Three superstars missing in Champions League quarter-finals

We are at one of the key moments of the season and the big players are in the spotlight. At the end of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, we must highlight three players who did not offer the level expected of them.

We are talking about Haaland, Bellingham and Mbappe. These players performed rather poorly given what they have shown so far this season. In relation to the Norwegian, Antonio Rudiger was his nemesis and got a master's degree after completely cancelling him out. For his part, Jude was very erratic against City and was seen more protesting to the referee than creating danger. In the case of the Frenchman, the PSG star did not link up with his team-mates and Kounde stopped him, as did Araujo, who was very good in helping him.

The whole football planet was watching Madrid-City, a thrilling match that ended in a spectacular 3-3 draw. The thing is, if we look at the scorers, there was no sign of Haaland. The Norwegian, who has 30 goals in 2023-24, was left empty-handed at the Santiago Bernabuu. The 'Cyborg' knew it was a date he could not miss, but he didn't even show up because he was not allowed to.

Ancelotti entrusted Rüdiger with the mission of stopping the Nordic giant, who did not sniff a single ball near the box defended by Lunin. The German defender, who had already beaten the striker in the first leg of last season's semi-final, once again passed with flying colours.

The German once again repeated the same formula and left great defensive actions: putting his body in, anticipating, preventing him from jumping comfortably... An all-out fight that ended with a 0 for Erling, who had no chance of getting into the game and who will have to come back to fix his qualification.

If Haaland was not up