Smiles and tears in the Champions for former players of Athletic. While Ander
Herrera and Javi
Martinez they enjoy their teams, Paris
Saint-Germain and Bayern
of
Munich, and they are already in the semifinals, Aymeric
Laporte can't say the same. He Manchester
City He stayed in the quarters and the French central is already eliminated as it had already happened to them in the second round Fernando
Llorente and Kepa
Arrizabalaga with the Naples and the Chelsea.
In the current edition of the Champions The participation of former players of the Athletic. Up to five of them reached the eighth with their teams. The first to fall were Fernando
Llorente with the Naples and Kepa
Arrizabalaga with the Chelsea. Their teams did not enter the top eight vying for the title of Champions in Lisbon. They were dismounted before Barcelona and Bayern in the second leg matches of the second round that were played on Saturday 8th of this month of August and in which they did not play any minute.
The next to see his dreams of reaching the European title vanish was Aymeric
Laporte at Manchester
City. The ‘sky blues’ were favorites to overcome their tie against him Olympique
of
Lyon, but the French surprised and beat the English 1-3.
A pass from Laporte cut by Caqueret was the germ of the 1-2 play scored by Dembélé for Olympique
Laporte played the full game and assumed the responsibility of getting the ball played from defense, as he likes Pep
Guardiola. The one from Agen was confident and ended the game as one of the players who had given the most good passes. However, he also threw the odd blur in defense as in the play that meant the 1-2 in favor of the Olympique
of
Lyon. Laporte tried a pass, but Caqueret intercepted it, combined with Aouar and he put a ball deep so that Moussa
Dembélé, with suspense for the VAR, put the 1-2 on the scoreboard.
It was somewhat controversial that the Laporte He later criticized through his social networks when he recalled that Dembélé knocked him down at the beginning of the play of the second goal of the Olympique. However, neither the referee nor the VAR they pointed it out.
Those who are still in the race for the title of Champions They are Ander
Herrera with the Paris
Saint-Germain and Javi
Martinez with the Bayern
of
Munich. The two teams are in the semifinals and could even meet in the final.
Herrera is looking for his first Champions League title, while for Javi Martínez it may mean the second
However, the experience is very different for both players. Ander
Herrera He started with the Parisian team in the quarterfinal match against him Atalanta, although he was substituted in the 72nd minute. After the duel against the Italians, Herrera has already played four games of Champions this season. They played the first three of the group stage, but missed the rest due to muscle injuries. He is now two games away from winning the title of Champions for the first time in his career.
The experience for Javi
Martinez it is very different. It is nothing like the one he experienced in 2013 when he started the final in which the Bayern was imposed on Borussia
Dortmund. Before him Barcelona, was a substitute. However, during the season he has had minutes in all the games of a Champions which may be the second in the Navarrese's record.