This season’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinals are set following the final 4 spherical of 16 second leg matches on Wednesday.
Trophy holder and report 15-time European champ Real Madrid topped crosstown rival Atlético Madrid on penalty kicks within the day’s most hotly anticipated contest.
Atléti received the match at house 1-0 to ship the home-and-home, total-goals-wins sequence to the tiebreaker, the place Actual Madrid heart again Antonio Rüdiger ended it from 12 yards after Julian Alvarez and Marcos Llorente missed for Diego Simeone’s males.
Earlier, German membership Borussia Dortmund overcame final week’s failure to win house in entrance of its “yellow wall” of diehards, responding with a 2-1 victory over Lille in France to take the house and residential, complete objectives wins sequence.
And in England, the ultimate remaining Premier League representatives each took care of enterprise as Arsenal and Aston Villa accomplished their combination routs of PSV Eindhoven and Club Brugge, respectively.
Listed here are three fast ideas on Wednesday’s video games.
Actual Madrid does it once more
Even when Europe’s most embellished membership loses, it finds a option to win. Atlético’s Conor Gallagher scored the one objective of Wednesday’s affair lower than a minute in, however not even a missed second-half penalty kick by Brazilian celebrity Vini Jr. may forestall Actual from prevailing ultimately.
Atléti did every thing potential to get the second objective it wanted to keep away from further time, outshouting the guests 17-10 (8-3 heading in the right direction).
However identical to they’ve on different events lately within the Champions League knockout section, Actual Madrid rode their luck. And had Alvarez’s seemingly profitable shootout try not been overturned by the video assistant, who noticed a double-touch because the Argentine striker slipped simply earlier than his kick, the end result would possibly properly have been totally different.
Who’re we kidding? Whereas the consequence would possibly disappoint neutrals who’re sick of seeing Actual hoist Europe’s most coveted piece of silverware each different 12 months, no person will be stunned. Successful is what Actual Madrid does within the Champions Leagie. After all they survived. And naturally they continue to be the favorites to say yet one more title this Could.
Dortmund exhibits character in Lille comeback
Lille’s gamers in all probability thought they did the exhausting half by securing a 1-1 tie final week on the 81,000-seat Westfalenstadion.
So when Canadian striker Jonathan David gave the hosts a 1-0 lead (and 2-1 benefit on combination) simply 5 minutes into the return leg at Stade Pierre-Mauroy about 125 miles north of Paris, Lille supporters may’ve been forgiven for dreaming of the final 8.
And why not? Dortmund has been dreadful in home play all season. BVB sits tenth within the Bundesliga. They modified managers midseason. It might’ve been straightforward for the guests to crumble.
As an alternative, final 12 months’s shedding finalists confirmed a number of the combat that acquired all of them the way in which to membership soccer’s most necessary recreation final 12 months in opposition to the chances. Not lengthy after veteran defender Emre Can transformed the equalizer from the penalty spot early within the second half, Maximilian Beier stroked house the winner with a lovely shot that stood up because the decisive objective:
Dortmund will now meet Barcelona subsequent month with a visit again to the semis on the road.
Arsenal, Aston Villa now carry England’s hopes
Wednesday’s Gunners-PSV match in London was rendered anticlimactic when Arsenal hung a 7-1 whooping on the Dutch facet final week; Arsenal followers will not even care that the guests salvaged some delight with a 2-2 draw — Mikel Arteta’s facet is again amongst Europe’s finest eight golf equipment for the second 12 months working.
Villa supporters, however, are in dreamland. Simply qualifying for the Champions League was a triumph for a membership that spent three seasons toiling in England’s second tier from 2016-19.
Getting one of many weaker foes left within the discipline did not damage, however Unai Emery’s group earned it, too, following final week’s 3-1 win over Brugge in Belgium with a 3-0 drubbing on Wednesday in Birmingham.
With Manchester City shockingly eradicated earlier than the spherical of 16 and Liverpool virtually as surprisingly bounced previous to the quarters, its as much as both the Gunners or Villains to grow to be the primary English membership to achieve the Champions League remaining since 2023.
It will not be straightforward: Emery & Co. will face Paris Saint-Germain, whereas in Arsenal’s approach stands mighty Actual Madrid.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports activities who has coated the United States males’s and girls’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Observe him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
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