Paris Saint-Germain blew a 2-0 aggregate lead while Man City’s five-goal first-leg lead was safe as Real Madrid joined the Premier League leaders as UEFA Champions League quarterfinalists on Wednesday.
Real and Man City joined Tuesday’s qualifiers Liverpool and Bayern Munich as the final eight will have a familiar Iook regardless of who wins next week’s second legs.
Villarreal and Juventus are level at 1 as are Atletico Madrid and Manchester United. Chelsea leads Lille 2-0 while Benfica and Ajax are level at 2.
Man City walks to quarterfinals
Such is Manchester City’s dominance of Sporting Lisbon that its 5-0 first-leg lead allowed it to stage a Round of 16 leg with a UCL debutant teen at right back (CJ Egan-Riley) and another 19-year-old (James McAtee) subbing in at the break.
City still had 68 percent of the ball and took the only four shots of the first half and bettered its possession numbers in the second half to 69 percent, taking 10 more shots to Sporting’s six in a 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola also handed substitute appearances to Luke Mbete and veteran goalkeeper Scott Carson, but the Man of the Match was still probably Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adan. The 34-year-old had four saves and a clean sheet against City counts in any match.
Pochettino’s PSG falls apart in Madrid
Karim Benzema scored a 17-minute hat trick for Real Madrid as Paris Saint-Germain let a 1-0 first-leg lead and 2-0 advantage at the hour mark wash away to nothing against one of the tournament’s most decorated teams.
Kylian Mbappe had put PSG ahead off a beautiful Neymar feed and powerful finish, and PSG should’ve been up by more than one at the break. But a rare Gigi Donnarumma error put Real back in the game.
Lionel Messi had a 96-touch, 93 percent passing day but was rarely allowed into dangerous positions, as Neymar and Mbappe were decent but rusty and/or not 100%.
After runner-up and semifinalist appearances the past two seasons, PSG goes out in the familiar Round of 16 that served as a club stop sign for three tournaments between 2016-17 and 2018-19.
Real gives Carlo Ancelotti a memorable win and further etches Karim Benzema in its annals as an absolute legend (at least on the field).
Nice goal for PSG, though.
