The UEFA Champions League is home to the highest caliber of football in the world. This is only kind of about that. Welcome to the highs and lows of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.
We have reached the wonderful part of the UEFA Champions League where a truly elite team can be a heavy underdog. Juventus has dominated Serie A this season after cutting through it unbeaten last season. They lead their domestic league in goals scored and goals allowed. They have one of the best keepers in the world (still) in Gianluigi Buffon, and one of the stoutest spines in club football. Andrea Pirlo has spent the last two years proving AC Milan wrong for both club and country. They have history, experience, one of the world's largest supporters groups. They are without a doubt one of the top five clubs in the world both today, and historically. And they're in a lot of trouble.
Juventus reemerged from a half-decade of scandal last season, making an undefeated run through Serie A to secure their first Scudetto since 2003 (and Reggie Bush never won the Heisman, let's move on). The Old Lady then got to this point in the tournament by making an undefeated charge through a tricky group that included Shakhtar Donetsk and defending champion Chelsea. Juventus then got very lucky, drawing a relatively weak Celtic side, whom they dispatched with ease 5-0 on aggregate. Juventus then got relatively unlucky, drawing a very good Bayern Munich side, who quickly scored against the Italians, before adding a second-half goal to secure a 2-0 first-leg victory.
If you're watching soccer on Wednesday, assuming you live outside of Donetsk and North Rhine-Westphalia (and if you are reading from one of those places, Pryvit or Guten Tag), you're going to be watching Real Madrid play Manchester United. I get it. I really do. Ronaldo, van Persie, Rooney, Ferguson, "the Special One." In terms of individual quality, history, and story lines, there's nothing better than a Champions League clash between Madrid and United. But the best match of the day will be played in Donetsk, Ukraine, between reigning German double-winners Borussia Dortmund and reigning Ukrainian double-winners (and your Champions League Underdog of the Week), Shakhtar Donetsk.
The story of the Premier League this weekend, told in five goals. Get some.
We all know about The Kobe Assist. I'm starting to wonder if there's such a thing as the Suarez Assist. This happens when Liverpool forward Luis Suarez drops his head and tries to dribble through three or four defenders at a time. Like a homing beacon, more and more defenders come to the ball. Now Suarez, for all his qualities, is not Zidane. He's not pirouetting around players as much as he is clawing through them. Once he gets to the box, he's a piranha. But something happens when all this attention is focused on Suarez: Other players are left on their own. And as Suarez insistently tries to weave through this growing armada of defenders, the ball tends to ricochet away from him, off defenders. And a few times this year, it's bounced to another Liverpool player who has somehow benefited from Suarez's selfishness. In this instance, Jordan Henderson is the main beneficiary.
How They Got Here: Portugal pulled off the unlikely feat — or what seemed an unlikely feat before the tournament — of making it out of Group B, the Group of Death. After a fairly close loss to Germany, 1-0, Paulo Bento's side got a game-winning goal against Denmark from little-known Silvestre Varela and a world-beating performance from Cristiano Ronaldo in a 2-1 win against the Dutch.
The Czechs got their pants pulled down by Russia in one of the most one-sided losses of the tournament so far (4-1, on the opening day of Euro 2012). Since then, they've taken their chances very well (basically the key to winning tournament games). Their opening goal against Greece was like watching CCTV footage of a mugging.
