- Whether you call it football or soccer, the game is always full of excitement…
The 2022-23 renewal of the Champions League is reaching its thrilling conclusion, with defending champions Real Madrid and first-time trophy seekers Manchester City vying for a place in the final in one semi-final, while bitter Milan rivals AC and Inter scrap it out for a trip to Istanbul in the other.
Man City and Madrid are two teams most would have expected to see in the final four at the start of the campaign, but not many would have predicted an all-Milan semi in the football betting odds. That is perhaps partly to do with the fact the likes of Man City, Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich were all on the other side of the draw.
Nonetheless, there will be an Italian side in the Champions League final for the first time since Juventus lost 4-1 to Real Madrid in 2017 and it will be the first time for either Inter or AC Milan since they beat Bayern Munich and Liverpool in the 2010 and 2007 showpieces respectively.
So, as we await confirmation of the final two and count down the days to the final on June 10, let’s take a look at some of the sides who underperformed in this year’s competition.
Paris Saint-Germain
Where better to start things off than with a team who have made it their goal to win the big-eared trophy every year since their Qatari takeover in 2011? PSG finally seemed unstoppable when they brought in Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma and co. in the 2021 offseason, but they still haven’t managed to win that maiden Champions League two seasons on.
This year was particularly disappointing for the Paris side. They finished with an identical record to Benfica in Group H, but the Portuguese side were awarded the top spot on the basis of scoring more away goals. That meant a difficult quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich, which they were still expected to win.
However, Bayern nicked a 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes thanks to a Kingsley Coman strike and won 2-0 in Munich to deal PSG a humiliating 3-0 defeat on aggregate. With Lionel Messi set to leave the French capital this summer without helping guide the Ligue 1 side to Champions League success, many will wonder what more PSG can do.
Barcelona
In Barcelona’s defense, the Catalan side weren’t in the easiest of groups alongside Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. But the consensus was that Xavi’s men would still land one of the top two spots in Group C and prevail to the knockout stages.
Instead, Barca were sent packing and relegated to the Europa League following the group stages for the second season in a row. They won both of their fixtures against Viktoria Plzen rather comfortably, but lost 2-0 and 3-0 to Bayern and 1-0 to Inter in Milan before drawing 3-3 at the Nou Camp.
Xavi has Barca soaring towards their first La Liga title since 2019 and if Messi returns this summer, then they have a chance of potentially going deep into the knockout stages of the Champions League again next season.
Juventus
It was hard to pick between Atletico Madrid and Juventus for our final team to focus on, as both teams warranted selection after disappointing performances in the group stages. Atletico were knocked out of European football entirely by Bayer Leverkusen on head-to-head points difference, but their five points were a lot more respectable than Juventus’ three regardless of the final standings.
The Old Lady lost five of their six games against PSG, Benfica and Maccabi Haifa, but managed to pip the Israeli outfit — who they managed their only victory over in gameweek three with a 3-1 win at Juventus Stadium — to the third spot due to having a much superior goal difference.
Juventus have fared much better in the Europa League, beating Nantes, Freiburg and Sporting Lisbon to reach the semi-finals — where they will face serial winners Sevilla. The Old Lady are as short as 15/8 to go on and win Europe’s secondary competition.
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