The quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League have absolutely shocked the world of football and have set up a spectacular final four teams for the semi-finals. Arsenal have shocked Real Madrid, and Inter Milan swept up the last German team in the tournament, being Bayern Munich. What many consider the best two teams in the world, Barcelona and PSG, have also advanced. Arsenal will be going up against PSG, and Inter will be facing off with Barcelona.
In the first match of a two-game series between Arsenal and Real Madrid, Arsenal used their home stadium advantage to unexpectedly take a 3-goal lead. Two of the goals are attributed to midfield Declan Rice, who scored two incredibly skilled and almost impossible direct free kicks, which were both well outside the 40-yard box. The nail in the coffin was driven by other midfielder, Mikel Merino, who scored off an assist from young prodigy Myles Lewis-Skelly. In the second game in Madrid, Bukayo Saka of Arsenal scored a calm goal far into the game, at the 65th minute. Real Madrid answered quickly after a mistake by the Arsenal defense, giving a goal to Madrid winger Vinicius Junior. As the game went to its end, Real Madrid could not conquer the 4 – 1 deficit, and even gave up one more goal in the final minute to Gabriel Martinelli. This left the final score Arsenal 5 – Real Madrid 1.
Senior James Gougousis had this to say upon Madrid’s surprising loss, “It was a pathetic showing from Real Madrid, considering how much they were talking leading up to the match. Mbappe will never reach the heights of Ronaldo. ”
Over on the other side of Europe, in Germany in Italy, Inter Milan got a quick jump on Bayern. Striker Lautaro Martinez scored a clean outside-the-foot goal to set Inter ahead in the first half. Then, after many missed opportunities throughout the game, Bayern midfielder Thomas Muller finally equalized the score with a tap-in in front of the goal. But Inter did not let them rest, because not even 3 minutes later, they pushed down the pitch, and Davide Frattesi scored off a rocket-powered assist across the middle from Carlos Augusto. In the next match, Harry Kane was the first to score for Bayern and set the score equal. Then Lautaro Martinez and Benjamin Pavard scored quickly to give Inter a comfortable 3 – 2 lead. Later in the game, Bayern center back Eric Dier scored one last consolation goal, but it was not enough to save his team from elimination.
The first match between Barcelona and Dortmund was a blowout and led many to believe that the German side had no hope in the tournament. Barcelona took a comfortable lead in the first game, closing it off 4 – 0 with one goal from Raphina, one from Lamine Yamal, and two from striker Robert Lewandowski. Once the next game started in Germany, though, the tide seemed to shift for a little. By 50 minutes, 1st year striker on Dortmund, who transferred from Bayer Leverkusen, Serhou Guirassy, scored two goals, one being a penalty shot. Then his teammate Ramy Benesebaini scored an unfortunate own goal to essentially seal the deal and send Barcelona to the semi-finals. Guirassy scored one more goal to complete his hat trick, but he unfortunately took the loss with a final score of Dortmund 3 – 5 Barcelona. This knocked out the last German team from the competition.
The last deciding game began in a similar fashion, but was a lot more thrilling down the line. The first game between PSG and Aston Villa ended 3 – 1 in PSG’s favor. The goal scorers for PSG were Désiré Doué, the French youngster who has been making a name for himself lately, Nuno Mendes, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The only goal for Villa was from attacking midfielder Morgan Rogers. The second game was much more interesting, though. PSG took an early lead, as their only two goals were scored in the first half. Mendes and Hakimi quickly made it 5 – 1 for PSG. Across the rest of the first half and early in the second, Villa scored three goals from Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, and Ezri Konsa. But this is where their goals ceased; they could not mount a comeback and ended up losing 4 – 5 against PSG, eliminating them and sending the French side to the semi-finals.
The final four teams are drawn, and the matchups are set. Arsenal will face PSG, whom they beat earlier in the year, and Inter will face Barcelona, who are on fire and fresh off a Copa del Rey victory over Real Madrid. These matches will not disappoint, as fans are witnessing the biggest powerhouses of world football face off in the final stages of one of the biggest competitions. The first leg for Arsenal vs. PSG will be on April 29th at 3 p.m., with Barcelona vs Inter the next day at the same time. The second leg will start with Barcelona vs. Inter on May 6th at 3 p.m., and Arsenal vs PSG the next day at the same time. All games are available to stream on Paramount+.
