What a night to be remembered for all the teams involved! Real Madrid had to play out a 120 minutes affairs with Chelsea before regaining their UEFA Champions League hope while Villarreal showed great sense of determination to edge out Bayern Munich on 2-1 aggregate.
Although, Chelsea defeated Real Madrid 3-2, the Los Blancos eventually crashed off the blues through Karim Benzema’s header in the 96th minutes of the extra time – with their 5-4 aggregate score eventually pushing the visitors to another round of resilience moment which didn’t pay up at last.
Chelsea had earlier recorded a 3-0 lead through to the 80th minutes with goals from Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner earning them a temporary space in the last four.
Their joy was however shortlived when Rodrygo pushed them to limit as he slotted home a cross from Luka Modric some ten minutes to end of the regulation period.
A titanic clash it was. Chelsea threw in their all as they search for a ‘leveler’ that could perhaps bring them back to the equation that is now historically devoid of the away goals rule.
Here was a Real Madrid that had a lot prove in Bernabeau having secured a 3-1 victory in the first leg. They, did rally round their project as they squeezed out the result against all odds.
For the second quarter final, Samuel Chukwueze became the hero when he flashed in a shot in the 88th minutes to gift the Coach Unai Emery a last gasp winner as he ultimately sent the German league giant packing from the coveted tourney.
Even though Robert Lewandoski had earlier brought back Bayern to the game with his sublime goal in the 52nd minutes making it 1-1 on aggregate, the Yellow submarine held on to a remarkable performance and it was Samuel’s intervention they needed to drown the hosts in the presence of their fans.
Meanwhile, It’s a night for all Spanish teams who now have to wait patiently to know their semi-final’s foes after Wednesday’s fixtures of another round of quarter-final matches.
On Wednesday, Manchester City will hope to consolidate their first leg 1 nil victory over Atletico Madrid in the reverse fixture- while Liverpool, holding on to a 3-1 victory from their first leg will also be looking forward to a smooth ride against Benfica in their last stretch for a semi-final spot.
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