Champions League Review: Liverpool, Real Madrid, Roma and Bayern progress in dramatic fashion

Liverpool are into the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 10 years, but there was a moment when Manchester City seemed to have climbed their way back into the tie. The Reds 3-0 first leg advantage saw them naturally retreat more than Jurgen Klopp would have liked in the opening 45 minutes and City were able to exert their usual dominance.

Raheem Sterling was the catalyst for City’s revival, as he aimed to show Pep Guardiola that he was wrong to leave him out of the encounter at Anfield last week. The former Liverpool winger clipped Virgil van Dijk’s heel before catching him off balance inside two minutes in City’s right-hand channel.

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Sterling was able to run into the space left vacated and as the world’s most expensive defender momentarily paused to remonstrate with the officials, Fernandinho was able to pick out the pass. Gabriel Jesus was on-hand to fire in when Sterling squared, which gave City hope of an implausible comeback.

City twice had penalty calls waved away when Sterling went to ground after limited contact from Andy Robertson. Bernado Silva came close when his powerful header clipped the head of Dejan Lovren and rebounded off the post.

A minute later and an unconvincing punch from Loris Karius saw the ball rebound off James Milner’s leg towards his own goal. Leroy Sane prodded it into the empty net, but it was wrongly ruled out for offside.

Guardiola was so incensed with the decision that he complained to referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz at the interval, which saw him forced to watch the second half from the stands. The Spaniard later criticised his fellow compatriot to the media.

Ten minutes after half-time and Sadio Mane’s probing run was halted by Ederson sliding out to his feet, although the ball fell to Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian forward swallowed up the opportunity with a clever dink into the net to give them the all-important away goal.

Liverpool finally settled into the game and began to show some composure. Roberto Firmino ensured that there would be no late push from City when he capitalised on a mistake by Nicolas Otamendi and coolly slotted the finish past Ederson to send the travelling away supporters wild.

Dzeko inspires dramatic comeback

Barcelona had only conceded three goals in the competition this season, so few expected Roma to get the 3-0 victory needed to progress. However, Eusebio Sacristan’s men produced a historic victory with a sublime performance.

Edin Dzeko gave them the dream start when he ran behind the Barcelona defence in 6th minute and his first touch took him towards Marc-Andre ter Stegen before he finished with his left. Roma had further opportunities with Dzeko pulling an effort wide, Gerard Pique making a last-ditch tackle to deny Aleksandar Kolarov and then Patrick Schick had a free header which he should have finished.

There was no real response from Barcelona and Lionel Messi was only ever on the fringes of the game. At the other end, Dzeko continued to be a constant thorn for his opponent with two headers in the space of a minute.

Just before the hour mark the Bosnian was pulled to the floor by Pique and captain Daniele De Rossi converted the penalty to make it 2-0. Barcelona were obviously rattled, but Argentine defender Federico Fazio was fortunate not to pick up a second yellow card when he tripped Andres Iniesta.

Ter Stegen had to make a number of saves to keep Ernesto Valverde’s men ahead overall. However, Roma kept up the tension and Kostas Manolas’ header with eight minutes left created an unbelievable atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico.

It was only the third time that a team has overcome a three-goal deficit from a first leg lead, which certainly will have given Paris Saint-Germain supporters a wry smile given last season’s exit. The opening line of Italian newspaper La Repubblica’s match report read: “Miracles, in football, do exist.”

Madrid leave it incredibly late to break Buffon’s heart

If Roma and Manchester City had attempted a similar blueprint with a controlled style to reverse their fortunes, then Juventus were opting for something different. They may have scored very early through Mario Mandzukic, but they allowed themselves to get drawn into an end-to-end confrontation.

It certainly meant for an entertaining spectacle, although Real Madrid were also a factor as they refused to sit back and soak up the pressure. Madrid were quick to utilise their own attacking options, with Gareth Bale having a back-heel fall just wide of the post and Isco having a goal ruled out for offside in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.

In the 37^th minute, Mandzukic extended Juve’s lead, with yet another header. This did send Madrid into a state of panic, although Raphael Varane hit the crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

Zinedine Zidane made a double switch with Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio introduced from the bench for the restart as Bale and Casemiro were removed. Madrid also switched from their diamond midfield to a 4-2-3-1 system.

Juventus shockingly made it 3-0, when Douglas Costa’s in-swinging cross was dropped by Keylor Navas and Blaise Matuidi prodded home to level the aggregate score. However, Madrid weren’t finished when Medhi Benatia was controversially adjudged to have brought down Asensio in the area during stoppage time and Gianluigi Buffon was sent-off for his reaction.

Cristiano Ronaldo finished the resulting spot kick and Madrid progressed. The last time that Los Blancos failed to score in a Champions League encounter at the Bernabeu was 2011.

Bayern hold on against Sevilla

In arguably the closest contest from last week’s matches, Bayern Munich and Sevilla were involved in a 0-0 draw. The Germans moved into the final four, although the away side did cause them a few problems.

Sevilla defender Gabriel Mercado was fortunate not to have seen red when he took Robert Lewandowski down, when the Polish striker turned the defender. The Andalusians’ dominated possession and played reasonably well without really hurting Bayern.

Mats Hummels came close with an excellent curler which just skimmed the upright and Franck Ribery had an effort pushed away by David Soria in a four-minute spell, whilst Joaquin Correa hit the crossbar with a header for Sevilla’s best chance. Bayern are now unbeaten in their last 22 home matches in Europe.