Erling Haaland finished off Bayern – Sport – Kommersant

Draws were recorded in the final two meetings of the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. “Manchester City” on the road in Munich played with “Bayern” (1:1), and “Inter” in Milan with Lisbon “Benfica” (3:3). Now, in one of the semi-final pairs, the champion of England, like a year ago, will meet with Real Madrid, and the other pair will be made up of clubs from the same city – Inter and Milan.

A rare case: in both quarter-finals of the Champions League, where the second legs were scheduled for Wednesday, almost everything became clear a week ago. Then Manchester City defeated Bayern 3-0 at home, and Inter scored two unanswered goals against Benfica on the road. Nevertheless, the German champion went into the second leg with a crazy attitude. His head coach Thomas Tuchel chose the same tactical scheme as in the away match, with the only difference that this time it was not Serge Gnabry, but Eric Choupo-Moting, who moved to the forefront of the attack. However, other actors were in the center of attention that evening. Leroy Sane did not take advantage of the first scoring opportunity at the gates of the guests, who, during a quick counterattack, went almost one on one with goalkeeper Ederson, sending the ball with his left foot near the far post. After some time, the same Sane already famously took a penalty kick from the right flank, but the Manchester City goalkeeper was in place. And then Leon Goretzka also shot much higher than the goal after the transfer of Kingsley Coman, who in the first minutes, perhaps, looked like the most effective player in Bayern.

However, the main events of this luxurious first half were ahead. His last ten-minute period began with a penalty awarded for a handball by French defender Dayo Upamecano and not converted by Manchester City’s top scorer Erling Haaland, who charged with all his might slightly above the goal. After that, Sane, being in someone else’s penalty area, surrounded by defenders, gave a masterpiece pass with his heel to Coman, who shot at Ederson. Just before the break, two partners in the German national team and two captains quarreled in the center of the field – Manchester, Ilkay Gundogan, and Munich, Josua Kimmich, who received a yellow card. But the account was never opened. That is, in order to score three goals against such a powerful opponent, Bayern had only the second half.

And it also started with pressure from the hosts at the gates of the guests. But the guests, of course, tried to catch the hosts on the counterattack, and if Haaland had not shied away, being alone with Bayern goalkeeper Jan Sommer, the score would have been opened in the 56th minute. And so it happened on the 57th. Coman did not realize another opportunity in someone else’s penalty area, John Stones threw the ball far ahead, and there the same Haaland took advantage of the embarrassment that happened to poor fellow Upamecano, who, trying to impose a fight on his opponent, suddenly slipped and fell, helplessly waving his arms. The goal scored by the Norwegian was already the 12th for him in the current Champions League, and after that everything became clear finally and irrevocably. There was a lot of struggle and emotion in the final half hour, and there was even a penalty kick earned by substitute Sadio Mane and converted by Kimmich. But a 1-1 draw suited Manchester City quite well.

The meeting in Milan turned out to be more productive, where Inter and the leader of the current Portuguese championship demonstrated open football. In the 14th minute, a cool goal was scored by the hosts’ midfielder Nicolo Barella, who demonstrated several elements of his excellent technique at once during one episode, including a cool shot almost in the top nine. About 25 minutes later, Benfica equalized. This happened after Rafael Silva crossed Fredrik Eursnes from the right flank, and goalkeeper Andre Onana had no chance in a duel with the Norwegian striker. In the second half, two goals scored by Inter, scored by Lautaro Martinez and Joaquin Correa, who scored a chic dribble kick, Benfica answered with balls from Antonio Silva and Peter Musa, who scored already in stoppage time. As a result – 3:3.

Now Inter will meet Milan, and this will be their first European competition since the 2004/2005 Champions League quarter-finals, when Inter turned out to be stronger in the sum of two matches. Manchester City will play against Real Madrid, which they lost at the same stage last season. The first meetings will take place on May 9 and 10, and the return meetings on May 16 and 17.

Evgeny Fedyakov