Last season’s two finalists both had to work hard for their respective places in the UCL quarter-finals.
Real Madrid survived an almighty UEFA Champions League scare on Wednesday as they secured a penalty-shootout victory over local rivals Atletico Madrid.
Coming into the away tie with a 1-0 aggregate lead, things couldn’t have started much worse for Los Blancos as Atletico midfielder Conor Gallagher found the back of the net after just 27 seconds.
In a back-and-forth game, it was Atletico who had most of the clear-cut chances until the 77th minute, when Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe cut through two defenders before being brought down in the box.
However, Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr skied his penalty to keep the aggregate score tied, and with no further change after 120 minutes, the game moved on to penalties.
Mbappe and Jude Bellingham nailed their first two penalties, while Alexander Sorloth netted for Atletico. But Argentine forward Julian Alvarez slipped as he slotted the hosts’ second penalty, which was then overturned by VAR review after it was revealed he had struck the ball twice.
Atletico keeper Jan Oblak then saved from Lucas Vazquez’s weak effort to square up the shootout once again. It was short-lived, however, with Marcos Llorente hitting the crossbar before German centre-back Antonio Rudiger secured the victory for the visitors.
The 15-time champions have now slipped in outright betting markets, with top UCL bookmakers giving them odds of +350 to defend their title.
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Elsewhere, a heavily rotated Arsenal secured their spot in the quarter-finals with a 2-2 draw against PSV Eindhoven.
After winning the first leg 7-1, it was an uninspiring performance from the Gunners, who went through the motions looking to avoid suspension and injury.
The result sets up an exciting tie with Real Madrid. The Spaniards are slight favourites to qualify at -188.68 with leading sports betting sites, while Arsenal are at +137.
Aston Villa continued their excellent recent form with a strong 3-0 win over Club Brugge to secure a 6-1 aggregate result.
Despite Brugge having plenty of early momentum, a red card in the 17th minute killed the tie, with Aston Villa scoring three times in the second half to set up an exciting clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
At +2800 with Nags.bet, the Villans have the second-longest odds to win the tournament, while they are at +240 to beat PSG in the last eight.
In the earliest match of the day, Borussia Dortmund overcame an early setback to secure their spot in the next round.
Coming into their away leg against Lille with a 1-1 aggregate score, the Germans were down early after Canadian striker Jonathan David found the net in just the fifth minute.
After peppering away at goal for the next 50 minutes, Dortmund finally struck through midfielder Emre Can’s converted penalty. Shortly after, Maximilian Beier added a second for BVB to turn the tie on its head.
Despite some late efforts from Lille, Dortmund held on to set up a daunting meeting with Barcelona in the next round.
The first leg of the next round of fixtures are scheduled for April 8-9 (AEDT).
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