LONDON: As the Champions League reaches its quarterfinals stage, Arab News looks back at what we learned from the Round of 16 matches ... MONEY TALKS… Seven of the eight last-16 ties were won by the team with the greater revenue. While an asterisk is perhaps necessary next to Real Madrid’s victory over Paris St-Germain, who are probably wealthier in absolute terms despite having a smaller income, that is troubling for the long-term future of the Champions League (as well as for Manchester United, the only side who lost to financially poorer opposition). Of the eight quarterfinalists, three are from Spain, two from England and Italy and one from Germany. Not since 2004, when Porto beat Monaco in the final, has there been a finalist from outside one of the big four leagues. Beyond that you have to go back to Ajax, who won the tournament in 1995 and lost in the final in 1996. That is not healthy. …BUT NOT NECESSARILY DIRECTLY … PSG may have broken the world transfer record and arranged a deal for the second-most expensive transfer in history, but for all their money they remain fundamentally flawed. Dominating the French league to such an extent is not good for them because it means they are so rarely tested that they become soft and when they come up against a team that challenges them they have no real response, tactically or mentally. In fact, their summer signings might even have made them worse, making them dependent on Neymar. It is never good to be reliant on one player because, as happened to Neymar, injury can strike at any time, but it is particularly dangerous to be reliant on such an over-indulged star, whose whims seem to have damaged morale among the rest of the squad. … AS THE PREMIER LEAGUE DISCOVERED The underperformance of the Premier League, by some way the richest league in the world with 10 sides in the world’s top 20 by revenue and five in the top 10, is mystifying. Since 2010-11 when there were three English sides in the quarter-final, there have been, in successive seasons, one, none, two, none, one and one. This season, as a record five Premier League sides made the last 16, it seemed that, finally, wealth was beginning to tell, but three of those teams went out. Trying to find an overarching reason is difficult: Manchester United were bafflingly limp over the two legs against Sevilla; Tottenham seemed to have the better of it against Juventus only to let in two soft goals in three minutes, just as they had let in two soft goals in nine minutes in the first leg; Chelsea were ahead against Barcelona and were then punished for a string of mistakes. Perhaps carelessness is simply punished more harshly in the Champions League than the Premier League. BAYERN OMINOUS Every time Jupp Heynckes has managed in the Champions League he has reached at least the final and, after winning a record 11th straight game in the competition, it would be no surprise were he to do so again. With every other top side showing flaws and vulnerabilities, Bayern have the benefit of Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels, probably the best central defensive pairing in Europe at the moment. Not only do they have complimentary skills but they have long experience of playing together. Not that Bayern were tested in the last 16, brushing aside Besiktas, who had chosen to cash in on their center-forward Cenk Tosun rather than committing to trying to reach the quarter-final. RONALDO STILL DEADLY Each season, Cristiano Ronaldo seems to have a smaller operating circle, paring his game back so that, having begun his career as a flamboyant winger he now resembles an English striker of the 1950s. But it brings goals: two in the first leg against PSG and a classic, neck-thrusting header in the second. PLAYER OF THE ROUND: LIONEL MESSI It feels a dull, predictable selection, but there is also a danger of failing truly to appreciate genus when it is so consistent. He had not previously scored in eight games against Chelsea, then snatched an equalizer in the first leg when Barca were wobbling and in serious danger of defeat. He did not control the second leg as he can control some games but he scored twice, the second after a remarkable burst of acceleration, and laid on Ousmane Dembele’s goal by drawing five Chelsea defenders to him and then timing his pass perfectly.