The yellow submarine is unsinkable and will return to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the second time in its history after the 2006-2007 season. Dominated in the first leg, but finally winner at home last week (1-0), Villarreal achieved a huge feat on Tuesday April 12 in the return match, eliminating the Bavarian ogre at home (1-1). Bayern Munich will have tried everything but ultimately ran out of solutions.
Everything led to believe that the two teams were heading for extra time to decide between them, after Robert Lewandowski’s goal at the very start of the second period (52and). At the time, the Polish striker took advantage of an error in the Spanish relaunch to put the two teams equal in the two games, and to make people forget the huge failure of Dayot Upamecano two minutes earlier (50and).
Chukwueze’s stab
This goal came above all to relieve Julian Nagelsmann, the coach of Bayern, who had noticed that his players were as much out of inspiration as during the first leg. Forty-five first minutes to besiege Villarreal’s goals, without managing to find the fault, with a single shot on target. The second half was equally frustrating for the Bavarians, who continued to crumble on the Spanish side’s defense despite Lewandowski’s goal.
By dint of pushing, Bayern will finally have discovered themselves. A little too much and Samuel Chukwueze took advantage of it on a lightning counter-attack from Villarreal to silence the Allianz Arena in Munich (88and). At the time, the Frenchman Lucas Hernandez was sorely missed by the Bavarian defense. Replaced a few seconds before, his substitute Alphonso Davies found himself far from the marking of Chukwueze, who had also come into play a few minutes earlier.
2 – @VillarrealCFen have reached the @ChampionsLeague semifinals for the second time, after the 2005/06 campaign wh… https://t.co/lR0dE1bed5
Dominant over the whole of the two games, Bayern could blame themselves for not having been able to be more creative in the last thirty opposing meters and left the Champions League for the second season in a row at the quarter-final stage. Villarreal, for its part, will find the last four of the competition after being eliminated in 2006 by Arsenal. They could face another English club in the semi-finals, as Liverpool have taken an option against Benfica ahead of tomorrow’s second leg.
Chelsea came very close to the feat
England will have to do without another representative: Chelsea, title holders after their victory in the final last year, were eliminated by Real Madrid after a splendid match (3-2 ap). The Madrid club, which had taken a serious option for qualification after Karim Benzema’s recital at Stamford Bridge last week (3-1), nevertheless trembled until the end of extra time.
Led 3 goals to 0 fifteen minutes from the end of the game after goals from Mason Mount (15and), Antonio Rüdiger (51and) and Timo Werner (75and), Real flirted with emptiness and considered a totally improbable elimination. The supporters of the Santiago-Bernabeu stadium did not really have time to tremble, however, because it only took five minutes for Real and the incoming Rodrygo to react. On his first ball, the young 21-year-old Brazilian winger tied the two teams in both games (80and).
To tell the truth, Real is doing well. Carlo Ancelotti’s team completely missed their match while Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea showed a completely different face than last week in the London rain. But, as in 2018, when Real took advantage of a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo to eliminate Juventus in extremis in the quarter-finals after an unlikely reversal of the situation by the Old Lady, the Madrid club recovered at their best. player.
Embarrassed due to a blow to the ribs in the middle of the second period, Karim Benzema emerged from a cross from his best sidekick Vinicius to restore the advantage to Real in the two games (90 + 6and). Again from the head, as in the first leg. Despite this unexpected qualification in view of the first 80 minutes of the match, Real learned this evening that despite Benzema at the top of his game, he remains feverish. A good lesson before approaching the semi-finals and a confrontation with the winner of Wednesday’s quarter between Manchester City and Atlético de Madrid.