The UEFA Champions League quarter-final second legs came to a conclusion last night with Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid the four teams who cemented their place in the semi-finals. Here’s our round up of all the quarter-final fixtures.
Manchester City 1 – 0 Paris Saint-Germain (3-2 on aggregate)
Line ups:
City – Hart, Sagna, Otamendi, Mangala, Clichy, Fernando, Fernandinho, Jesús Navas, De Bruyne (Touré 84′), Silva (Delph 87′), Agüero (Iheanacho 90+3′)
PSG – Trapp, Aurier (Pastore 61′), Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Van der Wiel, Rabiot, Motta (Lucas Moura 44′), Di María, Maxwell, Ibrahimovic, Cavani
City entered the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in their history thanks to a 76th minute strike from Kevin De Bruyne. Manuel Pellegrini’s side were handed a glorious chance early in the game as PSG keeper Kevin Trapp fouled Sergio Aguero inside the box resulting in a penalty. Unfortunately for City fans, Aguero put the ball wide off the net.
PSG meanwhile appeared to be surprisingly lethargic in the first half with nothing going their way. Zlatan Ibrahimovich fired a ferocious shot through a free-kick which produced a fine save from Joe Hart who kept his side still in contention. Laurent Blanc’s Ligue-1 winning side put the ball twice at the back of the net but were twice ruled offside marking a very disappointing night for their travelling fans.
Real Madrid 3 – 0 Wolfsburg (3-2 on aggregate)
Line ups:
Real: Navas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric (Varane 90+2′), Casemiro, Kroos, Bale, Benzema (Jesé 84′), Ronaldo
Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Vieirinha, Naldo, Dante, Rodríguez, Guilavogui (Dost 80′), Luiz Gustavo, Pinto (Caligiuri 72′), Arnold, Draxler (Kruse 32′), Schürrle
Real Madrid overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit and barged their way into the semi-finals courtesy of a masterclass from talisman Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese hit-man scored a brace inside two minutes in the first half and a clever free-kick in the second half to complete his hat-trick marking one of the most memorable comebacks in the cup’s history.
Madrid opened the scoring in the 15th minute after a Dani Carvajal cross was missed by two Wolfsburg defenders enabling Ronaldo to cap off a first time finish from close range. Ronaldo scored again just two minutes later through a towering header off a corner. Julian Draxler was taken off the game in the 32nd minute for Wolfsburg which dealt a severe blow to the German club’s attack. Madrid appeared to take their feet off the gas in the second half and had to wait till the 77th minute for their winner. Luka Modric was fouled by Luis Gustavo outside the box gifting Madrid a free-kick from a very dangerous position. A tasty strike from Ronaldo went through the Wolfsburg wall and to the back off the net sealing his side’s victory.
Benfica 2 – 2 Bayern Munich (2-3 on aggregate)
Line ups:
Benfica: Santana de Moraes, Magalhães de Almeida, Nilsson-Lindelof, Jardel, Pereira Dos Santos (Jovic 88′), Salvio Souza (Conceição 68′), Fejsa, Luz Sanches, Carcela-González, Afonso Fernandes (Ganchinho Guedes 58′), Jimenez Rodriguez
Bayern: Neuer, Lahm, Javi Martínez, Kimmich, Alaba, Alonso (Bernat 90′), Douglas Costa, Vidal, Thiago Alcántara, Ribéry (Götze 90+2′), Müller (Lewandowski 84′)
Bayern Munich eased their way into their fifth consecutive UEFA Champions League semi-finals after a 2-2 draw against Benfica at the Estádio da Luz winning the tie (3-2) in aggregate. Benfica were trailing the game 1-0 from the first leg at the Allianz Arena but were given a huge boost from Jiminez Rodriguez who put his side 1-0 up in the 27th minute bringing the aggregate to 1-1.
But Bayern midfielder Arturo Vidal, who also scored in the first leg, spoiled the party eleven minutes later to bring the scores level for the night. Thomas Müller put Bayern ahead in the 52nd minute through a close range effort. Souza Conceição scored from a free-kick in the 76th minute but it was too little too late for the Portuguese outfit who went crashing out of the tournament.
Atletico Madrid 2 – 0 FC Barcelona (3-2 on aggregate)
Line ups:
Atletico: Oblak, Juanfran, Godín, Hernández, Filipe Luis, Ñíguez, Gabi, Fernandez (Savic 90+3′), Koke, Griezmann (Correa 90′), Carrasco (Partey 74′)
Barcelona: ter Stegen, Dani Alves (Sergi 64′), Piqué, Mascherano, Alba, Rakitic (Turan 64′), Busquets, Iniesta, Messi, Suárez, Neymar
Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid side presented a tactical masterclass as they beat holders Barcelona 2-0 to go through to the semi-finals 3-2 on aggregate.
The Catalans traveled to the Spanish capital with a 2-1 advantage from first leg but were outclassed by a vibrant and industrious Atletico side. Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring for Atletico in the 36th minute. The Frenchman was left unmarked inside the box and took advantage of it by drilling in a smart shot off a Saúl Ñíguez cross. Saúl came close to scoring himself but his header came off the post
With the scores level at 2-2 on aggregate, Atletico were on their way to the semi-finals as they scored the crucial away goal at the Nou Camp in the first leg. But Andres Iniesta handled the ball inside the box in the 88th minute which was converted by Griezmann plummeting his side to the semi-finals.
Atletico join Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid in Friday’s semi-final draw which will take place at 11:30 BST.
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