The effect that sees Milan-Naples and Benfica-Inter in the quarter-finals of the Champions League

It was known since Wednesday that there were three Italian teams qualified for the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Yet seeing those three ITAs alongside Inter, Milan and Napoli, in strict alphabetical order, in the list of eight still had a certain effect, it almost gave the idea of ​​still being in those years when the Italians were one fixed presence among the best in the Champions League and who often didn’t just reach the quarterfinals, but advanced, sometimes even raised the cup.

It hasn’t been like this for a long time. This year yes, there is something to be satisfied with, but all of this smacks more of a historical “joke” than of a new normality. A completely deserved historical “joke”, mind you, but still more like a parenthesis than something we could get used to. The Champions League – football in general – is a trophy that sometimes knows how to go crazy, grant flashes of incredulous unpredictability.

It should have, could, have been Paris Saint-Germain’s year, but the wealthy Parisians took three goals in two games from Bayern Munich and scored a few. Out. In Catalonia they were counting on the fact that it could be the year of Barcelona’s great comeback, because with a striker like Robert Lewandowski it’s difficult not to think big. Out in the group stage. It could, should have been the year of Manchester City and Bayern Munich. One of these can still hope. Only one, Nyon’s urn set them against.

There will certainly be an Italian team in the semifinals. He will come out of the double challenge between Milan and Naples. Right now always a fixed two. Napoli is fit, winning, determined, beautiful. There are those who even say that she is the favorite for the Champions League, but it seems more like a joke than a real conviction. Also because Real Madrid are still in the running and when you have Carlo Ancelotti on the bench you always have one more chance. Milan, on the other hand, right now is looking for its own dimension, it’s less beautiful and effective than that of the Scudetto, it’s struggling, but in the Champions League it has shown that it can transform itself, mitigate its defects, make its strengths shine.

Inter, on the other hand, will face Benfica, perhaps the least famous of the eight remaining, probably the most dangerous. Because she is young, fast, talented, above all determined to do what she probably won’t be able to do for a while. In Portugal the strongest always and quickly take the route abroad, to the championships where the most money is made. Many of them know that they have this and this only chance to move forward and move forward together. Maybe it could have been worse, certainly better.

What is better or worse now but may not be in almost a month. The draws always leave a basic uncertainty: that worrying now is useless and that what is always bad today will be good tomorrow.

The quarterfinals of the Champions League

Real Madrid vs Chelsea

Benfica-Inter

Manchester City vs Bayern Munich

Milan-Naples

The semifinals of the Champions League

Milan/Naples-Inter/Benfica

Real Madrid/Chelsea-Manchester City/Bayern Munich