UEFA Champions League results in the first semifinals
We have fresh UEFA Champions League results for you. Yesterday, we had two quarterfinal fixtures to watch. At the Manchester City Stadium, almost champions of English league were facing Liverpool. And Italian Roma was playing at home versus Barcelona FC. Both Barcelona and Liverpool had an advantage on their side, but these fixtures went directly on their own ways. Let’s observe Champions League results in the first semifinals.
UEFA Champions League results
Liverpool — Manchester City
Let’s begin with the British rivalry. Everything about this match was significant. At first, the coaches of Manchester City and Liverpool, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp faced each other several times when they were coaches for Bavaria Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively. And we have to say, that Josep has an unpleasant statistics in this rivalry: Jurgen Klopp has won seven of the 13 occasions. There is no coach in the world, who would have so many victories against Josep Guardiola.
Secondly, the first fixture in the quarterfinals, as well as their last match in the Premier League was a real nightmare for Manchester City. The last match in the Champions League had ended with a 3-0 home victory for Liverpool. It was a good advantage for them, so Pep Guardiola had to do something special for his part.
Finally, let’s mention, that Manchester City had lost their last game in the Premier League. To be exact, it was a very poor defeat in Manchester derby against their home rivals, Manchester United. In this match lads from the blue side of Manchester could become the winners of the Premier League. And they’ve started pretty well, with a 2-0 leading before the ending of the first half. But, the second half was on the side of Red Devils. 3 shots, 3 goals, and the destiny of current Premier League title is still to be figured out.
So, what did we have before the last night match? Manchester City, both angry and confused after two painful losses and Liverpool, quite confident after the first win, but still, everyone sees that this team can concede even more goals from such a football giant, as Manchester City.
It hadn’t taken a while until the above-mentioned pattern showed its power. Just right after the starting whistle, on the 2nd minute of the match, Liverpool defensive line opened a huge gap for Raheem Sterling. Young British player wasn’t greedy, and the ball was passed to Jesus, who opened the score with a strong strike in the corner.
1-0, and it had a look like even Guardiola had no clue about how fast it was. Manchester City felt their strength and continued to dominate the Liverpool part of the pitch, but, it was not quite enough, because after the half time whistle the score was the same.
Yes, there was a slight decision from the assistant referee, who denied a clean goal after Sane’s shot. Right after it, another Man City player, Bernardo Silva, was very near to bringing a goal in for his fans, but luck was on the side of Liverpool’s keeper, Loris Karius, as the ball rebound after touching the post.
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Maybe, all these episodes were too nasty for Pep, and he started to argue with the match officials while the break was on. As a result, a sending off and watching places for Man City coach and his assistant.
Still, the second part of this matchup started with an advantage of Manchester City. They were better on the field, they have controlled the ball more, but they were a little bit tired. This meant that the defensive line of Man City could fall every second. It happened in the 57 minute when Mo Salah and Sadio Mane have outplayed defensive line of the Citizens. After a couple of rebounds, the ball appeared in the feet of Egyptian Mohammed Salah, who had punched the ball over the Man City keeper, Ederson. 1-1, 4-1 on the aggregate, Liverpool had an advantage of the away goal.
Everyone felt that Man City had stopped after this event. Why is the question? They were trailing 3-1 at Enfield during the Premier League fixture against Liverpool. And still scored 3 goals before the final whistle. Yes, it was a loss for them, but these lads could bring things around, not that day apparently. Kun Aguero entered the pitch in the 65 minute but appeared to be unable to deal some threat. And on the 77 minute the last breath was taken from the blue side of Manchester: after the clean interception on the left wing, Roberto Firmino put the ball right in the left bottom corner. 5-1 on the aggregate, and Liverpool goes to the semifinals of the Champions League. One of the best teams in Europe, Manchester City, had lost 3 games in a row, 2 of them were played on their domestic arena, Etihad Stadium. They still are the main favorites in the Premier League, but it seems that Pep Guardiola has no key to the Manchester City results in the Champions League.
Roma — Barcelona
There were lots of talks before this fixture as well. But, let’s be fair, practically no one believed that Roma can beat the 4-1 advantage of Barcelona. But they had an away goal, scored by Edin Dzeko at the Nou Camp. So, there were still some chances for the Italian team.
And they started quite early, just like Manchester City. Edin Dzeko scored again, just on the 6th minute of the 1st time. And, just like in the previous rivalry, this score was the same until the end of the half. The difference is that the home team, Roma, was much more precise with their chances. On the 58 minute of the match, Roma has earned the penalty, and De Rossi was accurate from the spot. 2-0, and 4-3 on the aggregate. It seemed that Barcelona also has some tricks in their pockets, but they really weren’t able to deliver them. Maybe, the last Messi’s injury was the deal, or, and this is more exact, the whole Barcelona wasn’t at their high form in this match.
As a result, Roma continued to score. After the strike of Manolas in the 82 minute, the score became 3-0, and this was enough for the Catalonian side. They are out of the Champions League, and the reason was in their very, very humble play in the second match. And, we have to admit, that Roma is now in brilliant form, despite that they’ve lost their main player, Mo Salah last summer. Now they have chances to meet again if Liverpool would be placed to play Roma. That would be quite interesting, we think, and also, it is a little turn-up for that one, who thought to see Man City and Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Let’s not forget, that there are still two matches in the quarterfinals to be played. Today, Real Madrid will play against Juventus at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, while Bayern Munich will face Sevilla in Germany. We hope that you wouldn’t miss these fixtures. But if you will Ask Naij is always ready to bring you fresh Champions League results.
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Source: Legit.ng
