This competition just keeps on giving and giving. Where to begin? The second leg of Manchester City and Tottenham will go down as one of the greatest games ever in Champions League history and Ajax too, defying the odds and beating Juventus. The quarter-finals were magnificent.
LIVERPOOL vs PORTO
The aggregate score of 6-1 is perhaps a little harsh on Porto. They caused Liverpool numerous problems through both games but were not clinical enough. Liverpool were, though, largely in control throughout both legs and even when Porto pushed at the the start of the second leg, it never felt like they would get back into the tie. Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane were excellent and the return of Joe Gomez since injury can only be positive for Liverpool. They deserved to go through and did.
TOTTENHAM vs MANCHESTER CITY
The first leg was the first ever Champions League games in Spurs' new stadium and they duly delivered, Son scoring the only goal of the game to give Tottenham a surprise lead. Guardiola's team selection was questionable, though, as he opted for Mahrez over Sane. They missed his speed and directness on the wing. Then came the second leg. 4 goals scored in almost 20 minutes. It was unprecedented. Sterling scored, then Son bagged twice to give Tottenham the lead before Bernardo Silva equalised for City. Sterling added his second and when Aguero made it 4-2 just before 60 minutes, then writing was on the wall for Tottenham. Or was it? Fernando Llorente "kneed" in from a corner to give Spurs the lead on away goals. Then, in the added time, Sterling sealed his hat-trick to send City through and Spurs out. Cue pandemonium. Guardiola racing down the touchline, screaming, shouting... only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR! Aguero was definitely offside and that is why VAR is needed. Tottenham would have been eliminated if it was not for VAR, but City were in hilarious fashion. In my preview, I said City had been shaky and thought Tottenham could progress, which they did.
AJAX vs JUVENTUS
The drawn first leg was incredibly tough on Ajax, given they dominated play and deserved better. Ronaldo opened the scoring in Turin and Juventus seemed on their way to the semi-finals. However, inspired from Madrid, Ajax had other ideas. Donny van de Beek restored parity and Matthijs de Ligt, just 19 years of age and club captain, headed in from a corner to send Ajax through. First Real, now Juventus. This young Ajax team can never be written off.
BARCELONA vs MANCHESTER UNITED
The first leg was incredibly boring between these two. A Luke Shaw own goal gave Barcelona the advantage but that was almost cancelled out straight away in the second leg, Marcus Rashford striking the bar in the 1st minute. That was a golden opportunity that United had to take, but they failed to do so. Lionel Messi scored twice, one typical left footed strike, one howler from David de Gea. Philippe Coutinho, former Liverpool man, scored a wonderstrike and Solskjaer's misery was completed. The performances of Ashley Young and Phil Jones show Manchester United have a very busy summer ahead if they want to be up to the level of City and Liverpool.
The semi-finals this season are somewhat reminiscent of last seasons - the two big teams playing each other while two unexpected teams play each other. Last season, it was Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich and Liverpool vs Roma. This season, it's Barcelona vs Liverpool and Tottenham vs Ajax. One thing that we have learnt from this season's competition is that nothing is as simple as it seems. The winners of Barcelona and Liverpool have to be the favourites to win the whole competition.
My preview of the semi-finals will be out in the next two weeks!
LIVERPOOL vs PORTO
The aggregate score of 6-1 is perhaps a little harsh on Porto. They caused Liverpool numerous problems through both games but were not clinical enough. Liverpool were, though, largely in control throughout both legs and even when Porto pushed at the the start of the second leg, it never felt like they would get back into the tie. Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane were excellent and the return of Joe Gomez since injury can only be positive for Liverpool. They deserved to go through and did.
TOTTENHAM vs MANCHESTER CITY
The first leg was the first ever Champions League games in Spurs' new stadium and they duly delivered, Son scoring the only goal of the game to give Tottenham a surprise lead. Guardiola's team selection was questionable, though, as he opted for Mahrez over Sane. They missed his speed and directness on the wing. Then came the second leg. 4 goals scored in almost 20 minutes. It was unprecedented. Sterling scored, then Son bagged twice to give Tottenham the lead before Bernardo Silva equalised for City. Sterling added his second and when Aguero made it 4-2 just before 60 minutes, then writing was on the wall for Tottenham. Or was it? Fernando Llorente "kneed" in from a corner to give Spurs the lead on away goals. Then, in the added time, Sterling sealed his hat-trick to send City through and Spurs out. Cue pandemonium. Guardiola racing down the touchline, screaming, shouting... only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR! Aguero was definitely offside and that is why VAR is needed. Tottenham would have been eliminated if it was not for VAR, but City were in hilarious fashion. In my preview, I said City had been shaky and thought Tottenham could progress, which they did.
AJAX vs JUVENTUS
The drawn first leg was incredibly tough on Ajax, given they dominated play and deserved better. Ronaldo opened the scoring in Turin and Juventus seemed on their way to the semi-finals. However, inspired from Madrid, Ajax had other ideas. Donny van de Beek restored parity and Matthijs de Ligt, just 19 years of age and club captain, headed in from a corner to send Ajax through. First Real, now Juventus. This young Ajax team can never be written off.
BARCELONA vs MANCHESTER UNITED
The first leg was incredibly boring between these two. A Luke Shaw own goal gave Barcelona the advantage but that was almost cancelled out straight away in the second leg, Marcus Rashford striking the bar in the 1st minute. That was a golden opportunity that United had to take, but they failed to do so. Lionel Messi scored twice, one typical left footed strike, one howler from David de Gea. Philippe Coutinho, former Liverpool man, scored a wonderstrike and Solskjaer's misery was completed. The performances of Ashley Young and Phil Jones show Manchester United have a very busy summer ahead if they want to be up to the level of City and Liverpool.
The semi-finals this season are somewhat reminiscent of last seasons - the two big teams playing each other while two unexpected teams play each other. Last season, it was Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich and Liverpool vs Roma. This season, it's Barcelona vs Liverpool and Tottenham vs Ajax. One thing that we have learnt from this season's competition is that nothing is as simple as it seems. The winners of Barcelona and Liverpool have to be the favourites to win the whole competition.
My preview of the semi-finals will be out in the next two weeks!
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