The big winners<\/p>\n
Bod\u00f8\/Glimt\u2019s 2-1 defeat of Inter at San Siro continued this season\u2019s miracle. The post-match discussion between Inter coach Cristian Chivu and his opposite number, Kjetil Knutsen, was one of admiration, an acknowledgment the Norwegian team had been too good for the runaway Serie A leaders. Even though Inter were without Lautaro Mart\u00ednez, their standard bearer, a comeback seemed likely as they dominated the early stages. But they found no way through, eventually falling victim to the high-quality, high-speed attacking that had left them with a 3-1 deficit to overcome from the first leg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest thing was to create an opening,\u201d lamented Inter\u2019s Nicol\u00f2 Barella of the long spell of toil that preceded Jens Petter Hauge stabbing in his sixth goal in this season\u2019s competition before H\u00e5kon Evjen completed a counter and sealed progress with a brilliant strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried everything we could,\u201d Chivu said. Like Manchester City and Atl\u00e9tico Madrid before them, Inter were dumbfounded by the team laying claim to be Scandinavia\u2019s best since IFK Gothenburg picked up two Uefa Cups in the 1980s and reached the European Cup semi-final in 1986.<\/p>\n
Galatasaray are into the last 16 after goals by Victor Osimhen and Bar\u0131\u015f Alper Yilmaz in extra time at Juventus. That tells nothing of the full story of a classic tie, which almost became a classic comeback. Probably the main reason Juve did not fully overturn their 5-2 first-leg deficit was the dismissal of Lloyd Kelly, a red card awarded by video assistant when the on-field official had already awarded a second yellow. How video officials reached that decision was mysterious, controversial; Kelly looked to have accidentally landed on Yilmaz. The Englishman initially believed VAR would come to his rescue but stormed down the tunnel. He missed out on the ecstatic scenes that followed Weston McKennie levelling the tie at 5-5. In injury time, though, Juve ran out of legs, counting the cost of a third red card in four matches.<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s earlier game, Atalanta had already preserved the dignity of Serie A with a 4-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund. Atalanta<\/a> trailed 2-0 from the first leg but perhaps we should have paid attention to a telling stat before kick-off: there has been an Italian team in the last 16 of the competition every season since 1987-88. In Bergamo, Mario Pa\u0161ali\u0107\u2019s header put Atalanta 3-2 up on aggregate, only for Karim Adeyemi\u2019s lovely goal to push the tie towards extra time. The denouement was bizarre: Dortmund defender Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of Atalanta\u2019s Nikola Krstovi\u0107 in the penalty area as he attempted a backheel flick. Lazar Samard\u017ei\u0107 stepped up in the ninth minute of added time, with all Atalanta\u2019s usual penalty takers subbed off, to score the spot-kick. He lashed it home to maintain the honour of Italian calcio.<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Mourinho has now lost his last 10 Champions League knockout ties. At Real Madrid, parking the Benfica bus did not prove a successful strategy. Although this time it was a literal bus: Mourinho, banned after his red card in the first leg, watched the second leg sat in the team coach. Benfica scored first at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u against a rather languid Madrid through Rafa Silva, only to leave space for Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni to score from distance. In the 80th minute, Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior scored the decider of an edgy match, issuing the final word<\/a> on a tie that concluded with relative calm. The fallout<\/a> from last week\u2019s first leg, in which Benfica\u2019s Gianluca Prestianni was accused of racially abusing Vin\u00edcius, may continue for some time. \u201cMourinho and I were in contact and share the same feeling: frustration and pride,\u201d said Benfica\u2019s assistant coach, Jo\u00e3o \u00adTralh\u00e3o. Mourinho\u2019s thoughts remain private. For now, at least.<\/p>\n Player of the week<\/p>\n It all came up Norway, as Alexander S\u00f8rloth, the one-time Bod\u00f8\/Glimt loanee, scored the treble for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid that ended Club Brugge\u2019s participation. S\u00f8rloth will probably partner Erling Haaland at the summer\u2019s World Cup. The 30-year-old has a harsh journeyman reputation but his skillset has found its home within a Diego Simeone team undergoing a reboot. The hat-trick was S\u00f8rloth\u2019s fifth goal in two matches, after a weekend double against Espanyol. They said it<\/p>\n \u201cThere are moments when you lose precision and it\u2019s difficult to recover the level.\u201d Luis Enrique breathed a sigh of relief after Paris Saint-Germain\u2019s 2-2 draw with Monaco, who had Mamadou Coulibaly harshly sent off and missed a golden chance to level the tie when Wout Faes headed wide. As it was, the holders squeezed through 5-4 on aggregate. They remain unconvincing, and are yet to find the stride of last season.<\/p>\n The pundit\u2019s chair<\/p>\n \u201cItalian teams play at a slow pace. When they find teams that play press and run, they don\u2019t have the quality, aren\u2019t accustomed to playing at a high pace, and make mistakes \u2026 As soon as they increase the pace in Serie A, they are stopped because a challenge is too hard, a player\u2019s ear is touched, and they go down. These are the results. We play at a slow pace, unfortunately, and when it happens, it\u2019s hard to be dangerous.\u201d Champions League-winning coach Fabio Capello, speaking after Inter\u2019s exit on Sky Italia, diagnoses the Serie A malaise.<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s last 16 draw takes place in Nyon, Switzerland, and the playoffs, or \u201cpunishment round\u201d as some insiders term it, have opened up some potentially huge ties. Paris Saint-Germain face either Barcelona or Chelsea. Galatasaray\u2019s reward is one of Liverpool or Tottenham, whose interim coach Igor Tudor had a stint with the Turkish club.<\/p>\n