HOLDERS Paris Saint-Germain, record 15-time winners, Real Madrid, and Arsenal surged into the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Tuesday, while Sporting produced a brilliant comeback in Portugal to end Bodo/Glimt’s remarkable run.
PSG appear to be coming back into the form which saw them win the Champions League for the first time in their history last season, as the French club crushed Chelsea 3-0 in London to claim a comprehensive 8-2 aggregate victory in their last-16 tie.
Chelsea had been left with a mountain to climb after a late collapse in last week’s first leg, and PSG quickly snuffed out any chance the English club had.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia followed his first-leg double by opening the scoring on six minutes at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea defender Mamadou Sarr misjudging a long ball on his Champions League debut and then being outmuscled by the Georgian who applied the finish.
Bradley Barcola fired in a brilliant second goal from an Achraf Hakimi assist, and the home fans were streaming for the exits when substitute Senny Mayulu swept in PSG’s third on the night just after the hour.
“We clearly dominated, we are very happy to be in the quarterfinals and I think it is well deserved,” PSG coach Luis Enrique told Canal Plus.
PSG’s fourth victory against English opposition in a two-legged knockout tie since the start of last year sets up a last-eight tie against Liverpool or Galatasaray.
Two-time European champions Chelsea were not the only English club to be eliminated on Tuesday, with Manchester City losing 2-1 at home to Real as they went out 5-1 on aggregate.
Real led 3-0 from the first leg in Spain, where Federico Valverde scored a hat-trick, and their qualification was never in doubt after City’s Bernardo Silva was sent off on 20 minutes for stopping a goalbound Vinicius Junior shot on the line with his arm.
Vinicius converted the penalty, and Pep Guardiola’s side had too much to do, even if Erling Haaland levelled the scores on the night before halftime with his 30th goal this season.
Real replaced Thibaut Courtois with Andriy Lunin in goal at halftime, and the tie was over long before Vinicius scored again in stoppage time to seal the win on the night.
Premier League leaders Arsenal‘s dream of a quadruple remains alive after they beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium for a 3-1 aggregate success.
They had needed a late penalty to draw in Germany last week, and finished the tie off in the return with goals either side of halftime from Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice.
Arsenal now face Manchester City in the English League Cup final on Sunday, and will play Sporting in the quarterfinals.
The Portuguese champions produced a superb fight-back, overturning a 3-0 deficit from last week’s first leg against Bodo/Glimt by beating the Norwegians 5-0 after extra time in Lisbon. –AFP
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