The champions league quarterfinals have just ended and these are the aggregate scores from the 4 matchups

Real Madrid 4-0 Chelsea FC

Manchester City 4-1 Bayern Munich

Internazionale Milano 5-3 SL Benfica

AC Milan 2-1 S.S.C Napoli

Heres what happened in the quarterfinals:

In the quarterfinals, Manchester City was able to advance behind a tremendous defensive effort from centreback Ruben Dias who might have made the defensive play of the tournament with a blocked shot while in a split to prevent Bayern from going up 1-0 early in the first half of the second leg. Many fans believe Bayern Munich would have won the second leg if they could convert this shot from Leroy Sane. After this shot, Manchester City dominated with a massive 3-0 win in the first leg and forced a 1-1 draw in the second leg to advance to the semifinals. Erling Haaland scored 3 of Manchester City’s 4 goals in this round bringing up his 2022/2023 champions league total to 12 goals with only 1 penalty scored. Manchester City will move forward as the current favorites in the tournament.

In the other match on the left side of the bracket, Real Madrid put on a footballing clinic against a Struggling Chelsea side showing Chelsea 4 goals in 2 matches and keeping 2 clean sheets on the defensive side. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was showing why he won man of the match in the 2022 Champions League final and is considered the best goalie in the world. Rodrygo bagged a brace in the second leg to secure Madrid’s position in the semifinals. This will be the second straight year that Real Madrid and Manchester City will face off in the semifinals with Madtid winning last year with two goals in extra time to tie the score, then a Karim Benzema winner in extra time to secure a Madrid win. Manchester City and manager Pep Guardiola are determined to get their revenge on Madrid and will want to put Madrid away early to prevent another comeback.

On the other side of the bracket, The Italian league Serie A dominated with 3 teams in the final 4 of this side of the bracket. In the first matchup, it was a battle between AC Milan and S.S.C Napoli. In the first leg, Napoli had constant pressure on the net through the first half but Milan goalie Mike Maignan shut out the blues to keep a clean sheet. On the other side of the pitch, Milan secured a 1-0 first-leg win behind a goal from Ismaël Bennacer. Napoli could not equalize late as they had to play with 10 men after being shown a red in the 76th minute. In the second leg between the Italian powerhouses, a missed penalty from both teams seemed detrimental but Rafael Leao was able to dribble 70 yards and find Olivier Giroud at the edge of the 6-yard box to put Milan up 2-0 on aggregate. Napoli starboy Khvicha Kvaratskhelia missed a penalty in the second half to bring the score to within 1, and Napoli was able to score off of a Victor Osimhen header in added time but it would not be enough to bring them to the semifinals.

In the second matchup of the bracket, Internazionale Milano topped SL Benfica after a shootout in teh second leg. Inter Milan was able to rely on their strong away leg to put the clear into the semifinals. Milan was able to go up 2-0 in the first leg and after a 3-3 tie in the second leg, they are through. Milan had a healthy amount of scorers in this round with only one player scoring twice, truly showing the generous nature of their offense. This highly anticipated Milan Derby semifinal will be a matchup for the ages and will bring the city of Milan into chaos for the next two weeks.

Yesterday, the champions league semi-final matchups were set, the matchups for the second week of May are as follows:

First Leg:

May 9th-  Real Madrid vs. Manchester City at 3:00 pm EST at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain.

May 10th- AC Milan vs Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan) at 3:00 pm EST at the San Siro in Milan, Italy which both teams call home

Second Leg:

May 16th- Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan) vs. AC Milan at 3:00 pm EST at the San Siro

May 17th- Manchester City vs. Real Madrid at 3:00 EST at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England

This next round will be full of excitement. If you find yourself with some extra time after school, be sure to tune in!