Amr Obaid (Cairo)
The Spanish newspaper “AS” described the absence of the “top three of La Liga” from the top eight places in the Champions League as “European drama,” and said that something negative is happening to the Spanish teams now, as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico dropped out of the list of first places, while Girona did not win. Any points after two rounds, and the newspaper directed harsh criticism at its teams that may find themselves “forced” to go through an extra round, after the end of the first league stage, if they are unable to find advanced seats that guarantee their qualification to the next round directly.
Therefore, “AS” placed the “La Liga” teams in direct comparison with the clubs of other European leagues, saying that the “Spaniards” had the least score during these two rounds, as “Barca”, “Real” and “Athleti” collected only 9 points, at a rate of 3. For each team, out of a total of 24 points available to the four teams, including Girona, which means the success of the “La Liga” representatives was only 37.5%, which is clearly lower than everyone else, as the “Calcio” teams scored 15 points with a success rate of 50%. Compared to 53% for the “Bundesliga” clubs, with a total of 16 points, taking into account the presence of 5 teams from each league.
While the difference with the “French” increases, as the tally of the “League One” teams also reached 16 points, but the percentage is 66% for four teams, and of course the “English” come in first after the “Premier League Giants” scored 20 points, representing a success rate for all of them amounting to 83%. And none of them lost at all, after Liverpool and Aston Villa came out on top with a “full mark,” compared to 4 points each for Manchester City and Arsenal. Indeed, the two Portuguese league teams, Benfica and Lisbon, collected 10 points with a percentage of 83.3%, in addition to the horrific fall of… “Athleti” at the hands of “Eagles”!
On the other hand, “Marca” strongly criticized what Simeone did in that match, accusing him of “depriving the team of playing football,” as it said that falling behind by a goal in the first half was not a “disaster,” but the coach’s decision to replace Griezmann and Koke. De Paul at halftime was the “real disaster,” because he handed Benfica the match on a “golden platter,” hitting the “Eagles” with “three” in the second half, while I published a report about Real Madrid players directing “self-criticism” at themselves, There was talk inside the locker room about the lack of combat and enthusiasm in that match, and that what happened would mobilize the players’ energies to “wake up” in the remaining rounds of the continental championship.
On the night of the fall of the greats, joy spread in the French and English newspapers, as well as the Portuguese ones, as “L’Equipe” mocked the “Galacticos” of Real Madrid, which were destroyed by Lille, and described its local team as “the kings” who declared themselves as such on that historic night, and said that “the northerners “The team was the best ever in the second round, in her opinion, and the Catalan newspapers did not miss that defeat, as Le Sportio said: The “DNA” that the “Madridians” sing about was not present that night, and “Mundo” spoke. Deportivo” about the repetition of Real Madrid’s technical errors, which is what brought them down this time instead of escaping as happened in recent matches.
The English newspapers talked about “repeated history”, which made Aston Villa defeat Bayern Munich with the same result and in the same way, as they did 42 years ago, so that the “Lions” outperformed the “Bavarians” by 100% during the two confrontations that they brought together in the years 1982 and 2024, while The headlines in the Portuguese newspapers were very cheerful, as “Ogogo” wrote about the “big party,” “Record” spoke about the supernatural performance, and “Correio” said that Benfica “charmed” all of Europe, while “Abola” described the events of the match as “The Festival.”
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