The Champions League ball is rolling in the quarterfinals
The Champions League ball is back on its way with 4 thrilling matches in the first leg of the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals gave us some thrilling and exciting moments. Two wins and two ties, however, everything is at stake for the second leg next week.
Real Madrid 3 – 3 Manchester City
One of the most hyped matches of the knockout phase has to be this one. The two latest UCL champions going head-to-head to get a place in the semifinals. This is the third consecutive encounter between the two clubs in the Champions League knockout stage. The first leg was played at the almost-finished Santiago Bernabeu. City opened the scoreboard early on in the match with the help of Bernardo Silva (2′). After that moment, it was a back-and-forth game with both teams scoring one goal after the other.
Ruben Dias scored an own goal (12′), Rodrygo followed to give the lead to Real Madrid (14′), Phil Foden tied the game in the second half (66′), Joško Gvardiol gave the lead once again to Manchester City and the hopes of the victory (71′), however, Federico Valverde came to save the day with a late goal to tie the game (79′).
Sadly for Real Madrid, Aurelien Tchouameni, playing as a center-back, got a yellow card and will miss the next leg. As well, things look even worse for the Spanish club since out of 11 losses at home in a UCL knockout stage, Real Madrid has only advanced to the next stage twice.
Arsenal 2 – 2 Bayern Munich
First Champions League quarterfinal after 14 years for Arsenal, this is the moment their fans have been dreaming of. On the other hand, we have Bayern Munich which is having a bad performance in this season with their only real hope of a trophy this year is the UCL.
The Champions League ball started rolling in the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal took the lead with the help of Bukayo Saka (12′). However, Bayern lost no time and tied the game with the help of Serge Gnabry (18′). Bayern won a penalty that Harry Kane converted with easy (32′). This was not the defensive security Arsenal have been showing in the Premier League this season and it was costing them.
The second half brought more action by both teams. Nonetheless, to give hope back to the English club fans, Leandro Trossard tied the game one last time (76′). The match ended with a 2-2 draw and the second draw of the quarterfinals.
PSG 2 – 3 Barcelona
The most expected match of the second day was PSG vs Barca. Played in Paris, many saw PSG as the favorites for at least this home match.
The Champions League ball was moving back and forth between both teams at the start of the game. However, Barcelona were controlling the ball somewhat more than PSG. Both teams tried several times to score but failed until Raphinha took matters into his own hands and scored the first goal (37′) giving hope and joy to the Barca fans worldwide. The excitement continued at least until the start of the first half.
Just as the game resumed, Ousmane Dembélé tied the game (48′) for PSG and celebrated the goal like no other. This action has been criticized by fans from many teams who know how Barca treated Dembélé. To put the cherry on top of the icing, Vitinha gave the lead to the French club (50′). Even though, the Spanish club was losing they never stopped attacking and putting pressure. Thanks to a very ingenious tactical play by Xavi, the result changed with another goal of Raphinha with a master class assist by Pedri (62′). Afterwards came Christensen with a header that gave the lead back to Barca (77′).
The Spaniards managed to maintain the score this way until the end of the match. The great performance from Raphinha and Lewandoski; key tactical plays by Xavi; and many more helped Barcelona win the first leg.
Atletico Madrid 2 – 1 Borussia Dortmund
This might have been the match fewer people watched between the four. Many expected Atletivo Madrid to win it with out much problem.
They did started dominating as soon as the UCL ball started moving in the first half. Rodrigo de Paul quickly took things into his hands and scored the first goal for Atletico (4′). The Spanish club continued to dominate and it paid off with another goal from Samuel Lino (32′). With a 2-0 advantage many thought this match was over even before the second half started.
Nonetheless, Julian Brandt gave a push to Dortmund once he entered in the second half. This extra push was enough to give life back to the team and Sébastien Haller scored the only goal for the german side (81′). They did have some noticeable chances in the last minutes of the match but were unable to convert them.
If Atletico Madrid advances to the next stage, it will be their first Champions League semifinal in 7 years.
