*Semi-Final Four: Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, PSG, Bayern Munich
*We’re Really Very Angry -Arbeloa
When the dust kicked up by an utterly scintillating two-legged struggle had settled, Bayern Munich could bathe in the glow of a win for the ages and linger dreamily on the prospect of a semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
It is the tie most neutrals wanted but the bar for entertainment has been raised sky high now.
Real Madrid should curse themselves, and one of their number in particular, for letting things career out of their control at the death; the sadness for those with no skin in the game came from being deprived an additional half-hour of the near ceaseless thrills both teams were serving up at the Allianz Arena yesterday.
Not that there was anything to scorn about the goals that meant Bayern, behind three times on the night and seemingly heading for extra time, finally shrugged off a flawed but occasionally brilliant Real challenge.
Luis Díaz had been struggling to match his industry with a finish but, given space to have a crack by Jamal Musiala’s whip-smart backheel, took aim from 20 yards.
His shot snicked off Éder Militão and ripped into the far corner, Michael Olise then weaving inside before wafting in a sublime clincher just before the close.
It was the most fitting way for these 180 minutes to sign off but that did not prevent Real from seething.
On-the-bench Arder Guler’s Red Card As Match Ended, Sign Of Indiscipline After Brilliant Goals
The end product of their rage was a red card for Arda Guler, who had been substituted earlier but confronted the referee Slavko Vincic on his way down the tunnel.
What a shame that Guler’s night, hitherto notable for two goals that showcased his masterful technique, will now be remembered with an asterisk.
It was of a piece with the indiscipline that ultimately cost Real, who had been pushing for a winner in a match that looked impossible to call.
Camavinga’s Stupidity That Led To Red Card
Their anger stemmed from the sending-off of Eduardo Camavinga, who had arrived as a substitute just before the hour, in the 86th minute when the aggregate score was deadlocked. Camavinga had already been booked when, after being penalised for fouling Harry Kane, he carried the ball away in his arms.
He dropped it right under Vincic’s nose and, even if it was not the most egregious example of timewasting, his stupidity had forced the official into a decision.
Vincic played it by the book with a second yellow card; Real were up against it now and Díaz turned the screw almost immediately.
“It’s unbelievable that you can send off a player for this action in a match like this,” said the Real manager Álvaro Arbeloa. “We feel really upset, really angry, really disappointed. This felt like a defining game in our season.”
It certainly was, which makes Camavinga’s deeply unserious display all the less excusable.
First Half
Real will end the season empty-handed but their prospects had looked markedly different when, with only 35 seconds played, Guler levelled a tie that had already delivered richly at the Bernabéu.
He was gifted the chance by Manuel Neuer, who had received a backpass from Joshua Kimmich before returning the ball into empty space.
Guler meted out instant punishment by finding the vacant goal from 40 yards; Bayern were pegged back but, not for the last time, found a clarity that counted.
“The hardest thing when you concede a goal [at that point] in this kind of game is to press the reset button,” Vincent Kompany said.
But they did, receiving assistance of their own when Andriy Lunin failed comically to deal with a Kimmich corner and allowed Aleksandar Pavlovic to nod in from near the line.
Chances came and went regularly, Bayern dictating the tempo and working Lunin harder but frequently dealt warnings by Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior on the break.
Guler’s Second Goal
It was Guler who struck another blow, bending a hotly disputed free-kick over the wall and seeing an off-key Neuer help his effort in with a glove.
Kane Scores
Kane quickly stroked his 12th Champions League goal of the season past Lunin after Dayot Upamecano had been allowed to wander forward and locate him.
He has been in a foot race for the golden boot with Mbappé, who made it 15 before the interval when converting exhilaratingly on the run after Vinícius had shuttled down the left. Vinícius had just dipped a shot against the top of the bar; it had been an extraordinary, intensely captivating first half.
Kompany had been booked for protesting about an apparent foul on Josip Stanisic in the buildup to Mbappé’s goal.
He will be banned from the touchline for the first leg against PSG and made his dissatisfaction clear afterwards.
Second Half
But it was Real who gradually lost their heads after the interval while the near misses continued to flow, Neuer redeeming himself with a marvellous stop from Mbappé and Olise making Lunin tip over.
An irascible Antonio Rüdiger was already treading a fine line before Camavinga crossed it and paid dearly.
Edgy Arsenal…
To borrow a line from Mikel Arteta, it is not meant to be easy. And it was anything but so on the latest anxiety-ridden, claustrophobic occasion for his Arsenal team.
The club’s recent wobble has been pronounced. The loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. The FA Cup exit at Southampton. The Premier League defeat against Bournemouth that has imperilled their title push.
The nerves are pounding like a migraine and yesterday was a night which was always going to be entirely outcome-based.
Hold on to the 1-0 lead from the first-leg of this quarter-final and it would be triumph – only a fourth appearance in the semi-finals of the competition.
Fall short against a tidy Sporting CP team and ignominy was guaranteed; a deepening of the existential crisis. It is City next at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, after all.
The tie rested on a knife-edge throughout. Arsenal were tough to watch in an attacking sense, unable to penetrate and create. The statistics showed that they managed just one shot on target and, in truth, it was difficult to remember who that was from. Apparently, it was Martín Zubimendi.
Leandro Trossard, who had come off the bench, hit the post with a header from a tight angle following a deep corner in the 84th minute.
Tight Defence Helped Arsenal
It came to be a question of whether Arsenal could keep the backdoor shut. Gloriously for them, they could; the defensive resolve that has underpinned their season came to the fore when it mattered the most.
There were worrying moments. Geny Catamo hit the post for Sporting just before half-time and there were other times when the visitors almost made it happen. Not least at the very end when the substitute, João Simões, dragged a shot through a crowd and just wide.
The Portuguese champions could not find a way through and, when the full-time whistle sounded, Arsenal were left to contemplate a semi-final against Atlético Madrid – the team that they humbled 4-0 at the Emirates last October in the league phase of the competition.
Arsenal’s Performance Will Not Scare Man City
This was not a performance to strike fear into the hearts of City, who are six points back in the title race with a game in hand. It was also striking that there were not really any wild celebrations when it was over. Perhaps, everybody was too drained.
Arsenal’s difficulties in open play are a major concern. And yet would a 0-0 draw at the Ettihad not do very nicely? Arsenal continue to cling to the sense of possibility.
The trauma of what happened at home against Bournemouth on Saturday framed the occasion from an Arsenal point of view and they appeared determined to put things right at the outset.
How Sporting CP Game Went
There was hard running, a maniacal desire to win the duels and lay down markers. It was ultra-intense.
Sporting defended in a 5-3-2 and there was a storm for them to weather in the opening 10 minutes or so. They weathered it.
Rui Borges’s team came to look polished in their 4-2-3-1 system in possession; the captain, Morten Hjulmand, caught the eye in central midfield.
Arsenal huffed and puffed. Nobody could fault the effort but the cutting edge was absent, the final action routinely frustrating. It was all too frenetic.
Arsenal created nothing of clearcut note before the interval and it said plenty that one of their best moments of the first 45 minutes came when Gabriel Martinelli chased back to thwart Catamo on the counter.
It was Sporting who came to look the more threatening team in the first half. There were a few wobbly passes out of defence by Arsenal, including one from David Raya that he got away with, Pedro Gonçalves failing to capitalise before Sporting fashioned the big chance.
There were 43 minutes on the clock when Maximiliano Araújo got up the left to float over a cross and Catamo, having timed his run, cut across the ball to send it skidding against the far post.
It was not Viktor Gyökeres’s night against his former club; the centre-forward did little right with the ball and Arteta replaced him with Kai Havertz on 56 minutes.
Then again, it was not a game for any of Arsenal’s forward thinkers. Arteta’s next change was met with rapturous cheers – Max Dowman for Noni Madueke, who had hurt himself in a collision.
It is indicative of where Arsenal are at the moment that they invest so much hope in the 16-year-old prodigy.
Second Half
At the start of the second period, Martinelli lashed a shot high while Madueke put another into the side-netting. Increasingly, it came to be about what happened at the other end.
There were groans from the home crowd when Raya sent a pass into touch and gasps when Araújo almost connected with a deflected Catamo cross.
Araújo wanted a penalty after a push from Cristhian Mosquera but there was nothing in it. Arteta raged so loudly at one decision that he was shown the yellow card. His team got the job done.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Olise (on the turf) and Diaz celebrate a goal… yesterday.
