La Liga and the Premiership will be represented in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League after Manchester City and Real Madrid take care of Paris St Germain and Wolfsburg to make it into the final four.
It’s not unusual to see a Manchester team in the semi-finals of the Champions League, but they’re usually wearing the colour red; not blue. Manchester City (and not United) will be sticking the Premier League flag deep into the soil of the semi-finals after beating Paris St Germain by a goal to nil at the Etihad to win 3-2 on aggregate.
It’s the first time in City’s history that they have reached the semi-finals of the world’s most prestigious club competition. To be honest, they did it without playing their best in either leg.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic promising to strut his stuff in the Premier League next season, and PSG exited stage left at the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year, perhaps Laurent Blanc has taken them as far as he can?
It’s tough for PSG to find that extra gear when they are used to winning at a canter back home in France. They are 28 points clear of Lyon in Ligue 1, scoring 83 times and conceding only 18 in 33 games. They have won 26 of those ties.
I believed Man City had done the business thanks to that ugly 2-2 draw in the Parc de Princes last week. The bookies disagreed inexplicably making PSG favourites to go through despite conceding two away goals. It wasn’t the greatest game of football you will ever see, but for City, it will rank as one of the most important.
The atmosphere was tense (a better word than quiet). PSG started without David Luiz and Blaise Matuidi (missing through suspension), and their scrappy little midfielder Marco Veratti was missing through injury.
Over the other side of the halfway line, City was without their influential skipper Vincent Kompany, and there was no sign whatsoever of Martin Demichelis, who this week admitted breaching FA rules on betting on football matches.
Many people have pointed towards the announcement that Pep Guardiola would take over at the end of the season as the pivotal point in a downturn of form that saw City go from Premier League contenders to Champions League qualifier scrappers, but you can’t overstate the omission of Kevin de Bruyne during that period.
Sergio Aguero will be thanking the Belgian this evening. The Argentinean missed a penalty after Kevin Trapp upended him in the area, but De Bruyne spared his blushes with a smart shot from outside of the box in the 76th minute.
What next for City?
A tie against Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich would certainly be interesting.
Result
Man City 1 v 0 Paris St Germain (City win 3-2 on aggregate).
Madrid Shut The Jaws of Wolfsburg
There was something smug about Gareth Bale’s post match interview in the wake of their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Wolfsburg. Maybe smug is too strong a word, but there was a confidence surrounding his voice when he said.
“We just have to win three-nil now.”
When I was a betting man, I would have put everything I owned on a 3-0 Madrid victory, and that’s how it turned out after Cristiano Ronaldo reminded everyone why he is one of the greatest footballers in the history of our game with a stunning hat trick.
Wolfsburg started the game knowing a solitary goal meant Madrid would have had to score four. Unfortunately, they defended poorly in the first 20-minutes and the Portuguese forward ripped the heart out of their chests with two goals 90-seconds apart in the 16th minute. Even if the German side had scored, Ronaldo would have waltzed up the other end and added another to his tally.
84.2% of Champions League sides who win 2-0 in the first leg go through to the second round, but I don’t think anyone in football thought this one would go according to statistics. Ronaldo’s 77th minute strike handing the lad the match ball, and Madrid their customary berth in the semi-finals.
Result
Real Madrid 3 v 0 Wolfsburg (Madrid go through 3-2 on aggregate)
