2022/23 UEFA Champions League – The last FOUR. We have a Milan Derby for semifinals.

By Futbol Staff

Posted on April 19, 2023

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

FIRST LEG RESULTS

April 11.
Benfica [0-2] Inter Milan
Manchester City [3-0] Bayern Munich

April 12.
AC Milan [1-0] Napoli
Real Madrid [2-0] Chelsea

AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester City, and Real Madrid were all in a position to move on to the semifinal after the first-leg result. – They did not disappoint.
Real Madrid looking for their 15th title. AC Milan going for their 8th title, Inter Milan looking for their 4th, and Manchester City chasing their first.

April 18.

Chelsea and Real Madrid were to two most recent winners of the competition. The defending champions moved on to the final after a 4-0 aggregate win.

Leaving the tournament as a quarterfinalist is the beat a Napoli team has done in the history of the club. They can only look to improve on that in the coming season. AC Milan used a ‘2-1’ aggregate win over Napoli to get to the semifinal.

April 19.

Bayern Munich had their work cut out for them to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit. Haaland could’ve had two goals on the night if he hadn’t skied his penalty kick in the 37th minute.
Bayern Munich is knocked out by a 4-1 aggregate defeat, as Manchester City returns to the semifinal.

Inter Milan advanced to the semifinals with a 5-3 aggregate win.
Just like in the first-leg, Nicolo Barella opened the goalscoring for the match and for Inter Milan to get the desired outcome against Benfica.

We have a Milan Derby thanks to AC Milan and Inter Milan getting to the semifinal. 

We also have a replay of last season's semifinal: Real Madrid vs Manchester City. - 

The winner went on to win the title last season. Could it be the same for this season?

CHELSEA 0-2 REAL MADRID

Real Madrid win: 4-0 (agg.)

Chelsea had their chances but failed to convert them into the goals they desperately needed to overcome a ‘2-0’ first-leg defeat. In return, they conceded 2 additional goals in the second half (both coming from Rodrygo) to bow out of the competition.
The defending champions go to the semifinals.

NAPOLI 1-1 AC MILAN

AC Milan win: 2-1 (agg.)

Napoli fell to AC Milan once again.
The first-leg result in Milan was the difference.

They met three times in 16 days and Napoli could not find a win against AC Milan. The Italian Serie A standings wouldn’t have suggested this.


April 2: Napoli [0-4] AC Milan (SERIE A)

April 12: AC Milan [1-0] Napoli (UCL)

April 18: Napoli [1-1] AC Milan (UCL)

Both teams had a chance to score from an awarded penalty but failed to convert. Oliver Giroud’s penalty was saved in the 22nd minute but he made it up when he scored AC Milan’s goal in the 43rd minute. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia missed a penalty that would’ve gotten Napoli even 60 minutes later. Kvaratskhelia’s penalty miss became more expensive for Napoli when Victor Osimhen scored in the third minute of the final added time to tie the match.

BAYERN MUNICH 1-1 MANCHESTER CITY

Manchester City win: 4-1 (agg.)

Bayern Munich had their work cut out for them to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit.
Attempts were made in the opening half but nothing came of it. Bayern Munich avoided a home defeat thanks to a penalty awarded for a handball. Joshua Kimmich converted from the spot to cancel out Erlin Haaland’s 57th-minute match-opening goal.

Haaland could’ve had two goals on the night if he hadn’t skied his penalty kick in the 37th minute. Bayern Munich is knocked out by a 4-1 aggregate defeat, as Manchester City returns to the semifinal.

INTER MILAN 3-3 BENFICA

Inter Milan win: 5-3 (agg.)

Just like in the first-leg, Nicolo Barella opened the goalscoring for the match and for Inter Milan to get the desired outcome against Benfica. Inter Milan allowed in two late goals to deny themselves another win over Benfica but it did nothing to change the outcome.
Inter Milan advanced to the semifinals with a ‘5-3’ aggregate win.
Benfica couldn’t get the two additional goals to extend the tie. A goal each in the first half, and two goals each in the second. Inter Milan and Benfica settle for a 3-3 draw at San Siro.

THE LAST FOUR:

Real Madrid (14 titles): Last title was in 2022. 

Inter Milan (3 titles): Last title was in 2010. 

AC Milan (7 titles): Last title was in 2007. 

Manchester City - finalist in 2021.

There were three Italian teams, two English teams, a German team, a Spanish team, and a Portuguese team. We are left with two Italian teams, one English team, and a Spanish team.

Of the 8 teams left in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League, Manchester City, and Napoli were the teams that have never won the competition in their history. Manchester City continue their quest to change that record, while Napoli bowed out.

Napoli was looking at a double.
After 33 years without a league title, Napoli is almost at the finish line in the Italian Serie A title race as the new champions. The year could even get better than expected if Napoli had managed to secure the UEFA Champions League title alongside their league title. Regardless, this will go down as a great season for the club.

Only Real Madrid has won more titles in this competition than AC Milan. They’ve been absent for some time, but AC Milan is now three games away from their 8th Champions League title.

The only way an Italian club was going to miss out on the Champions League final this year was if Benfica got to the final.

Inter Milan’s most recent Champions League title was won in a ‘treble-winning’ season. This won’t be the case this time around but it also means they can focus a lot more on this tournament.

Real Madrid’s path to defend the Champions League title is filled with other tournament favorites, but this has not stopped them in the past. Real Madrid are now 3 matches from a 15th Champions League title. Just like last season, Real Madrid met Chelsea in the quarterfinals, and are meeting Manchester City in the semifinals.

Manchester City and Bayern Munich are arguably the top two favorites to win the tournament. Unfortunately, only one of them was going to be a semifinalist this year.