Amr Obaid (Cairo)
The journey of Italian football representatives in the Champions League has ended, and the “Calcio Train” stopped at the Round of 16 station, after Inter Milan followed its compatriots, Lazio and Napoli, outside the “Champions League”, and after months of singing and pride in the power of “snakes” on the covers of Italian newspapers, locally and continentally. “La Gazzetta” came out to express its extreme frustration and sadness, following the elimination of the “runner-up” last season from that early stage this season, and titled its cover by saying, “Great pain.”
She referred to the “complete curse” that befell all of Italy’s teams in the Champions League, agreeing with the headline of “Corriere dello Sport,” which wrote “mass exit,” and described Inter Milan as “crazy,” which wasted all of its chances to continue, as the signs of collapse were clear. After missing two certain goals, either of them could have sealed the promotion ticket for the Nerazzurri, which is why it was not strange for them to lose the penalty shootout as well, after very bad shots.
On the other hand, the Spanish joy was “overwhelming” with this difficult qualification for Atletico Madrid, as “Marca” wrote that “Atletico” is cruel and does not know mercy, while “AS” said that the qualification was a well-deserved gift for the brave hearts and goalkeeper Oblak, as for “Mundo Deportivo.” The Catalan club has placed a large picture of the former Barcelona and current Atletico player, Memphis Depay, and titled its cover with “Immense joy.”
Through the websites of the major newspapers, La Gazzetta wrote that Thuram and Lautaro wasted the hopes of the “Snakes” this time, with naive mistakes and a strange waste of opportunities, and this does not mean that they endured exclusion alone, after many defensive and technical errors and not good changes, in addition to the frustrating implementation of penalty kicks, and it was concerned. The Italian newspaper, which is famous for placing Italian teams in the continental standings, published a report about the fear of a decline in the chances of “Calcio representatives” to be in the European championships in the coming years, saying that the champions of “La Liga” and “Bundesliga” currently lead the continental scene, as it wrote in a report. Another is that Manchester City is considered the most prominent candidate to win and retain the Champions League title, but it will not be easy, in light of Ancelotti’s presence with Real Madrid, and both Kylian Mbappé and Atletico Madrid represent an unexpected “threat” in the coming stages.
In a poll conducted by the newspaper “Marca” on its website, regarding the wishes of fans of Spanish teams regarding the competitors they wish to face or avoid in the quarter-finals, 29% of Real Madrid fans chose to face Borussia Dortmund, while 42% of them wished not to play with Manchester City in the quarter-finals. At that stage, as for Barcelona fans, their choices were “surprising”, as 38% wished to face “City” in the quarter-finals, while 30% of them expressed their desire to avoid playing with Dortmund, and 22% of Atletico Madrid fans revealed their request to play with Paris Saint-Germain. Germain, compared to 28%, saw that the early confrontation with Real Madrid was “not required at all.”
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