Manchester City and Real
Madrid both won as we ask ourselves whether there has ever been a set
of last-16 ties so distinctly lacking in jeopardy.
We’ve
tried our best to get ourselves up for the Champions League last-16. There are
some intriguing ties: largely homegrown Real
Sociedad vs. state-funded Paris Saint-Germain; high-octane PSV
Eindhoven vs. Champions League trendsetters in that regard, Borussia Dortmund;
wing-backs and dark arts in Inter Milan vs. Atletico Madrid; a fallen giant
derby between Napoli and Barcelona.
But in kicking off what should (and used to) be a month of
drama, tension, and – most importantly – uncertainty with FC Copenhagen vs. Manchester
City and RB Leipzig vs. Real
Madrid we can’t help but feel nostalgic about a competition that now
feels preordained to the point where neutrals are losing interest, with jeopardy
at an all-time low.
The
greater the financial gap, the harder it is to postpone reality and preserve
doubt, and this set of last-16 ties feel more predictable than ever. Barring a
giant-killing of near FA Cup proportions, Manchester
City will beat Copenhagen, Arsenal will beat Porto, PSG will beat Real
Sociedad, Bayern Munich will beat Lazio and Real
Madrid will beat RB Leipzig. That’s five of eight ties that jeopardy-hunters
need not bother with.
“This
competition is a coin (toss). It was written in the stars. It belongs to us,”
Pep Guardiola said at the end of last season, having won the trophy for City at
the seventh time of asking. And while we can accept the significance of luck in
the final, across two legs the odds are heavily stacked in the favor of teams
like his, to the extent where we would ask to inspect the tossed coin for two
heads.
You
won’t find anyone in their right mind tipping a team to win this season’s
competition other Manchester
City, Bayern Munich or Real
Madrid, and we would suggest those fancying the latter duo are putting too
much weight on the importance of history and past glories.
City
being such huge favorites grants great David and Goliath opportunities, as we
very briefly enjoyed on Tuesday, when Ederson fluffed a clearance and Magnus
Mattson curled his shot beyond the goalkeeper.
But
the ten minutes of hope was bookended by 80+ of sheer dominance from Pep
Guardiola’s side, with Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden scoring
the goals as they managed 27 shots to Copenhagen’s four, completed four times
as many passes and had 79 per cent of the ball. 3-1 up ahead of the return leg
at the Etihad. It’s done.
There is joy
to be had in watching City.
They’ve got outstanding footballers, who combine to play some beautiful
football, which we saw in fits and starts against Copenhagen, and we’ll see
more of as they continue through the rounds and they’re pushed by increasingly
improved opposition.
But
they’ll need to have at least one off day, two against most teams left in the
Champions League, not to get to the final, and while predicting how far others
will go isn’t quite so simple, we would back ourselves to get the vast majority
right. It feels like that uncertainty ebbs away year on year and if we no
longer have the ‘not knowing’ we’re losing the best part of football.
Braham
Diaz celebrates goal for Real
Madrid against RB Leipzig.
While City were
cruising to victory in Copenhagen, Real
Madrid won 1-0 away in Leipzig without Jude Bellingham or their three
best center-backs. Both ties are effectively over, and with Lazio vs. Bayern
Munich and PSG vs. Real
Sociedad to come on Wednesday, we could easily have four European
giants looking ahead to the quarter-finals that may as well have been printed
on their calendars at the start of the season, or at least when the last-16
draw was made.
We’ll
root for the underdogs, but without hope the spectacle suffers. Man City’s
brilliance can only allow us to overlook the inevitability of them winning for
so long. We need jeopardy in football, and in the Champions League – supposedly
the greatest club competition in the world – there’s as little now as there’s
ever been.
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