The UEFA Champions League semifinals are set.
Arsenal completed its upset of defending champ Real Madrid on Wednesday, while Inter Milan held off Bayern Munich in the day’s other quarterfinal second leg. Both the Gunners and Inter entered the decisive match of their respective total-goals-wins series with the lead.
Arsenal will now face Paris-Saint Germain for a spot in next month’s European final, while the Italians take on Barcelona. The semis kick off on April 29.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wednesday’s games.
This time, luck wasn’t on Real Madrid’s side
When Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois batted away Bukayo Saka’s penalty-kick attempt in the first half of Wednesday’s contest to prevent Arsenal from taking an insurmountable 4-0 aggregate lead, it was easy to guess what would happen next. With its raucous fans inside Estadio Santiago Bernabéu spurring them on, Real Madrid would use the momentum generated by Courtois’ timely stop to erase the deficit and pull off yet another miracle in the Champions League knockout stage.
For once, the seemingly inevitable comeback never occurred. Not only did Arsenal expertly manage their still-lopsided advantage the rest of the way, Mikel Arteta’s team even got an assist from referee Francois Letexier. The French official, who had given the spotkick against the hosts earlier, declined to award Real a penalty of their own for a similar infraction up the other end, even after the video assistant referee recommended a review. Despite a five-minute delay, Letexier wasn’t swayed by the replay. Suddenly Real Madrid, which could’ve pulled within two goals given the chance to convert from 12 yards, felt as far away from the final four as ever.
Sure enough, no late magic came to the trophy holders’ rescue. Not this year. Not this time. Fittingly, it was Saka who twisted the knife with a backbreaking fourth for the Gunners to make up for his earlier miss. Los Blancos pulled one back before it was over. But the outcome was decided long before Gabriel Martinelli made it 5-1 on aggregate in stoppage time. Real Madrid is out, and Europe will crown a new king this spring.
Gunners return to the semis in style
When the Arsenal fans who made the trip from London to Spain’s capital for Wednesday’s quarterfinal decider against the most fearsome opponent their Gunners could possibly have drawn, they must have considered the prospect of a disappointing trip home.
Those Gooners (as Arsenal diehards are known) instead witnessed history, as Mikel Arteta’s side basically cruised past the record 15-time European titlists to reach the final four for the first time since Arsène Wenger was on the sideline back in 2009.
What can they do for an encore? PSG will present a formidable challenge. But Saka & Co. must also believe that they can defeat any foe after slaying the biggest giant of them all. Given the wholly convincing manner in which they accomplished it, there’s no reason to believe that they can’t.
Inter Milan staves off Bayern’s furious comeback
Top-level soccer games are often likened to a boxing match, with all the ebbs and flows as momentum swings between the two fighters as the exchange blows.
So it was for Inter and Bayern throughout both legs of their bout, which ended with Inter advancing 4-3 on aggregate following a 2-2 tie at the San Siro in Milan.
For Bayern, failing to win either match is unacceptable. The Germans still shouldn’t beat themselves up too much. For every time Inter landed a punch over the 180 minutes, Bayern responded with one of its own — trading goals almost all the way until Inter’s Benjamin Savard settled it with the eventual series winner. Bloodied but not yet beaten, Bayern still hung around all the way until the final whistle, pulling back within one goal through Eric DIer with about a quarter-hour still to play.
Nonetheless, Inter is moving on, with only Barcelona left standing between the Serie A leaders and a second Champions League final appearance in the last three seasons.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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