In this article, we take a look at all the action from the second legs of the Round of 16 of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL).
Barcelona 3-1 SL Benfica (Agg: 4-1)
Raphinha scored twice with Lamine Yamal netting a stunning strike in between as Barcelona dismantled SL Benfica 3-1 in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 4-1 aggregate victory.
The 17-year-old Spain winger worked his magic with a spectacular solo run to gift Raphinha the opener in the 11th minute. Benfica hit back through a Nicolas Otamendi header from a corner two minutes later, but Barca kept piling on the pressure with Yamal proving a nightmare for Benfica left back Samuel Dahl.
Yamal teed up chances for both Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo and missed with a low strike from the edge of the box, before he finally put the home side back in front in the 28th minute. Raphinha extended Barca’s lead from a quick counter-attack in the 42nd minute to go top of the Champions League scoring chart this season with 11 goals.
Barca managed the game after the break against a Benfica side that lacked both the will and firepower to pose a real threat to the Catalan giants in a second half that looked like a glorified training session. Barca are currently on a 17-game unbeaten run across all competitions and are in contention for three major titles.
The Catalan club will meet the winner of the tie between Lille and Borussia Dortmund, who play on Wednesday after the first leg in Germany ended in a 1-1 draw.
Inter Milan 2-1 Feyenoord (Agg: 4-1)
Marcus Thuram and Hakan Çalhanoglu were on target as Inter Milan beat Feyenoord 2-1 in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the San Siro on Tuesday to advance comfortably into the quarterfinals with a 4-1 aggregate win.
Three-time winners Inter last lifted the trophy in 2010, beating Bayern in the final in a treble-winning season, and Inzaghi’s side are still on course to repeat that feat, with a Coppa Italia semi final also to come in April.
Feyenoord came into the game with an uphill task after losing 2-0 at home last week, and by the eighth minute they were left with a mountain to climb following Thuram’s superb solo goal.
Mehdi Taremi sent a shot straight at the keeper as Inter looked to put the tie even further out of reach but Feyenoord pulled one back three minutes before the break from the penalty spot.
Any hope of a Feyenoord comeback all but ended when Çalhanoglu made up for his mistake by converting his own penalty six minutes into the second half after Thomas Beelen fouled Taremi.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0-2 Bayern Munich (Agg: 5-0)
Harry Kane made history as Bayern Munich confirmed their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a comfortable 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Kane’s second-half strike was his 10th goal in the competition this season, becoming the first English player to reach double figures in a single edition of the European Cup or the Champions League.
The England captain also grabbed the assist for Alphonso Davies’ 71st-minute effort to seal a 5-0 aggregate win and a date with Inter in the next round after they progressed past Feyenoord on Tuesday.
The absence of star man Florian Wirtz, who was ruled out of the contest with an ankle ligament injury, proved pivotal for Leverkusen, who had to wait until the 65th minute to register a shot on target.
Kane then struck the crossbar as Bayern went in search of a third, with Jamal Musiala then striking the post, but their two-goal advantage was enough in the end.
Liverpool 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain (Agg: 1-1, PSG won 4-1 on penalties)
Liverpool’s Champions League pursuit came to an abrupt halt after they lost on penalties to an outstanding Paris St-Germain side after a night of drama at Anfield.
With Liverpool making the running, there was always the chance PSG’s outstanding strikeforce could punish them on the counter and so it proved after only 12 minutes – with a large helping hand from the home defence.
Ousmane Dembélé’s early goal provided the platform for the turnaround, with Liverpool unable to break the French visitors down, while PSG were a constant threat.PSG had other opportunities but could not cash in, Alisson rushing out to save at the feet of Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia firing off target when well placed.
Liverpool mounted sustained pressure after the break but struggled to break down PSG’s resilient rearguard, although it took a fine clawing save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to keep out Luis Díaz’s header, while substitute Jarell Quansah struck the post and Dominik Szoboszlai had an effort ruled out for offside.
PSG were by far the better side in extra time, with Alisson making a magnificent save from Dembélé before Liverpool’s fate was sealed on penalties.
PSG, in the end, earned a deserved victory away from home with keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma emerging as their hero in the shootout, saving from Darwin Núñez and Curtis Jones before Désiré Doué hammered home the winning spot-kick in front of the travelling Parisians.
LOSC Lille 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Agg: 2-3)
Dortmund beat Lille away to move into the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League.
Lille had a blistering start to the game with striker Jonathan David’s first-time finish giving them the lead. Even though there was a slight deflection off Nico Schlotterbeck, Gregor Kobel failed to stop the ball as it went between his legs.
However, conceding an early goal didn’t deter Dortmund as they started to gain control of the game. Lucas Chevalier in the Lille goal was unbeatable in the first half as he made numerous important stops to deny BVB, specifically in a goal mouth scramble where he made four consecutive saves to ensure Lille’s one goal lead remained intact going into the break.
Dortmund levelled nine minutes into the second half as Serhou Guirassy was fouled in the box and they were awarded a penalty. Captain Emre Can stepped up to convert the spot-kick. In the 65th minute left-winger Maximilian Beier struck a powerful shot into the top right corner to give his team the lead and one foot into the next round.
Though Lille tried to attack and created many chances, Dortmund’s resilient defence prevented them from coming back into the game and won 2-3 on aggregate to move into the quarter-final.
Aston Villa 3-0 Club Brugge KV (Agg: 6-1)
Aston Villa thrashed a 10-man Brugge to romp into the Champions League quarter-final.
Brugge, already trailing Villa from the first-leg dealt a severe blow when their right-back Kyriani Sabbe was sent off in the 16th minute for preventing a clear and obvious goal scoring opportunity when he fouled Marcus Rashford outside the box. Youri Tielemans took the free-kick but couldn’t score. The first half ended goalless.
However, the introduction of Marco Asensio brought the opener for Villa. Five minutes into the restart, he put the finishing touches to Leon Bailey’s pass. Ian Maatsen then doubled the lead in the 57th minute to kill Brugge’s chances and Asensio got his second just past the hour-mark to conclude a successful night in the Champions League.
It was too much for a ten-man Brugge to come back from and Unai Emery’s men moved into the quarter-final in their first Champions League campaign.
Arsenal 2-2 PSV Eindhoven (Agg: 9-3)
A six-goal lead in the first leg meant that this second-leg fixture was a mere formality for the Gunners.
Arsenal added one more goal to their heavy lead in the 6th minute with a super-strike from their Ukrainian full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko. Arsenal did get slightly sloppy in defence and almost conceded when Johan Bakayoko lapped up a sloppy pass and took a shot but it missed the target. However, poor defending cost the Gunners this time when PSV stole the ball in midfield and created an opportunity which Ivan Periši? didn’t miss, equalising the game.
Miles Lewis-Skelly almost scored the second for the hosts but his shot hit the post. Declan Rice headed from a Raheem Sterling cross to reclaim the lead for his side in the 37th minute. Minutes later, Ben White’s poor pass was intercepted by Couhaib Driouech but Gabriel Magalhães made a last-ditch tackle to prevent the goal. Gunners went into the break with a 2-1 lead.
PSV played on the front foot in the second half too but couldn’t cut back the huge deficit conceded in the first leg barring a goal from Driouech’s dinked finish over David Raya in the 70th minute to level proceedings. David Raya was particularly superb in front of goal, producing some great saves to deny PSV a couple of goals.
The Gunners are through to a consecutive CL quarter-final while PSV left the Emirates, ending a decent CL campaign with a draw at the Emirates.
Atlético de Madrid 1-0 Real Madrid (Agg: 2-2, Real Madrid won on penalties 4-2)
Real Madrid beat inter-city rivals Atlético de Madrid on penalties in a highly dramatic encounter at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano in the second leg.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Atlético made a dream start when Conor Gallagher poked in a goal inside the first minute to take a one goal lead. With the aggregate on 2-2, both teams started to look for a decisive goal. The hosts dominated the early phase as Thibaut Courtois came to the Los Blancos’ rescue on many occasions.
Real Madrid had their opportunity in the 70th minute when Kylian Mbappé was fouled in the box and Real Madrid was awarded a penalty. However, Vinicius Junior blazed his spot-kick way over the bar which led the game to go into extra-time.
Even though both teams had chances in extra-time as well, neither could capitalise as the game would then go into a penalty shootout.
Both teams converted their opening penalty kicks. Jude Bellingham then gave Madrid a 2-1 lead but high-voltage drama ensued as Julián Alvarez’s converted penalty was disallowed for double touch on the ball by VAR. Jan Oblak then saved Lucas Vázquez’s shot and with the game poised at 3-2, Marcos Llorente hit the post giving Antonio Rüdiger an opportunity to secure a win for the Los Blancos which the experienced centre-back didn’t miss.
A feisty encounter in the Round of 16 which could have gone either way but the defending champions held their nerve to power through into the quarter-final yet again.
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