Defending champs Madrid secure UCL quarters, Napoli break curse

Defending champs Madrid secure UCL quarters, Napoli break curse

The reigning champions, Real Madrid, put the kibosh on Liverpool’s heroic comeback try, rising from Wednesday night time’s contest with a 1-0 victory to progress to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Genuine, the file 14-time champions, had already secured a historic European dwelling win over Liverpool three weeks in the past at Anfield with a 5-2 triumph from being 2-0 down.

During their three hundredth Champions League match on the Bernabeu, Karim Benzema’s late winner clinched a 6-2 combination success for Real.

Despite their efficiency within the first leg, each goalkeepers Thibaut Courtois of Real and Alisson Becker of Liverpool have been nearly unbeatable on the Bernabeu.

Courtois was significantly irritating for Liverpool, as he had been in final yr’s remaining, which Real received 1-0.

Liverpool tried to combat again from their historic first-leg defeat, however Courtois made one other save in opposition to Darwin Nunez’s curling shot and palmed away a cannon from Cody Gakpo.

At the opposite finish, Vinicius Junior was denied from point-blank vary by Alisson, who additionally managed to tip a long-distance drive from Eduardo Camavinga in opposition to the crossbar.

Federico Valverde was the subsequent participant denied by Alisson after the restart. Still, ultimately, Real broke the impasse within the 79th minute when Benzema slotted into the empty internet after Vinicius Junior had flicked the ball over to him previous Alisson whereas mendacity on the bottom.

Liverpool left with their anthem, “You’ll never walk alone,” performed within the Bernabeu as supervisor Jurgen Klopp admitted it was not a efficiency for a miracle.

“Real Madrid was the better team. The right team went through. If you want a miracle, you must play better or against another team,” he stated.

Napoli cruise by

Meanwhile, Italy’s Napoli reached the quarterfinals for the primary time by finishing a complete 5-0 general win over Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt with a 3-0 dwelling victory from Victor Osimhen’s brace and Piotr Zielinski.

Napoli’s success implies that Italy has three groups within the remaining eight for the primary time since 2006, with AC and Inter Milan being the others.

Serie A golf equipment haven’t lifted the trophy since Inter’s success in 2010.

The sport in Naples was overshadowed by fan violence within the metropolis middle within the afternoon, in line with reviews from each camps, as a whole bunch of Frankfurt followers had made their solution to Italy regardless of a blanket stadium ban on Frankfurt residents imposed by the native prefecture over safety issues in reference to violence three weeks in the past on the first sport in Germany.

On the pitch, Matteo Politano had the primary likelihood for the runaway Serie A leaders two minutes into the sport. Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp then saved twice from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Frankfurt not often threatened, and their comeback hopes led to first-half stoppage time when Osimhen rose to move Politano’s cross into the highest proper nook.

Captain Giovanni di Lorenzo’s cross was poked dwelling by Osimhen within the 53rd, and Zielinski transformed a penalty 11 minutes later after being introduced down by Djibril Sow.

“It wasn’t easy, but we managed to reach a historical aim for Napoli,” Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti informed UEFA.com.

Frankfurt midfielder Sebastian Rode conceded to streaming portal DAZN that “we have lost again against a fantastic team, they have a lot of class, everyone knows their part. We did well over long courses but gave the ball away badly for the goals.”

England’s Manchester City and Chelsea, Germany’s Bayern Munich, Portugal’s Benfica and Spain’s Real are the opposite groups, with the quarter and semifinal draw scheduled for Friday.

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