When Barcelona drew Roma in the Champions League quarterfinals back on March 16, many penciled the LaLiga leaders straight through to the semis. This is, after all, Barcelona’s 11th consecutive appearance at the quarterfinal stage. For Roma, it’s their first in 10 years. If you want to place a bet on Roma winning the first leg at the Camp Nou, you’ll get 14-1 odds on that punt.
A few weeks ago, Lionel Messi reached the landmark of 100 goals in the UEFA Champions League, joining Cristiano Ronaldo as the only footballer to achieve the feat. The following comparisons between the two were inevitable, because for the last 10 years, it’s just been Ronaldo and Messi at the top of the world’s premier club competition.
In fact, you’d have to go back to the 2006-07 season and AC Milan’s Kaká to find the last Champions League top scorer by season not named Ronaldo or Messi.
The Women's Champions League has a ways to go to catch up to the men’s competition in terms of stature, but the quarterfinal pairing of defending champion Lyon and FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Lieke Martens of Barcelona was every bit as enticing for fans of the women’s game as Real Madrid vs. PSG on the men’s side. While Lyon won 1-0 to advance 3-1 on aggregate, the victory was not without controversy.
Juventus will definitely be without Miralem Pjanic and Medhi Benatia for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Real Madrid. We knew that going in. That's not the problem. The problem for the Italians right now is they might also be without Sami Khedira, Giorgio Chiellini and Alex Sandro.
Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti has issued an apology for his sending off against Real Madrid in the Champions League, but the Italian international isn’t entirely repentant for his actions — he’s convinced German referee Felix Brych wouldn’t have shown a second yellow card to someone like Lionel Messi in the same situation.
With PSG trailing Real 4-1 on aggregate in the 66th minute, Verratti won possession back for his side outside the opponent’s box. However, with three Real players quickly surrounding him, Verratti lost the ball while screaming for a foul.
The Champions League quarterfinal matchups are set. At this stage in the competition, there are no bad teams and no teams that are truly out of it (except maybe Sevilla, sorry guys).
The quarterfinal matches will be played April 3-4 and April 10-11.
Real Madrid vs. Juventus
The attacking trifecta of Lionel Messi (two goals, one assist), Luis Suarez (two assists) and Ousmane Dembele (scorer of his first goal for Barca) combined to devastating effect to send Barcelona into the Champions League quarterfinals, 4-1 on aggregate over Chelsea.
Samuel Umtiti was the standout performer in Barca’s defense, and although Chelsea twice struck the woodwork, the 3-0 victory on the night was well deserved for the La Liga leaders.
What do Lionel Messi Champions League goals number 99 and 100 have in common? Both humiliated Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois by rolling through his legs before nestling into the back of the net.
It’s an absolute disaster for Chelsea as three minutes of Barcelona possession straight from kick off has been ultimately rewarded with the opener from Lionel Messi.
Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic dictated play in Chelsea’s half straight away, but there was no penetration before the ball was suddenly in the back of the net.
19 - After failing to score in his first 10 Champions League appearances against English teams, Lionel Messi has since netted 19 goals in his last 18 games. Haunt.
Thomas Muller just about nailed Wednesday's Bayern Munich-Besiktas outcome during a press conference prior to the match.
This is the most German trash talk ever pic.twitter.com/yW3f534COk
— Luke Zimmermann (@lukezim) March 14, 2018