da apostaganha： There was some fine football played over the past eight days, but once again a distinct lack of jeopardy in the second legs

da leao： The line-up for the semi-finals of the Champions League has been confirmed. Manchester City will meet Real Madrid in the last four for the second consecutive season, while the other game will be an all-Italian affair, with Inter taking on AC Milan.

Neutrals will be hoping that the two ties provide some serious excitement, given the quarter-final second legs were largely devoid of any real jeopardy.

There were, at least, numerous talking points.

GOAL runs through the winners and losers from the last eight…

GettyWINNER: Julian Nagelsmann

Julian Nagelsmann's name was trending on Twitter on Wednesday night, with football fans asking the inevitable question: did Bayern Munich make a huge mistake sacking their manager during the last international break.

The team's form had been patchy, but only in the Bundesliga. Bayern had a perfect record in this season's Champions League, making it eight wins from eight games by beating Paris Saint-Germain home and away in the last 16.

Then, the Bavarians sensationally decided to axe Nagelsmann and promptly replace him with long-term target Thomas Tuchel, before the latter accepted an offer from PSG, Real Madrid or even Tottenham.

Was that the right decision? It's far too early to tell. But it certainly did nothing to boost their chances of winning the Champions League, with Bayern losing 4-1 on aggregate to Manchester City, and if Tuchel fails to lead Bayern to the Bundesliga title, you can be sure that Nagelsmann's name will start trending again on Twitter…

AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Chelsea's idiotic owners

An understandably despondent Didier Drogba admitted after Chelsea's inevitable Champions League exit that he no longer recognised his club. The Ivorian icon lamented the loss of a "certain class" that he claimed was present during the Roman Abramovich era, which was obviously ludicrous, given the source of the Russian's wealth and the way in which the club treated its employees.

However, Drogba was 100 percent correct when he pointed out that while the new owners are proving just as ruthless when it comes to hiring and firing managers (they're already on their fourth coach of the current campaign) and spending as much money on as players as the previous regime, the choices being made are nowhere near as "intelligent".

To date, we have seen absolutely no method to the madness that has been unfolding at Stamford Bridge since last summer. More than £600 million ($750m) has been spent on players and yet former midfielder Gus Poyet quite rightly asked after yet another toothless display against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, "Where is the striker?!"

Todd Boehly & Co. haven't strengthened Chelsea's squad at all – they've merely enlarged it, as a visibly bewildered Thiago Silva pointed out after the 4-0 aggregate loss to Madrid.

"I think the first step has been made. An incorrect step, but it has been made," the Brazilian told . "It’s a hard period for the club, with a lot of indecision. Change of ownership, new players arriving – we had to increase the size of the changing room because it didn’t fit the size of the squad.

"A positive point is that there are amazing players in the squad, but on the other hand there are always players that are going to be unhappy. There is always going to be someone upset because not everyone can play. The manager can only pick 11 from a squad of 30-something – that’s tough.

"Some can’t make the squad, we signed eight in January, we need to stop and put a strategy in place otherwise next season we could make the same mistakes."

Based on what we've seen so far, though, does anyone really believe that the new owners will suddenly start making sensible decisions? Interim boss Frank Lampard insists that Chelsea will be back soon, but that looks like wishful thinking.

It really could be some time before we see the Blues in the Champions League again.

GettyWINNER: The city of Milan

It's on! We're going to have a Derby della Madonnina in the Champions League for just the third time in history, with Inter having finished the job against Benfica to set up a semi-final against city rivals Milan, who upset Napoli in the last eight.

The Rossoneri prevailed in their previous two European encounters, in 2003 and 2005, and will be the slight favourites to progress this time around too.

Inter have won two of their three meetings this season, though, and, in truth, there is very little to choose between two teams that have proven maddeningly inconsistent over the past few months.

Indeed, both sides are in very real danger of failing to qualify for next season's Champions League, with Milan and Inter sitting fourth and fifth in Serie A, respectively. They could both even drop a place if Juventus' points deduction is overturned on Thursday.

In that context, then, it would actually be hard to make a case for either Milan club really being one of the top four teams in Europe at the minute. However, both have taken full advantage of being placed on the right side of the Champions League draw and now have an golden opportunity to become Italy's first finalist since Juventus in 2017.

And besides, just think of what a spectacle this semi-final showdown at San Siro is going to be! Obviously, nobody wants a repeat of the stupid behaviour that forced the abandonment of their quarter-final clash in 2005, but the choreography alone should make this a Milan derby to remember for all the right reasons.

(C)Getty ImagesLOSER: Lampard's job prospects

Frank Lampard isn't responsible for the mess Chelsea currently find themselves in. Far from it. And he's not responsible for the stupidity of his employers.

The ridiculous decision to bring him back as interim boss is on them. Lampard can't be criticised for the incredible opportunity to manage a team still participating in the Champions League – despite the fact that his previous spell in charge was an unmitigated disaster.

However, his ill-advised return is doing absolutely nothing to restore his reputation. On the contrary, Lampard is looking even more out of his depth this time around.

He has overseen four matches since replacing Graham Potter on a temporary basis – and Chelsea have lost every single one of them (their worst run since 1993), scoring just one goal in the process.

Whatever chance Lampard had of extending his stay at Stamford Bridge is already over. Worse still, he's irreparably damaged his hopes of securing another Premier League job this summer.