Barcelona – Napoli – 3:1 (4:2 overall)
Ahead of the return match at the Olympic Stadium in the Catalan capital, Napoli club president Aurelio de Laurentiis promised the players a significant bonus of €10 million if they reached the quarter-finals. Last season Napoli stopped 1/4 of the way through the final and were caught by Milan.
Barcelona has not reached the second round of the play-offs since 2020, when it suffered a legendary 2:8 defeat to Bayern. Xavi and his youth were ready to break this streak.
The Blue Garnets started the game with a bang, almost immediately putting to rest the question of which team was more ready. At the end of the quarter hour of the match, the home team shot Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret twice with a difference of two minutes, first scoring Fermin Lopez’s goal with Raphinha’s pass, and then Joao Cancelo doubled his team’s advantage. a sure hit.
After conceding, the Napoli players calmed down and got back into the game – in the 30th minute, Amir Rrahmani scored from Matteo Politano’s excellent wing pass. The nature of the match did not change after the break: the visiting team had to equalize the score, and the home team preferred to counterattack more, although they controlled the ball. One of these resulted in a goal towards the end of the match; Seven minutes before the end of normal time, Sergi Roberto assisted Robert Lewandowski, who scored the final score of the match. Win at home, draw away – Barça advances to the quarter-finals.
Arsenal – Porto – 1:0 (2:2 overall, 3:1 on penalties)
The English club approached the second match with a minimal difference to the opponent – in the 96th minute of the first match, Wenderson Galeno brought victory to the Portuguese team. Continuing their fight for the championship in the English Premier League (EPL), the Londoners have not been able to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League since 2010.
And their last performance to this point in the play-offs of the main club tournament of the Old World, the “Gunners” fans prefer not to remember at all – Bayern’s shameful 2:10 on aggregate in 2017 became a meme in football. Football environment for a long time.
The match against Porto took place with a slight advantage for the home team, which turned into a goal scored at the end of the first half – Odegaard passed the ball to Trossard, who slotted it into the net for 1:0. The English came close to scoring a second goal in the second half, but could not score any more goals. The match went to extra time, where there were no dangerous moments, and the penalty shoot-out started.
Players had to shoot at goal from the spot behind Arsenal fans, who predetermined the outcome of the series. All four of the Londoners’ shots were on target, while Porto’s Wendell and Wenderson Galeno failed to score; his shots were saved by goalkeeper David Raya – Arsenal moved on.
Atlético – Inter – 2:1 (2:2 overall, 3:2 on penalties)
The Milan club actually achieved its first win in three seasons in Serie A – ten weeks before the end of the championship, its advantage over the second-placed Milan in the standings is 16 points and there are no prerequisites for the transfer of Simone Inzaghi. The team will disband, no.
Madrid is on the verge of not qualifying for the Champions League next season. While Atletico is in fourth place, its advantage over Betis, which is behind, is only two points.
Inter held a one-goal advantage over Giuseppe Meazza and so after Federico Dimarco’s first-half goal, the outcome of the two-game encounter looked like a foregone conclusion. However, Antoine Griezmann managed to minimize the gap almost immediately and with three minutes left in the second half, Memphis Depay managed to send the game into extra time with a pass from Koke.
The crowd went scoreless in two periods of extra time and everything had to be decided by a series of penalty kicks. As in the match between Arsenal and Porto, the home team was more accurate; Only Saul failed to score for Atlético, while Alexis Sanchez, Davi Klassen and Lautaro Martinez missed for Inter. While the Milan club, which reached the final last year, ended its performance at the end of the first stage of the play-offs, the Madrid team has the chance to fight for a ticket to Wembley, where the 2024 final will be held on June 1. .
Borussia – PSV – 2:0 (3:1 on aggregate)
It is interesting that the teams that won the Champions League / European Cup in different years meet each other, among others, in this pair of lower status – nowhere else in the 1/8 final stage. This happened in 2024.
With the support of more than 80,000 fans packed into the Westfallenstadion after the away draw in Eindhoven, it was easy to book a ticket to the quarter-finals for Dortmund – with Sancho opening the match in the third minute of the game. He scores with Brandt’s pass.
The Dutch tried to attack and control the ball, but their opponents were stronger on the field. Füllkrug scored the second goal in the 77th minute, but during the scoring attack the linesman called for offside, briefly bringing the game’s intrigue back. However, in the 95th minute, Marco Reus made the score 2-0 with a pass from the same Füllkrug. Dortmund moves on and PSV leaves the tournament.