It’s fair to say that Dayot Upamecano had something of a night to forget as Erling Haaland and Manchester City inflicted a 3-0 defeat on Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash.
Jamie Carragher was certainly a little taken aback by the defender’s (previously linked with an Anfield switch by talkSPORT prior to his move to Bavaria) performance, tweeting his surprise that the Frenchman features ahead of compatriot Ibrahima Konate for France.
Upemecano plays ahead of Konate for France 🤯 #ChampionsLeague #MCIBAY
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) April 11, 2023
Though the former RB Leipzig man is far from being considered a poor defender by any stretch of the imagination, his wild inconsistency does suggest that Liverpool may have gotten the better deal by snagging the 24-year-old’s former centre-half partner.
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By contrast, Konate’s injury concerns have proven most frustrating when it comes to building any kind of consistency in the backline, though his performance levels have often been nigh on impossible to criticise.
Indeed, it was telling that the Frenchman would have had a genuine case to be named man of the match had Real Madrid not stolen a winner via Vinicius Jr. in last year’s Champions League final.
Since his return to the starting lineup following a spell in the treatment room, the French international has looked a forced of the nature in the back four, producing a stellar performance against league leaders Arsenal and coming to within inches of securing a huge three points at the weekend.
If he can keep any further stays on the sidelines to a bare minimum, there should be no doubt over who got the better deal out of Bayern and Liverpool, as far as we’re concerned.