"Liverpool" did not leave no chance "Galatasaray" and in the 1/4 finals will play with the current winners of the Cup // Photo standard.co.uk.
Germany’s Bayern expectedly beat Atalanta and will compete with Real Madrid to reach the semifinals. “Liverpool, after a loss a week ago, won a big victory over Galatasaray, Barcelona defeated Newcastle and Atletico knocked Tottenham out of the tournament.
A ghostly chance
Turkey’s Galatasaray created a minor sensation in the first leg by beating Liverpool 1-0 at the Rams Park stadium in Istanbul. For the return leg at Anfield Arena in Liverpool, the English mobilized all available resources and deprived the visitors of even a ghostly chance of progressing to the next round.
The Merseysiders scored four unanswered goals against Galatasaray. Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, who scored one goal from play, could have scored more but failed to convert a penalty. One goal was also canceled due to the offside call on the home team’s defender Wilfried Singo.
In the 1/4 finals Liverpool will play with PSG, who earlier knocked Chelsea out of the tournament. The first match will be held on April 8 in Paris, the return match – April 14 in Liverpool.
Catalans destroyed the “forty”
The draw in the first match between Newcastle and Barcelona (1:1), held in England, may have misled the fans of the “forty” about the outcome of the confrontation. However, there was little doubt that even at the half-filled Camp Nou (the match was attended by 56,600 spectators with a capacity of 99,300 – author’s note), the hosts would face difficulties in the game against a club with much more modest experience in the European Cup.
Although the Magpies from Newcastle managed to equalize twice, but doubles from Rafinha, Robert Lewandowski, as well as goals from Marco Bernal, Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez allowed Barcelona to end the match with a resounding 7-2 victory (8-3 on aggregate). Catalans for the third year in a row go to the 1/4 finals, where they will meet another participant of the Spanish La Liga – “Atletico”. The first match will be held on April 8 in Barcelona, the return match – on April 14 in Madrid.
“Matrasniki” lost to English “Tottenham” with a score of 2:3, but due to a major victory in the first match (5:2) with a total score of 7:5 ensured their participation in the 1/4 finals.
Madrid and Munich – in waiting
“Bayern” expectedly defeated “Atalanta” with a score of 10:2 on the sum of two matches and in the next round will play with “Real”. The first match will take place on April 7 at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, the return match on April 15 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
In the last 10 face-to-face meetings in the Champions League, Real Madrid and Munich have four wins each, with two more matches ending in a draw. Each club has roughly equal chances of progressing to the semifinals. The previous time the rivals met in the semi-finals of the Champions League, Real won on aggregate (4:3). Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund in the final and won a record 15th trophy of the main European Cup tournament.
Earlier, Bayern representatives said they intend to ask UEFA to ban Real from closing the sliding roof of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium during the match, as they said it “puts a lot of pressure on the players”. There has been no comment from UEFA yet.
Another pair of semi-final opponents were decided a day earlier. “Arsenal will play Portuguese club Sporting. The first meeting will take place on April 7 in Lisbon, the return match – on April 15 in London.
