Perhaps the quarter-finals are where the Champions League can be counted to catch light. This week’s first legs saw goals aplenty, with a mix of veteran and young guns starring, with each second leg set up for even more excitement.
Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak, Atlético Madrid
It was not a vintage week for Champions League goalkeeping, with Oblak the only keeper not to concede two goals or more. He made one spectacular save from Ian Maatsen at a crucial point in his team’s 2-1 win over Dortmund. For all their dominance, gaps started to open up in Atlético’s backline and Oblak was forced into making three key saves. On a bad week for the likes of David Raya and Andriy Lunin, Oblak remains as solid as ever.
Defender: Ben White, Arsenal
If Arsenal expected to roll over Bayern Munich, they soon realised they were facing an team who have not lost their taste for the highest level, despite the club’s domestic troubles. On a night where a number of his defensive colleagues lost their discipline, particularly Gabriel in picking up the ball for the penalty that never was, White held his, continuing his excellent individual season. He might even have got on the scoresheet in Arsenal’s early push to kill off the tie. One tackle, on an escaping Leroy Sané, was almost as good as a goal though.
Defender: Jules Koundé, Barcelona
Faced with the toughest task in the game, man-marking Kylian Mbappé, Koundé came through with flying colours. The headlines may point to Mbappé’s disappointing night but credit lies significantly with Koundé, who almost erased the great man from the match altogether. Mbappé lost the ball 13 times, registering zero shots on goal and losing seven duels. Even more damning: Mbappé was held to just 2.7% possession, a fraction of his typical hold over the ball and the lowest – by a distance – of every other outfield starter. Koundé, shifted to his less favoured full-back role, carried out his role to near-perfection. Barcelona ran out 3-2 winners, largely thanks to Koundé cutting the supply to PSG’s main man.
Defender: Pau Cubarsí, Barcelona
That this Barcelona side are in the latter stages of the competition’s remains a curiosity. Xavi, their manager, has already announced he is leaving at the end of the season. And his team play a vertical, direct style that is anathema to his playing days when he was the conductor of Pep Guardiola’s take-the-ball, pass-the-ball symphony. The big signings have often disappointed, too. Instead, it is the young players La Masia continues to produce that offer light for a club in crisis. Pedri supplied an assist straight off the bench, and while Lamine Yamal was quiet, the 17-year-old Cubarsí, the youngest defender to start a Champions League quarter-final, was exemplary in snuffing out PSG attackers. Yet another jewel to add to the list.
Defender: César Azpilicueta, Atlético Madrid
Class can be permanent, something Diego Simeone has regularly proved in refurbishing discarded veterans. Many at Chelsea still yearn for the calm leadership Azpilicueta brought to their team and it will be little consolation to see him performing with his customary assurance in the latter stages of the Champions League. Dortmund’s attackers were offered little space until a second-half charge, but Azpilicueta led the effort that limited the Germans to a single goal.
Midfielder: Vitinha, PSG
If Barcelona went direct and muscular in Paris, their opponents tried – and often failed – to play their way through midfield. Vitinha is emblematic of the new PSG, at the club to become a star player rather than one who was bought readymade. In the surge that took PSG from 1-0 down to 2-1 up, it was Vitinha who scored the second, running into the Barça box to score. At such times, when the Portuguese player is dropping deep and picking passes, it can seem the club has found a replacement for Marco Verratti – albeit one with added vigour and self-discipline.
Midfielder: Phil Foden, Manchester City
By his own admission, Foden did not play his best match for City in their 3-3 draw at the Bernabéu. That may be a case of a player setting such high standards – with multiple hat-tricks in the Premier League this season – that he was unhappy with the lack of space and opportunity granted to him by Real Madrid’s players. If that’s so, Foden still found time to score the goal of the week, in a week of many great goals, a left-foot lash that thundered into the net. Handed a position switch, covering for a vomiting Kevin De Bruyne in a central role, Foden scored the type of goal the Belgian has trademarked.
✨ @PhilFoden and @JoskoGvardiol4's spectacular strikes have been nominated for The @ChampionsLeague Goal of the Week! ☄️
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 11, 2024
Midfielder: Federico Valverde, Real Madrid
Madrid v Manchester City was a game of many goals, if not a great deal of fluency. Neither team were allowed to set their usual tempo, and Madrid restricted their tactics to winning the ball in midfield and then hitting their speedy forwards as quickly as possible. It almost paid off, too, no little thanks to the tirelessness of Valverde, who was ever willing to lead counterattacks. He also scored the volley that pulled the tie level, the type of low-flying missile that Steven Gerrard once patented in this competition.
Forward: Antoine Griezmann, Atlético Madrid
Atlético’s magician was in full flow in the early stages against Dortmund, when it looked as if his team would effectively end the tie in the opening 30 minutes. “Underrated,” said pundit Owen Hargreaves of Atléti’s forward. But who seriously underrates a player who has been performing at these levels for a decade, give or take his ill-starred time with Barcelona? His improvised scoop to set up Samuel Lino was his seventh goal involvement in this season’s Champions League, a competition he continues to grace.
Forward: Harry Kane, Bayern Munich
His penalty, perhaps owing something to Bayern predecessor Robert Lewandowski, and after research into Arsenal keeper Raya, was scored with studied cool. Kane otherwise picked up where he left off with Arsenal, causing the Gunners severe trouble with his movement and playmaking ability and showing off the little-discussed nasty side of his game – courtesy of a flailing elbow on Gabriel. That a group of Gunners fans stayed to sing uncomplimentary songs as he carried out post-match TV duties felt like a noted mark of grudging respect for a regular tormentor who may have more to say in the tie.
Forward: Raphinha, Barcelona
If the stage had been set for Mbappé, then it was stolen by Raphinha, who seems to save his best for the Champions League. He was crucial to Barcelona even getting this far, serving as their main threat in the round of 16 against Napoli. This time, his two goals capped a performance where he had been dangerous from the beginning, forever cutting in from the left, to score for the first time in this year’s competition. His first was a cool conversion off a rebound; the second a perfectly executed volley from Pedri’s glorious assist.
