The Champions League round of 16 ties are over and it was quite the round with some controversy in Madrid, PSG and Liverpool playing out an incredible tie which went to penalties. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund going through as well, alongside Barcelona, Inter, Aston Villa and Arsenal.
PSG prevail at Anfield
After the first leg defeat PSG suffered in Paris to Liverpool after dominating that game, it seemed hard to think the Parisians would be able to come back an win the tie. Not only did they win the tie, they won the match, putting in a mostly positive performance at Anfield. Being better in all parts of the game except for the second half, where Liverpool dominated. Eventually teh penalties came and PSG stepped up and took theirs well, and Donnarumma did the rest, saving multiple Liverpool penalties to dump the Reds out. On the balance of play, PSG were the better side over the two legs, so the outcome was probably fair. Liverpool will now look ahead to the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle, and soon, being Premier League winners, bar an almighty collapse. PSG will take on Aston Villa, who themselves, are coming off a commanding victory over Club Brugge.
Madrid Derby Controversy…Again
It seems to always be the way with these European Madrid Derbies, always surrounded in controversy. Usually behind refereeing decisions, and this one was baffling. Going all the way to penalties, the moment occurred when Julian Alvarez stepped up to take his penalty, and scored it. But it was disallowed because apparently he had double touched it, and VAR overturned the penalty, which changed the course of the shootout and gave Real Madrid a genuine advantage. It doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary happens but the decision is what it is now, and Real Madrid are through to face Arsenal in the quarter finals. Both sides are still in the hunt for the La Liga title, so there is still silverware at play.
Germany shows its strength again
German football is usually in a good place with its European club form, Bayern Munich constantly get themselves to at least the semi-final stage, and Borussia Dortmund somehow are able to push above and get results required in order to progress. The same happened again as Bayern triumphed over Bundesliga rival Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 on aggregate. While Dortmund played out a trickier tie against French side Lille, but picked up the win in the end, winning the tie 3-2. Bayern are in the drivers seat to win their league crown back while Dortmund are struggling domestically. But both sides in the quarters have difficult ties up against Inter Milan and Barcelona respectively.
Other ties
Barcelona put aside Benfica with a comfortable home win or 3-1, winning the tie convincingly 4-1. Feyernoord proved to be no pushover for Inter, but Inter powered through to get their place in the quarters winning the tie 4-1, with a victory 2-1 midweek against the Dutch side. Then the other ties were basically over from the first leg, Villa breezed past Club Brugge smashing then 6-1 over the two legs. While domestic rivals Arsenal demolished PSV 7-1 in the first leg, basically confirming the progression for the Gunners, as the tie ended 9-3 on aggregate.
The quarter finals will be contested around mid-April with the ties of, Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan, Arsenal vs Real Madrid, Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund and PSG vs Aston Villa. It is sure to be fascinating contest of these quarter final matchups.