Another of this season’s Champions League quarter-final results that was ultimately predictable, but only after one shock. Erling Haaland missed a penalty. He then went and showed why that is so surprising by going and scoring the goal that made absolutely sure of Manchester City’s passage to a third consecutive semi-final. Pep Guardiola has another grand occasion with Real Madrid, a third in four seasons.
That will likely be much closer than this 4-1 aggregate win over Bayern Munich, and perhaps represents the biggest obstacle remaining to a potential treble for the Abu Dhabi project. It might even be “the true final”.
