In this week’s past Champions League elimination games, many teams are celebrating, but many have exited the tournament heartbroken. Sixteen teams have been cut down to eight, and the quarter-finals are set to kick off on April 8th at 3 p.m. Teams that have been eliminated are PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid, LOSC Lille, Club Brugge, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Feyenoord, and Benfica. The upcoming quarter-final matches are set as follows:
Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan
Arsenal vs Real Madrid
Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund
PSG vs Aston Villa
The prior round was nothing short of thrilling. Arsenal took an early lead against PSV by beating them in the first leg (game) 7 – 0, and then closing off the next game 2 – 2 to end with a final score of 9 – 2. The Madrid derby, Atletico vs Real ended in a very heated and controversial way. The second leg ended with a 2 – 2 tie, so the teams had to go to a penalty shootout to decide a winner. Many moments after Atletico striker Julian Alvarez had scored his penalty, it was called back for a review and the VAR (Virtual Assistant Referee) deemed that before Alvarez shot with his right foot, his leading left foot slightly touched the ball because he slipped. His goal was nullified and Atletico ended up losing 2 – 4 in the penalty shootout, costing them the rest of their tournament. This late decision caused an absolute outrage in the football world. Lots of upset fans bringing up speculations of rigging and paying off refs by Real Madrid (which has been an allegation for decades).
Wayne Hills student Mucheru Wamae had this to say about the controversial decision, “I think it was the right decision, although it was a very little touch, it actually did touch his foot. I also like Real Madrid as well so it was really good to see them go through because of that.”
Barcelona, Inter Milan, Bayern, and Aston Villa sped past their opponents easily, not worrying about any late-game thrills. The second match between the two massive clubs, Liverpool and PSG ended in a tie which led to a blowout penalty shootout where PSG won 4 – 1 to knock out the dominant English team. Borussia Dortmund was able to squeeze past LOSC Lille with a goal from forward Maximillian Beier to give them the lead and advance them to the next round. Senior James Gougousis’ prediction for the next round is that “Arsenal are gonna get battered.”
The teams remaining are the strongest from the four powerhouse countries of league football. Spain, England, France, and Italy. The first leg of matches will be held on April 8th and 9th, and the second leg the following week on the 15th and 16th. After that, only four teams will advance to the semi-final and try to push their way towards the final that will be held in Germany in the Munich Football Arena on May 31st.
