Champions League

Ajax has advanced to the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time since 1997 after tearing Juventus apart with a glorious second-half display of footballing excellence that ultimately yielded the game-winning goal from captain Matthijs de Ligt in the 67th minute.

The Amsterdam-based club scored two at Juventus Stadium — which is an exceptionally rare feat for an away side — but it could’ve been four or five but for the goalkeeping of Wojciech Szczesny and an Ajax desire to combine on six backheels and three disguised reverse passes within the box before every shot. 

Cristiano Ronaldo 4.0 is up and running at Juventus Stadium. His age is 34, which typically alludes to ever-present bodily soreness and general feelings of lethargy, but Ronaldo 4.0 includes updates on foxiness in the box, elastico nutmegs and improvements on crushing the dreams of everyone else in European competition.

Here’s "He That Is More Machine Than Man" coming alive during the Champions League anthem, as he’s done time after time en route to scoring 126 UCL goals, including 65 in the knockout stages. 

Manchester United started brightly against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Tuesday. Marcus Rashford was in on goal and nearly scored seconds into the match. 

And the Red Devils had a bit of fortune when the VAR overturned a penalty decision to keep the scores level.

Then Lionel Messi broke loose with two goals in four minutes, quickly making up for a quiet first leg in Manchester (after being bloodied by Chris Smalling). 

In the Champions League quarterfinals, Barcelona came out with a solid 1-0 away victory over Manchester United.

It only took 12 minutes for Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez magic to commence, but neither will be credited for the Barcelona score.

A fantastic cross from the GOAT found Suarez on the far post. Suarez then headed it into traffic in front of the United goal and a bounce off left back Luke Shaw would be all she wrote for Manchester.

Juventus had no excuse not to be prepared. After what Ajax did to Real Madrid (not to mention Bayern Munich in the group stage), the Bianconeri knew they were in for a fight against the Dutch side. 

After one leg in the Champions League quarterfinals, it’s all even heading back to the Allianz Stadium in Turin. 

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant diving header just before the halftime whistle only to have David Neres score moments into the second half in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday at the Amsterdam Arena. 

Although Lionel Messi is consistently targeted by opposing defenses, it’s rare that he takes too much physical abuse from opponents. Quick on his feet and with a low center of gravity, the Barcelona No. 10 is usually able to avoid the brunt of challenges he faces. 

But when he’s attacked from behind, as he was by Manchester United’s Chris Smalling, there’s little Messi can do to prevent harm.

Manchester United’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Barcelona did not start well.

The Blaugrana (or neon yellows, as it was), opened the scoring a dozen minutes into the match at Old Trafford on Tuesday thanks to some interplay from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez — and some help from the Video Assistant Referee.

Tottenham’s first-ever match at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium went just about perfectly. Its second was pretty spectacular too.

Son Heung-min scored in the 78th minute to propel Spurs to a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday. 

Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Porto at Anfield on Tuesday was a microcosm of the club’s current Premier League form: There were nervy moments, a couple lapses and some erratic finishing from Mohamed Salah, but victory was achieved and it could've been achieved much more emphatically. 

Chelsea thrashed Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 on Wednesday, momentarily moving the squad up a spot in the Premier League.

The Blues were merciless to Brighton keeper Matt Ryan as three goals were scored in the right corner.

Brighton started well, limiting Chelsea’s touches while playing aggressive. 

However, things turned fast for the 15th-placed English team.