# Champions League review: brilliant goalkeeping and Leverkusen in decline

## Going up?

**Arsenal**

A 7-1 win at PSV may end up being the high point of the season, reminding us of the attacking quality Mikel Arteta can still deploy even without Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz. At times in Eindhoven it felt like the Dutch team, with a defence that includes the USMNT’s Richard Ledezma at full-back, were having the Gunners’ Premier League frustrations taken out on them. It was the club’s best European performance since the days when Robin Van Persie, who has , was an understudy to Thierry Henry. It was also Arsenal’s largest away win in the knockouts by far.

## Going out?

### Paris Saint-Germain

This was supposed to be the season when things changed for PSG, when the old model was thrown off, when young Parisians rather than ageing galácticos would seize the stage. And they did, . Perhaps PSG were unlucky to be paired with the Premier League leaders but they played more than well enough. They were unlucky to have Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal ruled out by the width of a boot, and perhaps even more unfortunate that Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté escaped a red card. PSG’s inexperience was shown by allowing those blows – and Alisson’s brilliant goalkeeping – to affect their self-belief. The finishing might have been better, too. To play so beautifully and lose to Harvey Elliott’s late goal was a bitter blow. “We were far superior to Liverpool,” said Luis Enrique, PSG’s coach. “Today wasn’t a game based on the stats or the details.” The second leg is keenly awaited.

### Benfica

Another example of falling short when the pathway to success has been laid, Benfica  when the Catalans had been reduced to 10 men in the 22nd minute. Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a hat-trick when  in the clubs’ crazy January meeting, drew Pau Cubarsi into the red-card offence. Wojciech Szczęsny made crucial saves for Barcelona, and Benfica’s defence allowed Raphinha, whose goals won that previous match, to escape and score the winner. That was the only shot Barcelona had in the entire second half whereas Benfica rained down 15 efforts overall. “We could be talking about a 5-1 and we are talking about a 0-1”, lamented Bruno Lage, the Benfica coach.



**Cinematic, triumphant, unbeatable: Alisson seizes his moment for Liverpool | Barney Ronay**



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### Bayer Leverkusen

Last season Xabi Alonso could do no wrong. Bayer went unbeaten in the Bundesliga, and lost only in the Europa League final. Bayern Munich had no answer at the time. Perhaps those days are gone, and perhaps a great side will be broken up. Alonso stayed on as manager but has failed to repeat the magic at home and abroad. Florian Wirtz, seen as the best player in Germany, had a stinker against Bayern, the club he is, of course, linked with – particularly heavily this week, by no coincidence. “We did not control the small details and so our pain was self-inflicted,” said Alonso, though his team selection, omitting strikers, fell flat. He wasn’t helped by Nordi Mukiele’s two yellows or Matěj Kovář’s goalkeeping howlers but this defeat was a blow to the Basque’s reputation.



Ethan Nwaneri has helped make up for the loss of Bukayo Saka at Arsenal. Photograph: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

## A good week for

### Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)

He won’t turn 18 until later this month but Nwaneri, if his development continues at this rate, Arteta wondering if he can fit the teenager and Saka into the same team. Saka’s hamstring injury was supposed to upend Arsenal’s season, and it has, to an extent, but Nwaneri has shown the maturity to be a first-team perennial. His goal in Eindhoven made him the third-youngest knockout scorer in the competition’s history, behind Bojan Krkić and Jude Bellingham. Myles Lewis-Skelly provided the assist, the first time two English teenagers had ever combined for a  goal.

### Alisson (Liverpool)

 If Aston Villa’s Emi Martínez has his backers, then the Argentinian will have to throw in an all-timer to match Alisson’s display in Paris. Alisson alone broke PSG’s hearts, with save after save from Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé and perhaps the best of all from Désiré Doué. That he played his part in Elliott’s winning goal was the icing on the cake in a display the Brazilian described as “probably the performance of my life”. His nine saves were the most by a Liverpool goalkeeper in the Champions League era.

### Wojciech Szczęsny (Barcelona)

A good week for goalkeepers, whose importance tends to grow in the knockouts. Szczęsny’s performance was not quite as spectacular as that of Alisson but it was just as decisive. Back in January, the Pole made two serious errors to gift Benfica their goals, a performance that brought into question Szczęsny’s decision to curtail retirement in Marbella and return to football. He made eight saves on Wednesday, five in the second half. The highlights were a point-blank save from Fredrik Aursnes and a late stop from Renato Sanches. That all added up to a club record.
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