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Champions League quarterfinals 2nd leg

Yet another week of the UEFA Champions League has come to an end, this time around in the quarterfinals, which left us with some surprising results and some spectacular semifinals. On one side, two of the most powerful teams in world football, and on the other, a derby della madonnina. Below, we review what happened this time around in the most important competition in European football.

Chelsea – Real Madrid

In the first leg, Real Madrid managed to take a good advantage against the Blues, with the latter displaying a performance that did not invite optimism for the second leg. However, in London, Chelsea had a great first half in which they gave the Spanish giants very little room to operate and that led their goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois (also a former Chelsea player), to become one of the figures of the match due to his saves.

Despite this, the character of this Real Madrid side, the same character that was shown in the previous edition of the tournament, was a lot for Frank Lampard’s team, who could not do anything against Rodrygo’s brace one created by the Brazilian attacker himself and the second that was the result of a great individual play by Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde, who served Rodrygo the goal on a silver platter.

Napoli – Milan

Milan had achieved a great result in the first leg, to the surprise of many, by beating Luciano Spalletti’s team 1-0, forcing the Neapolitan team to go all out to seek, at least, to equalize the global score.

The game featured two saved penalties, one from Meret to Giroud (the first penalty missed by the Frenchman in his professional career) and the one from Maignan to Kvaratskhelia, the latter being a turning point that invited Milan to believe in the classification more than never before. A great play by Rafael Leao was what made it easier for Giroud to redeem himself from the missed penalty and score the 1-0 and an agonizing goal by Osimhen in the 93rd minute served to decorate the overall result of the tie.

After 16 years of absence, AC Milan has returned to the UEFA Champions League semifinals.

Inter – Benfica

Inter ratified at home what they had already done in Lisbon, taking the lead in the second leg after 15 minutes with Nicolo Barella’s great goal and at the same time placing a mountain that seemed very difficult for Benfica to climb.

The Portuguese team managed to equalize thanks to the goal of the Norwegian Aursnes but, despite having possession of the ball, they could not harm Simone Inzaghi’s men who finished sealing the qualification in the second half with goals from Lautaro Martínez and Joaquín Correa. Silva and Musa would score the tie in the last 10 minutes of the match but the advantage obtained in the first leg was enough for us to enjoy a derby della madonnina in the semifinals, which didn’t happen since the 2004/05 edition.

Bayern Munich – Manchester City

After the 3-0 in England, it was expected that Bayern would assert their status at home and try to overwhelm City, looking to shorten the difference in the global score and this was not far from the reality since the Bavarian team created a lot of chances but without much clarity against City goalkeeper Ederson.

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As if that were not enough, Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano, who had a terrible performance in the first leg and was singled out across social media, touched the ball with his hand and the referee whistled a penalty. Erling Haaland missed the penalty, though he had his revenge in the second half when he outmaneuvered the French center-back and scored against the goalkeeper Sommer.

A handball from Ake late in the game, which Kimmich scored from the penalty spot, was the only thing that allowed Bayern to score in this tie, adding to what has been an underwhelming season by the German giants.

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