The first legs of this season's UEFA Champions League quarterfinals ties are done and dusted.
Arsenal and Barcelona already appear have one foot in the semis thanks to their respective 3-0 and 4-0 wins, but the other matchups look well poised.
Is there any way that the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Aston Villa can stage comebacks? Will we ever see a better brace than Declan Rice's two wonderous free kicks?
ESPN writers Gab Marcotti, James Olley, Mark Ogden and Julien Laurens tackle some of the most burning questions after an excellent round of midweek action.
Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid: Is there any way Carlo Ancelotti's side can engineer another big comeback?
JAMES OLLEY: The issue for Real Madrid isn't whether they can come back from three goals down -- they can -- but whether Arsenal choose to turn the second leg into the type of game that the reigning champions will probably hate.
It was noticeable in the first leg how infrequently Jurriën Timber chose to go forward, understandably so on the basis he had to guard against Vinícius Júnior's pace on the counter-attack, but doing so robbed Arsenal of the Martin Ødegaard-Bukayo Saka-Timber overload on the right-hand side that is often so effective. As it turned out, Saka could roast David Alaba on his own, but it was indicative of the balancing act that Arsenal had to strike being at home in the first leg to give them a chance of winning the tie. That won't be the case with a 3-0 lead.
The general feeling is that to beat Madrid, you give them the ball because they are so deadly on the break and Arsenal have absolutely no need to make the running. Instead, they can be the team that sits back and picks Ancelotti's side off when they feel the opportunity arises.
All that being said, if Madrid get an early goal, there's no Gabriel Magalhães to steady the ship alongside William Saliba at centre-back and it's easy to see how the nerves could settle in for Arsenal. After all, they haven't been to the semifinals since 2009.
GAB MARCOTTI: We all know better than to write Real Madrid off, but obviously it will be a monumental task. Mikel Arteta's version of Arsenal this season is far more solid defensively and they are comfortable without the ball. Equally, they have plenty of pace in wide areas to unleash on the counter in Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, and it almost doesn't matter if Mikel Merino drops all the way into midfield off the ball rather than pretending he's playing center-forward.
That said... to quote Mike Tyson (again): "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."
Real Madrid can conjure up goals out of thin air -- after all, they've done it before, and the left side of Arsenal's back four is likely to be made up of a teenager (Myles Lewis-Skelly) who really only played midfield until this year and Jakub Kiwior, who is, well, Jakub Kiwior. Meanwhile, attacking down the left you have Vinícius and Kylian Mbappé and often Jude Bellingham too.
Sitting too deep, too early, wouldn't be too clever and if Madrid get the goal in the first 20-25 minutes and the Bernabéu's "miedo escenico" (basically "stage fright," but it sounds better in Spanish) sets in, we could have one of those nights where time seems to slow for Arsenal fans. (Or, worse, like in Ferris Bueller, actually go backwards.)
The tough part for Ancelotti is that, like we've said all year, this is not a well-constructed side. They chose to go into the season without anyone who could even pull off a C-list impersonation of Toni Kroos, leaving 39-year-old Luka Modric as the only creative passer in midfield. They chose not to add a central defender in January, even after Éder Militão's season-ending injury. They chose the Panini-sticker approach of adding attacking superstars, figuring Ancelotti will find a way to get them to fit together even though Vini, Mbappé and Rodrygo all prefer to play on the left.
And yet Real Madrid, despite playing badly and getting so much wrong, were beaten only by two absurd free kicks from a guy (Declan Rice) who had scored exactly zero direct free-kick goals in his previous 330+ games as a pro, and a rare Merino blast from outside the box. While Thibaut Courtois did have to make some superb saves, ultimately the three goals that beat them had a combined xG of 0.14. So yeah, this tie is far from over.
MARK OGDEN: Arsenal are now huge favourites and should get the job done next week, but there's no way you can write off Real Madrid in a second leg at the Bernabéu. It's a stadium where strange things happen and that will play on Arsenal's minds, especially if they concede early.
Next week's game is as much about Arsenal holding their nerve as about Madrid overturning a three-goal deficit, and Arteta's team is still inexperienced at this stage of the Champions League. I am backing Arsenal to go through, but it could be a bumpy ride. I was at Anfield in 2019 when Liverpool beat Barcelona 4-0 to overturn a 3-0 semifinal deficit and that tie had looked dead and buried, so if Liverpool can do it, so can Real's team of attacking superstars.
JULIEN LAURENS: Sincerely, having watched Real Madrid all season, home and away, whether in LaLiga, the Champions League or in the Copa del Rey, I don't think they will come back because what we saw on Tuesday has been happening all season long.
This is an unbalanced, disjointed team out of possession with incredible individual talent attack-wise, but not cohesion or patterns of play. It's a team that can't cope with intensity and doesn't play with enough intensity of their own. They don't run hard, they don't press much and -- at this level -- it is not enough.
Can Mbappé score a hat trick next week? Sure he can. Can Vinícius manage to dribble past Timber? Of course he can. But can the reigning champions also manage to not concede? I don't think so. Can they get control of the game? I'm not sure.
Arsenal are one of the best teams in Europe out of possession, and that will make the difference next Wednesday as the Gunners see things out safely.
Ale Moreno can't understand why we haven't seen more of Declan Rice on free kicks for Arsenal after scoring twice vs. Real Madrid.
Bayern Munich 1-2 Inter Milan: What went wrong for Vincent Kompany and Bayern?
MARCOTTI: I have a ton of sympathy for Kompany. He was the sixth- or seventh-choice for the job, he inherited a team with a ton of expiring contracts and got hit with a gaggle of injuries ahead of this game: Dayot Upamecano, Alphonso Davies and, most notably, Jamal Musiala. And still, despite all the haters, he's on pace domestically to win the league and finish with 83 points, which would be Bayern's highest points total since 2017-18.
Oh, and in the last round of this very competition, he wiped the floor with Bayer Leverkusen and Xabi Alonso (5-0 on aggregate) the guy Bayern wanted at the helm instead of him.
That said, he got plenty wrong in the first leg, starting with believing Raphaël Guerreiro could fill Musiala's big shoes (despite his little feet) in the 4-2-3-1 against a side like Inter. After a bright start, between minute 26 (Harry Kane hitting the post) and minute 75 (Thomas Müller coming on to make it a front two), Bayern managed just four shots, all of them off target. They missed Musiala's creativity (Guerreiro just isn't that sort of player) and they missed Davies' pace and runs from deep. (Josip Stanisic, the emergency left-back, was basically a third central defender, possibly because he was scared of facing a front two.) Meanwhile, Inter opened the scoring and could have had a second with Lautaro Martínez.
Muller is 35 and probably can't give you 90 minutes, but he showed he can contribute for more than the 15 he got on Tuesday. Maybe you don't start him, but you do bring him on earlier. I'd like to see Michael Olise operating from a more central position and then slotting out wide when Müller comes on.
At the back, given Bayern are down a goal from the first leg, it would be a brave choice to put Guerreiro there at left-back (and it might mean taking a risk on Eric Dier and Kim Min-Jae facing one-on-ones) but you're in the hole and you need to take risks.
Ale Moreno says Bayern Munich lacked leadership on the field as they blew a late equaliser and allowed Inter to take a 2-1 lead into the second leg.
OGDEN: I'm not sure the result was down to Kompany's mistakes or any naivety from Bayern, but more about Inter being one of those rare teams that places as much importance on defending and being tough to beat as they do on attacking flair. Because so few teams are as well-organised and defensively disciplined as Inter, opponents don't know how to break them down.
I love watching Inter because of their mastery of defending, but they are a real contender for the Champions League because they can score too. Martínez's goal was as good as any you'll see this season.
Bayern are unconvincing and Inter are just too smart and streetwise for them. I don't see a way back for Bayern in the San Siro.
LAURENS: Maybe Kompany doesn't like the Nations League or wasn't watching recent internationals in which his players were involved. He would not be the only one, but if he had watched France against Croatia earlier this month, he would have seen Olise play as a No. 10 and do really well in that position. He would have been the perfect replacement for Musiala on Tuesday, but Kompany kept him as a right winger against the Inter Milan back five.
For me, Olise is the perfect fit for this Bayern side when Musiala is not there. He could play between the opposition's lines, offering options on the ball while Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sané occupy the wings. Olise in the middle is a much better option than starting Müller in the second leg.
OLLEY: I didn't see the game because I was at Arsenal-Real Madrid. All I can say is I hope Kane isn't cursed as many suggest he might be. The England captain is too diligent a professional, too consistent a goal-scorer and too wholesome an individual for anyone with any genuine objectivity to want him to go through his illustrious career without adding major honours to his name.
He may well finally end his wait for a trophy with this season's Bundesliga title, but that bad miss in Tuesday's first leg will only motivate him to prove himself more clinical at the San Siro.
Craig Burley explains what makes Inter a dangerous Champions League opponent after securing a 2-1 win in the first leg of their quarterfinal clash with Bayern Munich.
Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Dortmund: Barcelona are the favorites to win it all, right? Can anyone stop them?
LAURENS: Going forward, Barcelona are the best team in the world. They are even better than PSG and no one would want to face Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski in top form. It's this firepower up front makes Hansi Flick's side the favourites to win it all, without a doubt. But defensively, they concede chances, they are fragile, and you can exploit their high defensive line -- especially if you have a strong midfield, like PSG, Arsenal and Inter Milan. So, Barcelona can score three goals against anyone but can also concede three against a top team. I don't think it's a given that they will lift the trophy in Munich on May 31. For example, I could see Inter Milan being able to nullify their attack in a potential semifinal, considering they are the best defence in the competition.
MARCOTTI: Look, Flick would be my Champions League manager of the year if the tournament ended right now, Lewandowski is doing some Dorian Gray stuff, and no other team has anyone who comes close to Yamal. That said, Barça always give you a chance. I know the high line argument is a bit tired and trite, but it's true. What helps make Barça so devastating in attack is also, potentially, a weakness defensively. It's not a coincidence that even against an ordinary Dortmund they gave up 1.30 expected goals at home. That's a lot in a game you dominate. They've won eight and lost two of their last 10 in all competitions, but they've kept just five clean sheets. And when you concede, in part it's the system, in part the personnel (Wojciech Szczęsny, lest we forget, came out of retirement, Pau Cubarsí is 18, Iñigo Martínez 33), but they are not a lockdown team defensively. And if for whatever reason they run into a keeper who is having a standout game (and there are some very good ones left in the competition) and it doesn't work at the attacking end, the wheels can come off.
Are they the best team in the competition? Yes. Are they nailed on to win it? No. And I haven't even mentioned lack of depth at centre-back and center-forward, the fact that they have two more Clasicos to play domestically and are embroiled in a title race ... all things that could derail them.
OLLEY: Barcelona have been my idea of the winners for months. So I'm not surprised they delivered a quarterfinal first-leg result like this, even if their open style continues to leave a nagging feeling that a better balanced side will find them out. But their firepower is so impressive. Raphinha (12) and Lewandowski (11) are the top two scorers in the Champions League this season while Yamal proved once more against Dortmund that he is one of the hottest talents in world football. Raphinha has 19 goal involvements in the competition this season, a club-record high alongside Lionel Messi from the 2011-12 campaign. The overall record is held by Cristiano Ronaldo, who registered 21 in the 2013-14 season for Real Madrid. What Barcelona are doing right now is historic. Even with their weaknesses, it will take a very, very good team to stop them.
OGDEN: I really hope that we get a Barcelona vs. PSG final so we can all sit back and watch two teams go after each other and end up with a 5-4 win for one or the other. But I fear that Barça might be heading for a big bucket of cold water in the shape of Inter Milan in the semifinals and that will bring us all back down to earth because Inter have the players, the coach and the gameplan to beat Barcelona, regardless of the brilliance of Yamal and Raphinha. Let's see, but Barça haven't really been tested in the Champions League this season. They've had a soft path to the semifinals and Inter will pose them questions they haven't had to answer yet. If Bayern can pull off a shock next week and turn the tie around against Inter, then I'd back Barcelona to knock them out. But Inter could be Barcelona's football version of the big, bad wolf.
Craig Burley and Ale Moreno sing the praises of Lamine Yamal after Barcelona's teenage star shone again in a 4-0 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.
Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 Aston Villa: Is there any way back into this tie for Villa, or will we see more of the same from PSG?
OGDEN: There's always a way back, but it would take a massive drop-off from PSG as well as an incredible performance by Villa to turn this tie on its head. PSG utterly dominated the first leg and they are so far ahead of Villa in terms of quality that they will probably win at Villa Park too. Having beaten Liverpool at Anfield in the last round -- after losing the first leg in Paris -- PSG have already overcome a much bigger test than they face next week. My only concern for PSG, in terms of winning the Champions League rather than getting the job done next week, is that they remind me of the 1982 Brazil team or Kevin Keegan's Newcastle United side of the mid-1990s in that they are so good to watch and so full of attacking flair. But neither of those teams won anything, despite being so easy on the eye, so I hope that PSG can break the mould and go all the way to prove that attacking, brave and risky football can win the biggest prizes.
LAURENS: There is always a way back in football and a two-goal deficit is not impossible to overcome, but Unai Emery got his tactics wrong in Paris and he will have to do better at home next week. The problem he will face is that if Villa attack too much, they will leave a lot of spaces to exploit for the PSG forwards. I wouldn't be surprised if Emery tries a back three for the second leg in a 3-4-3 formation which will still keep some balance.
Julien Laurens assesses PSG's hopes of the winning the Champions League for the first time.
OLLEY: There is a way back but the usual ebb and flow of these two-legged ties naturally make it feel like Nuno Mendes' goal will probably be the decisive moment. Villa are often at their exciting, dynamic best at home when they hold a high defensive line, try to squeeze teams and introduce risk into the game. The only chance they have is to be brave. It was understandable in the circumstances but for long periods of Wednesday night, Villa were camped on the edge of their own box defending in what resembled a back six. The first-leg scoreline gives them little choice but to be bold, even if they can dial up the risk as the match goes on.
MARCOTTI: Until that Mendes goal, I would have said it's still very much in the balance. But a two-goal lead is significant. And more than the result, PSG dominated them in every area of the pitch and I think, psychologically, that's not easy to take or bounce back from. Especially when Villa were set up well by Emery for most of the game. We can debate whether picking Marcus Rashford ahead of Ollie Watkins was the right choice, but, frankly, I'm not sure how much that mattered. I think Emery would have been comfortable, even relieved, at taking a 1-2 deficit back. And he'll be annoyed at giving up a third goal like that. We know Villa can hurt you on the counter and while PSG could obviously kick it down a notch and be more conservative -- making it harder for Villa -- the way they play is so forward-thinking I'd imagine they'll still play that way next week. Oh and to make things worse for Villa, Marquinhos -- who is so important for PSG (he wouldn't make the mistake Lucas Beraldo made for the opener -- will be back from suspension.