Champions League Finally Reaches The Business End
The quarter finals of the Champions League will finally get underway this week after previous rounds were settled last week following the long interruption due to the Coronavirus.
Real Madrid crashed out after a lack-lustre performance against Manchester City last Friday,leaving the Sky Blues as favorites among the punters at big win casino online. It was a night at the Etihad that Madrid defender Raphael Varane will want to forget after his two howlers gifted City the goals that won the game. Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus were the grateful recipients of a Varane assist in each half, while Karim Benzema’s first half header was all Madrid could muster in reply as they fell to an aggregate score of 4-2.
“We cant be happy obviously, we have lost the game and we are out,” said a pragmatic Zinedine Zidane after the match.
“We are proud of what we achieved this season, this is football. We lost to a good team and have to accept it. We had our chances to score.”
City will meet Lyon in Saturday’s quarter final after the French side dumped Juventus out of the tournament. Cristiano Ronaldo’s two goals were not quite adequate for the Italians as Memphis Depay’s early penalty was enough to see the French side through on the away goals rule and set them up as a good outside bet at casino français.
The defeat resulted in Juve manager Maurizio Sarri being ousted, despite guiding them to their ninth Scudetto in a row. Italian legend Andrea Pirlo was announced as his replacement, a name familiar to NYCFC fans after his recent spell with the club. 41-year-old Pirlo, who has no previous top-level coaching experience, has signed a two-year contract until June 2022.
Next Friday’s showdown between Bayern Munich and Barcelona is surely the tie of the round. Bayern were comfortable 4-1 winners against Chelsea at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, completing a 7-1 aggregate rout of the Blues. Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring with a 10th minute penalty before Ivan Perisic made it 2-0 on 24 minutes. Tammy Abraham scored for Chelsea just before the break but Corentin Tolisso and Lewandowski put the tie out of reach in the second half.
Meanwhile, Barcelona were comfortable 3-1 winners against Napoli (4-2 on aggregate) with Lionel Messi in sublime form. His 23rd minute goal was a thing of beauty as he weaved through the defense and defied gravity to tuck the ball into the far corner. Clement Lenglet and Luis Suarez scored either side of Messi’s wonder goal, Suarez’ goal coming from a 45th minute penalty that Messi earned when he was fouled by Kalidou Koulibaly. Lorenzo Insigne gave Napoli hope with a penalty late in the first half, but the Italians failed to add to their tally in the second half.
The quarter finals commence on Wednesday when Atalanta meet PSG. Thursday’s match features RB Leipzig and Atletico Madrid. All matches will be single leg games hosted in the two major venues in Lisbon, Portugal – Benfica’s Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (which will host the final) and Sporting CP’s Estádio José Alvalade. All games kick off at 3pm Eastern time and you can see the full TV details here.
12–15 August: Quarter-finals (Lisbon)
18–19 August: Semi-finals (Lisbon)
23 August: Final (Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Lisbon)