Lisbon, scene of the unprecedented Final 8 of the Champions League which will see the eight teams still in contention for the title. Each time in a knockout match, without any net. A great first which will however take place without some big names in European football, who have failed to validate their ticket for the Portuguese capital.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the heartbreaking
At home, Cristiano Ronaldo did not imagine missing the party. And yet, Lyon has been there, annihilating the Portuguese's dream of winning the Champions League in Lisbon for the 6th time in his career. An absence all the more cruel as "CR7" will have done everything, during the round of 16 return, to propel his team to the next round by scoring a double (2-1). This brings his total to 131 units in the queen of European competitions, a record that he will not be able to improve unlike his runner-up, Lionel Messi, still in the race with FC Barcelona and author of 115 achievements. Without Ronaldo and without an audience, the Lisbon Final 8 will undoubtedly benefit from less popular fervor. An inevitably detrimental absence for the 35-year-old striker who knows that such an opportunity will probably not occur again. In the absence of the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Ronaldo must now manage his future, which some imagine elsewhere than in Turin. On the side of PSG for example ...
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Last year's final beheaded
There was not even need to wait for the recovery to make this observation. Neither the defending champion, Liverpool, nor his unfortunate final opponent, Tottenham, will be in Lisbon to defend their status. We have to go back to the 2004-2005 season to find traces of such a scenario. Respectively winner and finalist the previous year, Porto and Monaco were then eliminated even before the quarter-finals (Porto finished last in their group while ASM sank in the last qualifying round for the group stage against Betis Seville). This year, both disappeared in the round of 16. The Reds suffered the law of Atlético Madrid (1-0, 2-3 after extra time) while the Spurs, themselves, severely handicapped by injuries, were outclassed by Leipzig, winner in both the first leg and on return (0-1, 3-0). Worse for English football, after placing four of his residents in the quarter-finals last year, he will only have one in Lisbon: Manchester City. But as this one has a potential good head of winner, that could be enough to keep the cut with the big ears on the other side of the Channel….
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Where are the champions?
Since its enlargement, the Champions League is paradoxically no longer really a competition rewarding a national champion. The proof last year with Liverpool and Tottenham in the final, while the title in England would go to Manchester City, eliminated in the quarterfinals on the continental level. Nevertheless, it is surprising to note that from the quarters this season the champions of England (Liverpool), Spain (Real Madrid) and Italy (Juventus Turin) are missing. It must be said that due to the health crisis, it is possible to make such an observation while usually, when the quarter-finals take place, the various national championships have not yet delivered their verdict. For Real Madrid, 13 times winner of the event, including four titles in the past six years, the disappointment is great, especially as Zinédine Zidane, his coach, had never before experienced elimination in a direct confrontation, like this was the case against Manchester City in the round of 16. No trace either of the champion of Portugal, Porto, or any other championship. Paris SG and Bayern Munich will therefore almost seem like intruders in the middle of the other teams. But this qualifier will rather come back to Lyon which, by finishing 7th in Ligue 1, acts as an ugly duckling while all the others finished on the podium of their respective championship.
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