As the feeling grows that Manchester City might finally win the Champions League this season, their quarter-final might also have revealed how Champions Leagues are going to be won in the future.
It was difficult to think of a recent game in the competition so defined by No 9s. That isn’t just down to the obvious quality of Erling Haaland, but also the lack of such a forward at the other end. Bayern Munich had clearly made space for such a player, to the extent that they kept brilliantly working the ball to the edge of the City area only to not know what they wanted to do with it. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has performed creditably for the German champions but the demands get greater the higher you go. He looks a compromise choice, as was the case with so many of Bayern’s attacking decisions on the night.
