7 Interesting Facts About The European Champions League Semifinals 2022/2023

The Manchester City squad, again met Real Madrid in the semifinals in succession. (photo: twitter @mancityindo)

JAKARTA The four teams have confirmed themselves qualify for the semifinals of the 2022/2023 European Champions League. Here are seven interesting facts about the last four of the competition between European clubs this season.

The last two tickets were obtained by Manchester City and Inter Milan. City qualified after preventing Bayern Munich's move, while Inter repatriated Portugal's representative, Benfica.

Previously, two tickets had already been secured by Real Madrid and AC Milan. Madrid beat Chelsea, while the Rossoneri stopped fellow Italian representatives Napoli.

In the semifinals later, Madrid, who are defending champions, will face City. It was a semi-final rematch last season, at which time Madrid then qualified for the final to beat Liverpool.

The interesting semifinals of the season are the meeting of two Italian city teams, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Both teams have a history of fierce rivalry known as Derby della Madonnina.

Here are 7 interesting facts about the 2022/2023 European Champions League semifinals:

Clash 5 times a season

The two semifinals in the European Champions League this season have made AC Milan and Inter meet for the first time in history five times in a season.

After last season's semifinals

The clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City was a semifinal repeat last season. At that time, City won 4-3 in the first leg, but lost 3-1 in the second leg to fail to the final.

Since the era of the Champions League in 1991/1992, this is the first time two clubs have met in the semifinals in two consecutive seasons.

The third meeting in the semifinals

This is the third time Manchester City and Real Madrid have met in the semifinals. Previously, the two clubs met in the 2015/2016 season, where Madrid won 1-0 on aggregate.

Clash City vs Madrid also matched Liverpool vs Chelsea meeting. These two matches only lost to Madrid's meeting with Bayern Munich, which since 1991/1992 has taken place 5 times.

The most frequent derbys in the semifinals

AC Milan clash with Inter Milan in the Champions League semifinals this season is the first derby in six seasons. The last derby before this was Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid in the 2016/2017 season.

Derby della Madonnina Milan and Inter became the first derby to be presented twice in the Champions League semifinals. Previously they met in the 2002/2003 season, where the Rossoneri qualified for the final.

Three Italian coaches

The composition of the coach in the European Champions League semifinals this season is quite interesting. Of the four teams that qualified, three of them were handled by Italian coaches.

The three Italian coaches who will compete in the semifinals will be Stefano Pioli (AC Milan), Simone Inzaghi (Inter), and Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid). Meanwhile, another coach Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) is from Spain.

The last time there were 3 coaches from one country in the Champions League semifinals was in 2019/2020. At that time Germany dominated with the presence of Thomas Tuchel (PSG), Hansi Flick (Bayern), and Julian Nagelsmann (RB Leipzig).

Champion coach and yet to win

Still about the composition of the coach, there are other interesting facts. Of the four coaches above, two of them are coaches who have won the European Champions League title, while the other two have never.

Carlo Ancelotti is the most successful coach with a collection of four titles, followed by Pep Guardiola two wins. Meanwhile, Stefano Pioli and Simone Inzaghi are still pursuing their inaugural title in this event.

England's third team

Manchester City is the third English team to qualify for the semifinals of the European Champions League in three consecutive seasons. The previous two teams that did that were Chelsea and Manchester United (in the period 2006-07 to 2008-09).