Champions League ones to watch, in review.

It seems I know little about football. Approximately three weeks ago, when the Champions League was on its last legs, I posted an article on the players to look out for in what was left of the competition. I proffered five individuals from those who remained in the tournament - these were players I touted for European glory. However, as the competition quickly progressed towards its showcase denouement, my list of suggestions became increasingly laughable. Every knockout tie delivered a hit to my credibility. It’s with some embarrassment, then, that I return to the hot seat to analyse how each of my picks actually fared. Some of them didn’t make it past their first match, whilst two of them reached the final - whether any of them lived up to my expectation is a wholly different consideration. I’m here to find out, and I’ll be giving each recommendation a ‘success’ or ‘failure’ mark.

The first man on my original list of recommendations was Atalanta’s Papu Gomez. I gave the Argentinian and his side the big talk-up: only improving as the tournament progresses; highest scorers in Serie A; squad assembled on a shoestring, etc. And, for 90 minutes, it seemed as if my praise was spot on - the Italians managed to cling onto their one goal lead versus PSG until extra-time. Gomez played his part in the goal, but went off injured early in the second half. That was alright, though, I thought - he’ll return for the semi-final and get another chance to impress. Oh, how painfully wrong I was. In an unbelievable three minute twist of fate, Paris Saint Germain netted twice to send i Nerazzurri packing. It was in this way that my first ‘One to watch’ left the picture with a whimper. As Gomez was the only real forward on my list, this made his departure all the more disappointing. The Bergamo Bargain Boys gave Oil Money FC a real run for their money, but it wasn’t to be - in his fifty minutes or so of action, Gomez never really demonstrated his true quality, so I’ll have to put him down as a failed recommendation.

My PSG pick didn’t fare much better. I could’ve chosen anyone from the squad of superstars - even Choupo frigging Moting - but I managed to isolate their only injured man. I inadvertently dodged a bullet by ruling out Neymar and Mbappe, who were frauds-in-chief when the tournament returned, but that’s about as far as my wisdom got me. Marco Verratti was my man, who I ironically considered a safe choice, what with injuries riddling other Parisians. The Italian was inexplicably injured for the Atalanta tie, and he only scraped substitute appearances against Leipzig and Bayern. There’s not much more I can say. I remember an excellent pass he slotted in against Leipzig, but this served only to tease me - an illustration of what could’ve been. Verratti came on with 25 minutes left in the final, but he made little impact, apart from losing his head.  The 5’4” midfielder completed 93% of his passes in Europe, having an average of 111 touches per match, but similarly to Gomez, he failed to live up to my expectations post-Lockdown (I probably should’ve taken note of his Champions League stats before the tournament returned). This makes him my second failed recommendation.

Thomas Partey was the third man mentioned in my original article; he turned out to be the worst recommendation in the history of recommendations. I built the Ghanaian up as a classy and formidable midfield operator - and, at this point in time, I’m still to be proven right or wrong on this count. Atleti were knocked out as soon as the Champions League restarted, at the hands of RB Leipzig (much to my delight). Thomas was not in the starting line-up against the Germans, nor did he come off the bench at any point in the match. I’m left with nothing to review, therefore. Julian Nagelsmann cranked the heavy metal up to full volume - Simeone left his noise-cancelling headphones at home. Whilst Partey did not become the tournament defining player I hoped he would be, there’s hope yet, as a move to Arsenal looks to be on the cards for the Ghanaian. Perhaps we’ll still have a chance to keep an eye on him, then, albeit not as first expected. As things stand, though, I’ll be putting the Atleti man down as a failed recommendation.

Another midfield candidate, another failed recommendation; well, that’s putting it lightly. To refer to my fourth ‘One to Watch’ as a single ‘candidate’ is misleading. I proposed Napoli’s whole midfield as something to keep an eye on in my last article - this makes the complete failure of this recommendation all the more embarrassing. I had three chances to pick a winner - instead, Napoli crashed out against Barca, spelling disaster for my non-specific fourth choice. Gattuso picked Fabian Ruiz, Diego Demme and Piotr Zielinksi as his starting midfield three: a mouth-watering trio, I’m sure you’ll agree. Unfortunately, my excitement was quickly dashed, as Barca netted twice in 25 minutes. The Neapolitans lost their zip and energy, handing Barca the upper-hand in midfield. The Blaugrana completed 63% of their duels (Napoli only 37%); they won 82% of their tackles (Napoli only 47%); and most tellingly, Barcelona had a higher pass accuracy in the opposition half than Napoli. These stats paint the picture of Catalonian midfield dominance: the home-side were more assured in all facets of the central-third battle. One moment stood out to me in that match. Frenkie De Jong picked out Messi with a perfectly executed, outside-of-the-foot, half-volley pass, leading to a goal which was ultimately disallowed. I hoped to see this sort of creativity from Napoli’s men - instead, the latter set of players were lost and unconvincing at the Nou Camp, and so I’m left with another failed recommendation.

David Alaba, my final man (in multiple ways), was probably the safest bet in my original article - Bayern Munich were shoe-ins for the Quarter-finals at least, and even then, the prospect of Alaba versus Messi, followed by Man City in the semis, was totally exciting to me. I asked to see the Austrian tested against the best, and this very thing seemed to be on the cards. Things didn't turn out so rosily. For starters, Bayern didn’t quite manage to go unscathed against Chelsea, which had me a little worried. The Germans had their armour chinked by the blues: Lampard’s men got the ball in the net twice (once disallowed) and managed 5 shots in the box. That didn’t reflect particularly well on Alaba. This was only the tip of the iceberg. As I expected, Barca took the other spot in the Quarter final, thus setting up the delectable tie that I had hoped for. This was the Austrian’s real test - the Chelsea second-leg was a nothing game really, I told myself. Unfortunately, things did not immediately improve against the Catalans. Alaba bagged an own goal 7 minutes into the tie (and a spectacular one at that!). Luckily, football matches are 90 minutes long - Bayern netted 8 goals, with Barca only managing to double their 7 minute tally, before the second half was up. Most impressively, Alaba’s defence constrained Messi and Friends to an xG of 1. Messi. xG. One. Bayern kept their cool against Setien’s men - they limited Barca to seven shots; they made a combined 38 tackles, interceptions and clearances, whilst maintaining a 95% pass accuracy in their own half. Alaba led his back four to an admirable display - exactly what I wanted to see. Unfortunately (for my article) Man City were knocked out by Lyon, depriving Alaba of successive juicy ties; but, to cut a long story short, Bayern didn’t concede another goal in the tournament after the Quarter Final (although they didn’t totally convince me against Lyon, nor against PSG for that matter). The Bavarians only conceded one goal (one actual goal) to Messi, Suarez, Mbappe, Neymar and Di Maria, over 180 minutes - this is remarkable enough on its own, notwithstanding the fact that they did this on their way to winning the Champions League. Alaba is definitely a successful recommendation, as such. In my first article, I referenced David Alaba’s tackle success rate in the Champions League, which then stood at 75%. The Austrian managed to better this stat when the tournament returned: I can tell you that he came out of the competition with 85% tackle accuracy, and 91% pass accuracy. This reinforces my original appraisal of him as an excellent ball-playing defender. Bayern’s Austrian is the only one of my original recommendations that I can claim as a flying success.

This article was painful to write. My reputation is in tatters (not that I really had one, it’s just that I won the family Fantasy League twice in a row.) There’s no hiding from the fact that my five original recommendations were grossly laughable - I devoted the most words to my only successful pick to compensate for this. Even the latter, Alaba, wasn’t an unmitigated success: I could’ve chosen a Bayern player who didn’t score an own goal, after all. With that said, I think I’d like to end my own misery; my only glimmer of solace can be taken from Man City’s failure, and Sterling’s open-goal miss. I hope that my awful recommendations didn’t ruin your Champions League experience. Thanks for reading. Please tweet me @Torpaldo with any thoughts or feedback on the article and my picks.

Thanks.