect. Arsenal sees a lot of the ball, Madrid threatens on the countertop and apparently there is only a single goal in it, in both directions. Then Bukayo Saka was polluted by David Alaba, the nearest the veteran came to him all night and Rice felt the touch of fate on his shoulder.

• Rice: “Before all of this happened, our set piece coach, we were planning to cross the ball to that post … I stood with Bukayo and I said:” It doesn’t feel good to cross the ball here. And I looked at the wall, then I looked at Courtois, and I see that space for the right foot around the wall, and Bukayo said, “I don’t, and like you, and like you, and I don’t know,” I don’t know, “and I don’t, and you’re, and you’re gone,” and I don’t, and you’re, and you “.” Do not score as soon as it left my foot, I knew it had a chance, and it is one of those historical moments. “

Another would follow soon. It’s really the choice the first or second Is it better. The first has that beautiful curl, no less for Roberto Carlos, and lands back from the net with a satisfactory ping. The other is definitive top trays, the kind of bustling inner foot effort that will try to replicate millions this weekend.

It is on this point that we notice sober that the draw is not over yet. As Carlo Ancelotti put it, many crazy things can happen on European nights in the Santiago Bernabeu. If you have Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, you have a chance. It might be even smaller than you think, spirit. The best moments of Madrid in the first stage did not come from what they did, but mistakes from Saka and Jakub Kiwior, the last grew to imperious levels as the game progressed.

Arsenal, however, does not tend to make many mistakes and in the second half Madrid was held on so many shots of their own shots as Rice took free kicks. They only succeeded in seven details in the penalty area, 0.14 xg. That is what life is against William Saliba and Jurrien Timber. You have to go back to December 2023 to find the last time that Mikel Arteta’s side has admitted three goals. It is back to May of that year for the last time they have suffered a defeat with a margin of three goals, the result that the holders only need this draw. All that to say nothing about the fact that Madrid’s defense has now admitted 11 goals in four games.

Arsenal on the edge of the semi -final. How they got there was unforgettable.

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🔗 Midfield link game

PSG and Barcelona return to the UCL promotion as favorites

The prediction models may now have Arsenal under the leading favorites to win the Champions League for a very obvious reason, but before a ball was kicked in the quarterfinals, it started to look like Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona the best bets to win the lot. Both will look at it to confirm that status against opponents to whom they can admit privately that they are happy to be pulled against.

Borussia Dortmund certainly adjusts Barcelona to a tee. The side of Hansi Flick has captured the top location in La Liga with a maximum version of Bundesliga football. Opponents in Europe have opted for problems in that approach, whether it is about breaking their press with the long ball as Benfica did or atalanta’s exploitation of the flanks. What will probably not work is an up down track meeting with a team that feeds Pedri Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski.

On the other hand, Dortmund, who will be back Nico Schlotterbeck without Star Center, pushed Barcelona completely in a 3-2 defeat when these two met in the Westfalenstadion in the competition phase and signs of life shown in back-to-back victories in the Bundesliga. The hosts certainly see the same.

• Flick: “Their self -confidence has changed a bit. Their death is sharper. The results they have had in the Champions League and the Bundesliga have given them faith. They have more concrete goals. They are a team with a great pace, they think very attack, and we will have to have the task.”

In the meantime, in France it is more opposition to the Premier League for Paris Saint-Germain. If they are as brilliant as they were in eliminating Liverpool in the round of 16, then they will certainly have enough to overcome Aston Villa. Unai Emery, however, is a master of the fine margins in European ties, defends with many bodies and operates their fast attackers on the counter.

Oh and they have Emiliano Martinez, the man who spoiled French dreams at the World Cup 2022. Not that he wants to make a lot of hassle about it. Only a small cap with a rooster and all four international trophies he won with Argentina. If this was the Champions League Mind Games, Dibu Real Madrid would be the undisputed master of his profession.

• Emery: “[Martinez] is adult. He is responsible. He gets better at controlling his emotions … He is a better player, a better keeper and now my conversation with him is always the same. He is one of the best keepers in the world – he received the prize here in Paris. “

One thing is certain that Martinez takes a considerable risk because he has a lot to do on Wednesday evening. PSG on average seven shots on goal per match in the Champions League and that number has only been rattled since the turn of the year when Luis Enrique’s side unleashed their front line under the leadership of Ousmane Dembele with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as a devastating foil. To even stop that Alisson had to deliver one of the best matches of his career in the final round, not even enough to take the Premier League leaders past the French champions. Has Martinez set itself up for a fall?

🔗 Top stories

🔹 Lautaro illuminates it: Last night were so dramatic events in North London that we didn’t even touch the intriguing collision between Bayern Munich and Inter, won 2-1 by the visitors in the Allianz Arena. Lautaro Martinez delivered on Tuesday in the coupling, and It’s time to talk about him as one of the world’s very best attackers.

📜 History in Noord -Londen: Rice played the role that was so often offered to a Madrid -Superster in these large European nights. This is how it was on the ground.

👑 Carlo Ancelotti believes in comeback: The Madrid Baas Know that crazy things have happened at the Santiago Bernanbeu And fully believes that his side is capable of.

🔴 Declan’s descriptions: Rice’s free kicks were something of beauty and he joined the CBS sports team after the competition Break off the magical strikes.

❔ Champions League scenarios: This is what Real Madrid, Arsenal, Inter and Bayern Munich All need next week to continue to the last four.

💰 The back line

💵 Dear bets

• UCL: PSG vs. Aston Villa, 3 p.m.
  💰 Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to get an assist (+210): The addition of Kvaratskhelia of Napoli can ever fall one of the best January signs sessions, because his presence has enabled Ousmane Dembele to move centrally, but the concept between the duo is at a different level. That connection is what the Georgian is able to get an assist while Paris Saint-Germain overwhelms the Aston Villa defense on the way to victory. There will be enough goals to go around and there are few that are just as skilled as Kvaratskhelia to create them.

For more choices, predictions, expert tips and the latest bet news, you don’t miss the homepage of CBSSports.com.

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