The last four of the Champions League is now set, with Barcelona facing Inter Milan in one semifinal and Arsenal taking on Paris Saint-Germain in the other. Let’s break down who distinguished themselves, for good and ill.
Champions League winners
Aston Villa
Their two-goal deficit from the first leg set the stage for a crackling evening at Villa Park because of the home side’s need to attack, and they delivered both goals for themselves and goals for the opposition. After giving up two counterattacking goals to Paris Saint-Germain, they stormed back for three goals that gave them the victory on the night over the French champions. It wasn’t enough to advance them to the semis, but it gave their fans (including Prince William) a delirious evening in Birmingham and gave neutrals watching from Almaty to Tenerife a taste of what Villa is capable of.
Yann Sommer
With stoppage time in Milan leaving Bayern Munich still one goal down, Thomas Müller headed Serge Gnabry’s cross to the right of Inter’s goalkeeper with Sommer leaning the wrong way. Yet the Swiss netminder managed to stop the ball and book Inter’s place in the Champions League semis.
Serhou Guirassy
His team lost, but a hat trick against Barcelona still is what it is. The Guinean’s 13 goals makes him the Champions League’s leading scorer for the moment, a mark that only Róbert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland have been able to match for Borussia Dortmund, and it goes with the 15 that he scored in the Bundesliga. Amid what many Dortmunders regard as a terrible season, Guirassy has been hitting his marks.
Bukayo Saka
The Arsenal striker was guilty of taking a nonchalant penalty in the first half that Thibaut Courtois saved with no great effort, but he atoned for it in the second half by running from the right corner all the way to the left side of goal to collect Mikel Merino’s pass and chip the ball over Real Madrid’s keeper and effectively end any hopes for a Real comeback.
Mikel Arteta
His team could have been forgiven for slacking off in the second leg with a three-goal lead, but instead Arsenal kept things tight (with one glaring exception) and won both the match at the Bernabéu and the tie as a whole. The coach won before as an Arsenal player at that same stadium, and he ensured that his squad wasn’t overwhelmed by the occasion. Their heads will figure to be just as clear in their semifinal match against a PSG team that has knocked two straight English teams out of the competition.
Champions League Losers
Bayern Munich
Of the four teams that were behind in their Champions League ties, Bayern had the smallest deficit to make up, and they couldn’t do it. Harry Kane likely gets another crack at this next season, but Thomas Müller leaves after 163 appearances on Europe’s biggest stage.
Emiliano Martínez
Since Villa lost the tie by only one goal, it’s hard not to wonder what might have happened if their goalkeeper hadn’t spilled Bradley Barcola’s 11th-minute cross into the path of Achraf Hakimi for PSG’s first goal. He’s a World Cup winner, and he made some fine stops late on Désiré Doué to keep Villa in the tie, but the Argentinian still provided some ammunition to those of us who think he’s overrated as a week-to-week goalkeeper.
Ramy Bensebaini
After Guirassy headed in a corner kick to start the second half and cut Barcelona’s 4-0 lead in half, whatever hope Borussia Dortmund had of a comeback ended when their defender turned Fermin López’ cross into his own net. Maybe there wasn’t much else the Algerian could have done running full tilt back toward his goal, but it worked to doom Dortmund to fall in this round.
Federico Dimarco
The bleached-blond Inter left-back positioned himself between Harry Kane and his own net but afforded the Bayern striker way too much space to fire off a shot. Kane’s step to his right bought him the opening goal at San Siro that evened the tie. Inter Milan did win, but Dimarco will have to be better than that in the semifinal against Barcelona, who figure to have Lamine Yamal coming down his flank.
Real Madrid
What Champions League magic? The madridistas spent the past week saying that their team was capable of erasing that 3-0 Arsenal lead at home, and what happened? The home team forced a couple of routine saves out of David Raya, and their one goal came when William Saliba fell asleep with the ball in his own penalty box. The Real fans were wearing t-shirts reading “Yes We Can” in English, but the players couldn’t on this night.
William Saliba
Dude, really? I mean, yes, his blunder happened with his team four goals up, but going all the way in the Champions League will require more focus than that.