So much for European football keeping the season going. It has sent it into overdrive. The Champions League already had more drama and tension than anticipated given the results of the first legs, but the Europa League was glorious football chaos of the greatest kind. Even better, those games were so rich with narrative...

Latest football reading:

Written by Miguel Delaney

Miguel's must reads

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Elimination exposes classic Real Madrid issues

Despite a recent return to glory, Florentino Perez's presidency has also ensured the deposed European champions have returned to some familiar problems - not least in prioritising stars over football. Details from the dressing room and more here.

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One for the ages at Manchester United... for now

Old Trafford was almost too much to take in - how many European knock-out second legs have two two-goal comebacks? - but my colleague Richard Jolly has more than managed it here. The nature of the performance of course leaves many of the same old questions, but they can be answered later.

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Miguel's insights

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European victories offer vindications

If there was one theme of this week's continental games involving English teams, it was that sense of setting things right - even if it's only temporary. With Manchester United, most spectacularly, it was all of the noise around the club and what this could have meant for the future. The nature of the display could have started a real negative momentum around Ruben Amorim. Those within the club are instead wondering whether this can be one of those moments when the opposite happened. There are echoes of that at Tottenham Hotspur, except for the fact that Ange Postecoglou is considered to be at the end, rather than at the start, like his United counterpart. This convincing quarter-final might change that. There had been a feeling Eintracht Frankfurt would just pick off a fragile team. Spurs instead offered one of their most complete displays. This can change things. With Arsenal, then, it was this sense that they were psychologically fragile. They proved anything but. Mikel Arteta didn't really want to get into this before the game for obvious reasons, but he had been doing a lot of preparation on what happens in the Bernabeu when Real Madrid score on those big Champions League nights. It had been noted how a "feeling of uncontrolled emotion" can engulf the stadium, emboldening Real Madrid, and causing uncertainty in the opposition. Arteta even spoke to Pep Guardiola about it on the morning of the game. The Basque felt it was very effective, as he was struck by just intense a game at the Bernabeu can be. He had worked a lot on what his players should do in certain situations, though, in order to keep composure. Arsenal now have a "super belief" they can go and win the Champions League. Spurs are focused in the Europa League. United are currently experience euphoria. These are all powerful emotions.

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Brazil may finally get their man, as Madrid go for more

Real Madrid's stars may have failed to work in tandem on Wednesday, but the stars may be aligning for their manager and a long-mooted move. Brazil are going to try and convince Carlo Ancelotti to take their job this summer, having sent third-party representatives to the Arsenal match. It's come close in the past, but the Italian's success at Madrid - some of it against expectation - ensured he kept going. Now, the widespread expectation is he will leave in the summer, with Xabi Alonso coming in. Madrid have been keen to drop the latter into discussions with transfer targets. A complicating factor is the new Club World Cup, since it straddles the period where clubs would usually make changes, and Madrid are desperate to win it in order to echo the fact they won the first ever European Cup. The result has caused a slight re-assessment of the summer window, where they will know be keen for another statement. Madrid want a left-back, a centre-half, a central midfielder and potentially a number-nine if another forward leaves. This could impact Premier League business.

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Miguel's dispatches

For all the aura of the Bernabeu, that both Mikel Arteta and Myles Lewis-Skelly admitted was very real, it can work both ways. There has always been a sense that the Real Madrid team has to drive the crowd as much as vice versa, and even remontadas witness the supporters just responding to events. By half-time on Wednesday, you could already sense the lack of belief. The heave wasn't there, so the surge never came. That was reflected in other parts of the Madrid ecosystem. De Maria is the big football restaurant near the stadium, and Champions League nights usually see it filled with club figures, former stars, agents and other football figures. There was almost no one from the club there on Wednesday. There's evidently a lot to consider.

Player of the week

MIGUEL'S BIG WEEKLY CALL

This is one I could really regret, and it would be a shame, but the way results are trending suggests Nottingham Forest could fall out of the Champions League places.

Every week I'll make one prediction or talking point for the week. Feel free to email in with thoughts.

This season's Champions League semi-finals mark just the fourth time that there have been clubs from four different countries left, since the competition's 1999-2000 expansion. All of England, France, Spain and Italy are represented. Name the three other seasons it happened, including the teams involved.

(You can find out the answers here. The answer page will be updated weekly and contains answers from previous newsletters, too)

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