New Delhi, March 18 – Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain comfortably defeated English opponents Manchester City and Chelsea, while Arsenal overcame Leverkusen and Sporting CP mounted a memorable comeback against Bodo/Glimt as the first four teams to qualify for the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals have been confirmed.
Real Madrid eliminated Manchester City from the competition for the third consecutive campaign, following Vinicius Junior's double.
Manchester City, trailing 3-0 from the first leg, came out with all their might, seeking the goal that could potentially spark a memorable comeback.
However, a combination of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and several near misses kept the score goalless until a penalty, which resulted in Bernardo's dismissal – and a goal for Madrid in the 20th minute – made the task nearly impossible.
But City never gave up, and deservedly leveled the score in the 41st minute through Erling Haaland, and Jeremy Doku and Ryan Ait-Nouri had their goals disallowed after the break.
It was always going to be a tough match, but Chelsea couldn't have tried much harder, and Vinicius Jr's goal in the final minutes to give Spain a 2-1 victory felt incredibly harsh.
Meanwhile, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola, and Senny Mayulu scored as PSG cruised past Chelsea with an 8-2 aggregate victory in London.
Kvaratskhelia, whose late double sealed a 5-2 first-leg win, beat Mamadou Sarr to score from inside the box after six minutes. Barcola had scored the opening goal of the tie six days earlier, and the winger added to his tally by clinically curling in a goal in the 15th minute.
Mayulu followed suit 17 minutes after the restart, with a superb finish for the holders, who will face Liverpool or Galatasaray in the quarterfinals, according to UEFA.
Elsewhere, a thunderous effort from Eberechi Eze proved decisive as Arsenal secured a quarter-final spot at Leverkusen's expense with a 3-1 aggregate win.
Mikel Arteta's side dominated much of the first half, and the visitors relied on their goalkeeper Janis Blaswich to make a series of good saves from the likes of Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard.
Eze's explosive strike on the turn shortly before the break, after a smart one-touch passing move, finally put the hosts in front, and England midfielder Rice then stroked in a smooth second goal to give the Premier League club a deserved 3-1 aggregate success.
Sporting CP became just the fifth team in Champions League history to overcome a first-leg deficit of three goals or more, as they scored twice in extra time to complete a memorable comeback against Bodo/Glimt.
Trailing 3-0 after last week's first leg in Norway, the hosts made the breakthrough when Goncalo Inácio headed in a corner. They kept the pressure on in the second half and were rewarded when Pedro Gonçalves finished off a brilliant team move, and Luis Suárez converted a penalty with 12 minutes remaining.
In extra time, Maximiliano Araújo quickly fired in to spark delirium, and Rafael Nel slammed in a late fifth goal as Sporting CP reached the quarterfinals for the first time since the 1982/83 European Cup.
