Right: Real Madrid celebrates after edging past Atlético Madrid into the Quarter-Final. Images: X
Two penalty shootouts were at the heart of the drama in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. At the end of the eight games, however, it was pretty much business as usual, with Aston Villa – who crushed Belgium’s Bruges 6-1 on aggregate – the only surprise entrants into the quarterfinals.
Real Madrid, 15 times champions, and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), still chasing their first Big Cup, remain on course for a mouthwatering semi-final clash after those penalty shootout wins. Real saw off Atletico Madrid, their cross-town rivals, 4-2 on penalty kicks despite losing 1-0 on the night to a Conor Gallagher goal after just 27 seconds.
Atletico, the most cursed team in Champions League history – they have lost three finals, two of them to their bitter rivals – saw another chapter of misfortune written on Wednesday night as Julian Alvarez’s kick in the shootout was ruled out for a double-touch. Szymon Marciniak, the Polish referee, intervened after the video assistant referee (VAR) indicated that Alvarez, who slipped while taking the kick, had first brushed against the ball with his standing leg.
Diego Simeone, the Argentine coach who has worked miracles to get Atletico to the top table over the past decade, wasn’t amused. “Did you see him touching the ball twice? Please, whoever was present in the stadium and saw him touching the ball twice, the ball moving, please come forward and raise your hand,” he said after the game. “I don’t see anybody with their hand raised so that’s all I have to say. Next question!”
Real, for whom Vinicius Junior missed a penalty in normal time – Kylian Mbappe didn’t take it as he was struggling with a broken toenail – next face Arsenal, 9-3 aggregate winners over PSV Eindhoven. The Gunners could be dangerous opponents for Carlo Ancelotti’s side. With their English Premier League hopes all but extinguished, Arsenal can afford to focus on Europe. Real remain locked in a fascinating three-way battle for supremacy in Spain.
The third team in that La Liga title conversation, Barcelona, cruised to a 3-1 home win over Benfica to seal their place with a 4-1 aggregate triumph. Their reward is a tie against Borussia Dortmund, who came from a goal down to beat Lille 2-1 in France, and 3-2 across the two legs.
The winner of that tie will face either Bayern Munich – who routed Bayer Leverkusen, last season’s surprise Bundesliga champions, 5-0 on aggregate – or Internazionale of Milan, 4-1 winners over the Netherlands’ Feyenoord. Inter, the only Italian side to make it to the last 16, have a trump card in Lautaro Martinez, but Bayern appear to have regained the winning touch under Vincent Kompany.
The tie of the round, though, was undoubtedly at Anfield, where PSG became the first French side to leave the storied venue with a victory. In stark contrast to last week in Paris, Liverpool dominated the opening exchanges, but were caught cold by Ousmane Dembele’s breakaway goal after a calamitous mix-up between Ibrahima Konate and Alisson in goal.
If Alisson was the star in Paris, with his nine saves, PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma kept his team in the tie at Anfield, with help from the post. In the shootout, his Albatross-like wingspan allowed him to save shots from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones, while PSG didn’t miss a single one of their four kicks.
“We played the perfect game, except for scoring a goal,” said Arne Slot afterwards, even as he rued the luck of the draw that paired Liverpool against such formidable opponents after topping the league phase. “It was similar to Paris last week, when they played the perfect game and didn’t score. And then in extra time, they were maybe a little bit better.”
Luis Enrique, who won the competition with Barcelona in 2015, was magnanimous as well. “Both of the teams deserve to go to the next phase,” he said. “They played better than us here, but I think my team at Anfield, in a special stadium, showed great personality and character.”
Nearly half a century ago, Liverpool kick-started a journey that has since seen six European Cups with a famous come-from-behind victory against France’s St. Etienne at Anfield. PSG, who lost the final to Bayern in the Covid-affected 2019-20 season, will hope that this epochal triumph serves as their springboard to glory. With such menace on the flanks – both Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are impossible to stop in full flow – a midfield having clockwork precision and full-backs full of running, they look the team to beat.
Up next is a reunion against one of their own. The on-loan Marco Asensio scored twice for Villa in the 3-0 win over Bruges. With Marcus Rashford, a loan signing from Manchester United, also in sparkling form, Enrique won’t take Villa or Unai Emery lightly. But while Villa will have more than an eye on finishing high enough in the league to qualify for the Champions League again, PSG – a whopping 16 points clear in Ligue 1 – have no such worries.
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