Imanol Alguacil and Take Kubo, during the Inter-Real Sociedad.DANIELE MASCOLO (Portal)
Raw for Real Sociedad, with thorns for Barcelona and Atlético and manageable for Madrid. This is how the draw for the round of 16 of the Champions League ended for the four Spanish teams that will play the second legs at home. Pot two hid a demon, PSG, and it fell to the team from San Sebastian. The new challenge for Imanol Alguacil's boys is Kylian Mbappé, who survived the group stage with a clean pass. The Azulgranas and Rojiblancos will also have to deal with some curveballs in their duels against Napoli and Inter respectively. While Madrid has a new rival (Leipzig) waiting for them, which is located in the German championship zone but has no tradition in the European heights.
Two teams searching for lost identities
Barcelona will face Napoli again, the team it previously faced in the 2021-2022 Europa League playoffs, the competition to which it was relegated in the last two seasons after failing to get past the Champions group stage. It was not the only confrontation between two teams in which Maradona played, as they met twice, with the result always favoring Barça. The Blaugrana won the 2019-20 European Cup (3-1 at Camp Nou and 1-1 in Naples) and the Europa League (1-1 at home and 2-4 at the stadium that bears the very name of Maradona). .
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The Italian team, the reigning champions, has been very irregular over the last year – it is currently in fifth place, 14 points behind Inter – so much so that it did without coach Rudi García and was replaced by Walter Mazzarri, the same, who has already done so trained the team between 2009 and 2013, when Cavani, Hamsik or Lavezzi played. The change worked and Napoli stabilized with a Meret formation; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Natan, Olivera or Mario Rui; Anguissa, Lobotka, Zielinski; Politano, Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia.
Napoli, which qualified second with 11 points in the group of unbeaten Madrid (18), has two unbalanced players such as Osimhen, the current winner of the Ball of Africa, and Kvaratskhelia, who left after the loss of central defender Kim Min-Jae from Munich moved to Bayern. The field factor can play an important role in a very open round of 16, as Barcelona fans will have to play the second leg on March 12th at Montjuïc, a less intimidating stadium than the Camp Nou and the Maradona Stadium, venue of the first leg on February 21st .
The two teams share the concern of having lost football identity after winning the last league, the Catalans with Xavi on the bench and the Italians with Luciano Spalleti, the Italian coach replacing Mancini. Naples' reference is Maradona, the player who led the club to the top in 1986-87, while Barcelona refers to Cruyff and Guardiola.
Simeone faces his past again
If in the group stage it was Lazio that touched the sentimental chord of Diego Pablo Simeone because he had carried his shield for four seasons, in the round of 16 it will be Inter Milan that confronts him with his past as a footballer. He only played two seasons as a Neroazzurri, but he really liked the club. So much so that Inter have always been one of the first names to be considered as a possible destination outside of the Atlético bench. “I have great memories of what I had to experience there in a short time,” Simeone said yesterday. “You are in an extraordinary moment, especially in the league; In the Champions League last year he showed that he could keep up very well. I have great affection for Simone [Inzhagi, su entrenador] and Javier Zanetti [vicepresidente]Cholo continued. With the first he won the Scudetto at Lazio and with the second he made several attempts to get him the Interista bench. “I really like the way he plays,” Simeone said of the Italian champions, current Serie A leaders and finalists of the last edition of the Champions League.
Like Simeone, Inzaghi relies on a three-center defense. Goalkeeper Sommer gave him more sobriety in goal without losing what Onana contributed when releasing the ball. Mkhitaryan, Barella and Çalhanoglou form a very dynamic and established midfielder. Lautaro Martínez, who had a signed contract with Atlético, and Marcus Thuram form the attack. The second has consolidated due to the problems with the injuries of Alexis Sánchez and Arnautovic. It remains to be seen whether the French attacker will keep his job for February 20th. when Atlético visits San Siro. The second leg will take place at the Metropolitano on March 13th.
Another Leipzig
Madrid already faced Leipzig in the league last season (2-0 at the Bernabéu and 2-3 defeat in Germany), but this team is very different to the current one. After a very profitable summer in the club controlled by Red Bull, the team that Marco Rose continues to lead was left without three of its references: the central defender Gvardiol went to City for 90 million, the midfielder Szoboszlai went to Liverpool for 70 and the attacker Nkunku was for 60 signed by Chelsea. Three departures that changed the face of this team, which remains the one that generates the most antipathy in German stadiums and is seen as an artificial product assembled with the millions of Red Bull. The beverage company bought the site of a fifth-class club in 2009 in order to found it in Leipzig. In just seven years he was promoted to the First Division.
Now the big offensive threat is Loïs Openda, a 23-year-old Belgian, quick and vertical, who has already scored 14 goals this season. The three goals that Leipzig scored in the two group games against City bore their postmark. An example of an upgrade, because he cost 38 million from Lens last summer and his price is already around 55. Behind him is Xavi Simons, who was trained in the Barcelona youth academy and moved to PSG at the age of 16. A few months ago he came on loan. Dani Olmo is also in Leipzig, now injured.
Third in the Bundesliga, seven points behind Leverkusen and already eliminated from the cup, the best players in their repertoire are concentrating on attack. The defense, on the other hand, could be improved. When the crossing arrives (February 13 and March 6), Madrid hopes to have eased its medical part, with the exception of the three cases of cruciate ligament rupture (Courtois, Militão and Alaba).
All crossings
Master (eighth)
Porto Arsenal
Naples-Barcelona
PSG-Real Sociedad
Inter-Atlético
PSV Dortmund
Lazio-Bavaria
Copenhagen city
Leipzig-Real Madrid
Europa League (round of 16)
Feyenoord-Rome
Milan-Rennes
Lens-Freiburg
Young Boys-S. From Portugal
Benfica-Toulouse
Braga-Qarabag
Galatasaray-Sparta Prague
Shakhtar-Marseille
Villarreal is already in the second round
Conference (sixteenth)
Betis-Dinamo Zagreb
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