The European Week In Review: Knockout Edition, Pt. 2

By
Lyle-Anthony Golding
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The playoff round of the new European leagues gave us some beautiful matchups to look forward to, and this week we tucked into all of the proper knockout action. All the best moments, players, and fits are all in one place and curated just for you. This is the Urban Pitch European Week in Review for the UCL, UEL, and UECL Round of 16.

Star Men of the Round

Raphinha

Pau Cubarsi’s red card in the first leg of Barcelona’s tie with Benfica made their task a much more complicated one. They were forced to play with 10 men for over 70 minutes of the game, and at times Benfica looked nailed on to score.

But cometh the hour cometh the best player in the UCL so far this season, Barcelona’s talisman, Raphinha. He fired his side into the lead with a goal entirely his own work as he poached possession inside Benfica’s half before driving into the space and firing off an arrow into the bottom corner past Anatoliy Trubin. It was a special strike and one that gave Barça an unlikely away win, and the perfect platform for a home second leg.

With a full complement of players, the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys was witness to another finishing masterclass from the Brazilian. His exemplary positioning means he seems to be in the most opportune place in every attacking scenario for the Blaugrana. He was on the end of Lamine Yamal’s world class assist before slotting home his second to bookend an electric counterattack in the second half to kill off the game.

With a maximum of five games left to play should Barcelona make it all the way to the final, Raphinha is up to 11 goals and five assists in 10 games played, first and second in each category respectively.

It’s still far too early to be nailing on a winner for this year’s Ballon d’Or, but it’s never too early to identify a favorite. The further Barça go in the UCL, the more likely it is that we’ll look back on this campaign as the one that established Raphinha as the best player in the world.

Harry Kane

England’s captain and Bayern Munich’s star man has been an end-product machine for his entire career, and this year might just be his best yet.

Bagging two goal contributions in each leg of Bayern’s dominating 5-0 aggregate win over Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen meant there was no leaving Harry Kane out of this week’s star men.

His opening goal in the second leg was his 10th of this campaign, the most goals by an English player in a single campaign in the competition’s history, and takes him up to 32 goals in all competitions.

Rayan Cherki

One of Europe’s hottest steppers at the moment, Lyon’s Ryan Cherki put his team on his back in the Europa League with a double-double of assists.

Lyon steamrolled FCSB 7-1 on aggregate with Cherki leading by example. He recorded his first two assists in the final five minutes of the first leg to turn what was a scrappy but potentially acceptable 1-1 draw away from home into a comfortable 3-1 victory.

That gave the Frech side the platform to play with a degree of freedom and comfort in the second leg, and Cherki picked up right where he left off. Another brace of assists, both for Georges Mikautadze, meant that Lyon strolled into the Europa League quarterfinals.

He now leads both Ligue 1 and the Europa League in assists and has notched up 13 goal contributions in his last eight outings. All this while playing the game with silk grace and technique in abundance. Magnifique.

Most Hype Moments

Penalty Fiasco in the Madrid Derby

There is always drama when the two mega clubs from Madrid do battle, and this iteration went down to the wire.

Atletico erased their 2-1 aggregate deficit within a minute of kickoff when Conor Gallagher opened the scoring inside 30 seconds and sent Atleti fans wild.

The entire second leg felt like a basketball match with both teams exchanging blows and play feeling breathless. It all came to a halt when Kylian Mbappe wonderfully won a penalty, but was not the man to step up. The responsibility instead fell to Vinicius Jr., but from 12 yards, the Brazilian blazed his spot-kick high and wide, a mishap that meant the tie would end similarly, with penalty kicks.

The fourth kick of the shootout was where all the controversy lay. Atletico’s Julian Alvarez stepped up and, despite a slip, blasted his penalty into the roof of the net. VAR would intervene and after a review, disallowed Alvarez’ penalty because of a double kick, and rather than a retake, the rule stated for it to be counted as a miss.

The confusion was evident in the stadium, and despite a massive Jan Oblak save to deny Lucas Vazquez, the home side could not recover from Marcos Llorente’s miss.

Antonio Rudiger stepped up to dispatch the final penalty of the shootout and the entire Real Madrid squad did the “Rudiger run” across the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of their fans.

Lamine Yamal’s Glorious Second Leg

The clock had only just hit 10 minutes when Barcelona’s Yamal picked up the ball at the halfway line and drove towards Benfica’s box; what happened next and for the remainder of the first half was nothing short of genius.

The starlet shaped to curl a shot into the top corner before pulling out a filthy fake, leaving two defenders on their backside, and then picking out his treacherous twin Raphinha for an easy finish at the back post.

Benfica were quick to get back into it, but Yamal would have his way once more just before the half-hour mark. He was again operating in his favored position out wide on the right and seemed to float toward the edge of the box before pulling out the most nonchalant long-range curler you’ve ever seen. It was a 15-minute spell that rocked Benfica, and the second goal snuffed out whatever life was left in them for the remainder of the game. He became the youngest player to score and assist in a single UCL match at 17 years and 241 days old.

In my opinion, Yamal is the best 17-year-old athlete of all time. We’ve never seen someone perform to this standard with such a level of poise at such a tender age. It may still be a stretch to call him the greatest teenage athlete ever outright, but if he continues on this trajectory, it won’t be long before he commands that title.

The future is now.

PSG Usher in a New Era

The first leg of the tie between PSG and Liverpool felt like the heist of the century. Liverpool had just two shots all game, one of them being Harvey Elliott’s winner, and they required maybe the best performance of Alisson’s career to keep PSG at bay.

With the return leg to be played at Anfield, many began to write off the French side, but they weathered an early red storm and hit Liverpool with a sucker punch by way of Ousmane Dembélé. His uptick in form has coincided with PSG hitting a brilliant stride in the last few months, with everyone singing the same tune on the pitch.

This symphony was most evident as the second leg went into extra time, where PSG took a stranglehold on proceedings and were disappointed not to win it before penalties. Even so, if you enter a shootout with Gianluigi Donnarumma in your team, you’ll have a great chance. His two penalty saves meant victory for PSG and heartbreak for the UCL’s best team in the league phase.

Several players stepped up to the plate in a huge way for PSG in this tie, but a special mention has to go to left-back Nuno Mendes who put out a pair of performances that left the world marveling. Going head-to-head with Mo Salah when he’s on top of his game is a frightening prospect, but Mendes had the Egyptian on lockdown and gave his side a massive boost as a result.

They’ve so often been the bridesmaids, but it seems like Paris Saint-Germain have finally found their groove, and more importantly, their culture.

Best Kit Matchup

FC Copenhagen vs. Chelsea, First Leg

Nike was in its bag when it dropped the series of third kits for some of its biggest clubs this season, with Chelsea’s black and pink number being one of my personal favorites. The pink vertical Swoosh tops it off perfectly and this Chelsea kit has been a hit.

The Danish side’s home kit this season added an interesting twist to their typical white and blue template with a blue zig-zag pattern on the sleeves that also features on the all-white shorts. For good kit matchups you need contrast and the black and pick vs. white and blue provided that in abundance.

Best Pregame Fits

Club Brugge x BALR

 

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Varsity jackets, when done right, never miss. BALR’s black and off-white drop has been in rotation for a minute with both Brugge and Osasuna regularly sporting it on their way to games; you can clearly see why.

PSG x Jordan

 

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It’s gonna be hard to keep the Parisians out of this lineup for the rest of the tournament. Their “winged” Jordan kit already has the streets in a chokehold and fans will no doubt be clamoring for this pregame jacket.

It worked beautifully paired with either the blue or the white.

Borussia Dortmund x Soeren

 

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The best suit of the week came from the black and yellow boys, who pulled off a classy pinstriped look that was equal parts classy and casual.

Best Stadium Atmosphere

Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid, Second Leg

This will likely be the easiest selection for the stadium atmosphere for the rest of the competition. Derbys are always a fiery affair and the Madrid derby, especially in recent years and especially in the UEFA Champions League, is one of the world’s best.

Diego Simeone always does his part in making the stadium a fortress and you could see him at various points in the game riling up the crowd and cheering on his men.

The atmosphere was electric from minute one to the 120th and beyond, with Simeone even continuing to elicit cheers and demand the support of the Metropolitano for his players. While they came up second-best once again, the support for this club has and will always be first class.

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