For the 11th time in 13 seasons (mercy me), Real Madrid are through to the Champions League semifinals after Rodrygo's second-half brace at Stamford Bridge put the finishing touches on a commanding 4-0 aggregate victory over Chelsea.
AC Milan are in the Champions League semifinals after drawing Napoli 1-1 (for a 2-1 in aggregate) in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. The Rossoneri will play this stage for the first time since the 2006-07 season, but the history could have been completely different if referee Szymon Marciniak and VAR had not looked to the other side in a clear penalty not called on Mexican winger Hirving "Chucky" Lozano.
I get that it could have been difficult to see it in real-time, but what were they doing at VAR? Watching Looney Tunes?
Chelsea are not a "broken" team this season and co-owner Todd Boehly had every right to address the squad he has invested in, manager Frank Lampard said on Monday ahead of their Champions League quarterfinal against Real Madrid.
Chelsea, who trail Real Madrid 2-0 on aggregate after losing the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu, come into the game on the back of a six-match winless run, with interim boss Lampard losing his first three games in charge.
BERLIN - Bayern Munich's Sadio Mané will not be part of the squad for Saturday's Bundesliga game against Hoffenheim and has been fined over a row he had with teammate Leroy Sané, the club said on Thursday.
Senegal international Mané clashed with Sané at the end of their 3-0 loss at Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Tuesday.
He didn’t play, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a recap.
Christian Pulisic's first action was to ignore the artwork on the wall inside the Bernabéu.
That’s the mindset of a champion right there. Why would he focus on the final in Istanbul when he has a big quarterfinal ahead of him? He takes things one step at a time like all winners do.
Next up was getting dressed and killing it in warmups.
Ismaël Bennacer got a lot of high-fives after scoring the only goal in AC Milan's crucial 1-0 win over Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
However, if we have to choose a man of the match, that recognition should be in the hands of left fullback Theo Hernandez. The dyed-blond Frenchman probably didn't lead any stat some people care about nowadays, but he fueled his teammates from an emotional point of view.
Especially after seeing the aggressive tête-à-tête he starred alongside Mexican Hirving Lozano during a trivial throw-in.
In beating Napoli 1-0 in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg at the San Siro, Milan exemplified all the UCL cliché's that Real Madrid have entirely owned and turned into bonafide pieces of wisdom over the last decade. Hell, Milan even used a Real Madrid loanee to get it done.
Cliché No. 1, you need to be street wise — basically you need to be in the mold of Theo Hernández.
Theo Hernandez is not messing around. pic.twitter.com/p3ga9PMVgJ
Seguro que varios se estarán preguntando si veremos al Chucky Lozano vs AC Milan en el partido de ida de los cuartos de final de la Champions League 2022-23 que se juega este miércoles 12 de abril (3 p.m. ET). Y bueno, lo más probable es que así sea.
¿Lo curioso? Hay una gran chance es que lo haga utilizando una posición bastante diferente a lo que acostumbra, ya que en vez de ir por la banda, serviría a la causa como "falso nueve".
With many experts having predicted that the winner of the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League will emerge from the blockbuster quarterfinal tie between Manchester City and Bayern Munich, City's 3-0 beatdown of Bayern in Tuesday's first leg at the Etihad is quite the statement from the Sky Blues.
There's still a lot of thinking yet to come from Pep Guardiola, but this City team can kill you a myriad of ways (unlike Chelsea and Real Madrid), is UCL battle hardened (unlike Benfica, Inter, Milan and Napoli) and has Erling Haaland (unlike Bayern).
LISBON — Inter Milan struck in the second half through Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku for a 2-0 win at Benfica in their Champions League quarterfinal, first leg on Tuesday which put them on course for a first last-four appearance since they won the trophy in 2010.
Barella headed home firmly at the back post in the 51st minute, rising unchallenged to get on the end of a superb cross from center back Alessandro Bastoni, who was storming up the left side and delivered a pin-point ball.
HEADS UP!