UEFA Champions League Semi Finals

So it was UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals second leg and the teams fought for their right to play football. It was quite an interesting stage as the best of the teams clashed and were battling to get themselves to the Semi Finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Big teams collided and bigger teams made it to the semi finals stage of the UEFA Champions League. Let’ see how it went.

Real Madrid vs. Wolfsburg ( Agg. 3 – 2 )

This was one of the most awaited fixture out of all as Real Madrid shockingly lost their match in the away leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter finals. And this was their chance to prove and show that they deserve to be in the semi finals and they proved themselves.

Real Madrid were 2 goals down in the first leg and left their fans in shock and developed a point of doubt that whether Real Madrid will be able to make it to the semi finals or not? But the second leg turned out to be totally a different one as compared to the first leg.

Cristinao Ronaldo scored the first goal of the game in the 16^th minute when Dani Carvajal tried to release a low cross ball and the defenders thought it was going nowhere but they didn’t knew that a goal for Ronaldo was about to come at that very moment. If Ronaldo remains unmarked this is what he does and Wolfsburg defence was very much lose in this match as they were unable to mark Cristiano Ronaldo.

Second goal didn’t took too long to come as Cristiano Ronaldo made contact with his head to the ball cornered up by Toni Kroos and scored his second goal of the game at the very next minute. This goal was a blessing as the score got levelled up in the early stages of the match and gave the players, managers and the fans the confidence that they deserve to be in the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League.

The half time ended up reading the score board as 2 – 0 in favour of the Galacticos at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Second half commenced and Madrid started to press again and dominated the whole of the second half.  Ronaldo got a free kick in around 50 min. mark where he took a shot which got blocked by the Wolfsburg wall. An attempt or two again came from Real Madrid but were unsuccessful. At the same time Wolfsburg also were trying to make their mark but Madrid defence was quite a hard one to penetrate.

Match was moving with a constant pace when Toni Kroos was fouled while he was making a run towards the penalty area. Ronaldo got a second chance to hit a free kick. He kept the ball, tightened up his legs, stood his trademark pose approached the ball and Boom! He made it! He found the slenderest of the gaps between the wall and completed his hattrick and helped Real Madrid through to the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid has now managed to make it to the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League for consecutively 7 seasons and Ronaldo has scored 3 hattricks in a single season of the UEFA Champions League which is another record established by Cristiano Ronaldo.

It’s now to see which team will Real Madrid face in the semi finals of the UEFA Chmapions League.

Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona (Agg. 3 
– 2)

Well, this turned out to be one of the most shocking match this season. A team like Barcelona which were playing in top form few days back are now in danger to lose every single silverware they were supposed to win this season.

Barcelona were expected to extend their score line with the help of an away goal and make their easy way to the UEFA champions League semi finals but nothing as such happened. Atletico were totally rampant as Barcelona couldn’t even manage to score a single goal in the away leg.

Atletico were playing as if they knew that they’ll make it to the semi finals anyway. The Simeone side were playing quite impressively as whenever they built up a counter attack the whole team pressed up and as soon as Barcelona moved up for attack, the whole team fell back for the defence. They were applying Chelsea tactics in terms of defending and Real Madrid tactics in terms of attack. And this combined to display an “Atletico tactical performance”.

Diego Simeone was confident enough while facing Barcelona and was sure to give his best and he did so. If this time Atletico Madrid manages to make it to the finals of the UEFA champions League, they might pick up the trophy this season. See what Diego Simeone said (in detail)here!

If Barcelona loses another match in Spanish league and Atletico manages to win every match in the league, Atletico will definitely pick up the league title this season.

Manchester City vs. PSG ( Agg. 3 – 2)

PSG seems to be unlucky every season in the UEFA Champions League as they fail to make it to the semi finals every time. Manchester City welcomed PSG at the Etihad stadium with 2 away goals in hand.

PSG were supposed to score at least 1 goal and were expected to defend Manchester City to be able to make it to the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League but they were totally helpless in the away leg.

Although PSG made some promising attacks but were not good enough to get past Joe Hart. Zlatan Ibrahimovic took a rocket free kick but Joe Hart was totally aware of the know where of the ball and dived to make a perfect save.  Edinson Cavani also tried to make his mark on the game but was unsuccessful in doing so.

Manchester City on the other hand was playing quite a composed game and were making decent attempts.

First half was quite a boring one as nothing interesting took place. It was 75 minutes to have passed and Manchester City started to combine and Kevin de Bruyne made his marke on the game in the 76^th minute mark making the full use of the ball produced by Fernando and made themselves prominent on the game as well as on aggregate.

Manuel Pellegrini was looking calm throughout the match and at the end he found the blow he needed as Bruyne showed his worth.

Manchester City has made it to the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history and it’s a big achievement for the players, managers and of course the fans. Many people want Manchester City to win the trophy as they deserve it.

Benfica vs. Bayern ( Agg. 2 – 3 )

This match’s result was totally expected as Bayern Munich has always been favourite but the way Bayern was expected to win was not truly displayed by the Bayern players.

In the 27^th min. R. Jimenez made his mark on the game and scored a goal assisted by Eliseu which helped the team to take the lead in the match and equalized on aggregate. After 10 minutes A. Vidal took a rocket just outside the box and equalized the score on the night and took an overall lead.

As the second half got going, it was not even 10 minutes gone and Muller scored another goal assisted by J. Martinez and gave Bayern Munich the 2 away goals advantage which very much made the game in Byern’s favour.  At  77’ min. Talisca scored another goal for Benfica which helped the team to equalize in the match but on aggregate Bayern was on greater advantage with two away goals.

Bayern was totally a dominant team and seemed ready to play the UEFA Champions League semi finals and now it is going to happen. It’s just a matter of fact that which team will face Bayern Munich in the semi finals.

Bayern is already leading the Bundesliga and German Cup is also not a tough fight for them so, it may be a treble chance for Bayern again this season. But it’s not yet to say, it’s all about to see what’s next.

UEFA Champions League Semi Finals draw is declared on Friday.

Till then have fun and stay tuned to FootUpdate !