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City professional John Stones (l): Strongly defended
Photo: JUAN MEDINA / REUTERS
The semi-finals of the Champions League are perfect.
In the evening, Manchester City and Liverpool FC moved into the round of the last four teams.
City meets Real Madrid there, Liverpool has to deal with the Bayern conquerors from Villarreal.
The semi-finals will be on 26/27.
April and 3./4.
held in May.
Manchester prevailed with great difficulty at Atlético Madrid.
After the 1-0 win in the first leg, a 0-0 was enough for the English champions to advance.
The guests controlled the first 45 minutes, the motto: If we have the ball, the opponent can't score a goal.
City are usually very good at that, not conceding a goal in any of the four knockout games in the competition and Atlético not scoring a single shot in the first leg.
After the break, however, the game turned.
First, Antoine Griezmann missed the goal twice (47', 57'), and Rodrigo de Paul was also close in his attempt (70').
Pep Guardiola's team's defense wobbled, just before the end a shot by Matheus Cunha was blocked at the last moment, the 1-0 that would have led to extra time, it seemed very close.
Goal chance in minute 90.+13
Even outnumbered - defender Felipe was sent off in the aftermath (90+3) - Atlético pushed to make it 1-0. In the 13th minute of added time (!) Ángel Correa had the opportunity to do so, but he came with his Don't shoot past goalkeeper Ederson.
City itself was hardly dangerous in the second half.
The team created a single chance after the break, in the sixth minute of added time.
İlkay Gündoğan failed because of Atlético keeper Jan Oblak.
Gündoğan, who captained City, was the only Manchester player to have a real chance in the first half, but hit the post from around seven meters (30').
It was not foreseeable that a defensive battle would be needed to advance.
Liverpool fielded a B-Elf against outsiders Benfica: only four players remained from the team that played 2-2 at Man City in the Premier League last Sunday.
Coach Jürgen Klopp probably had the upcoming FA Cup semifinals on Saturday in mind, again the opponent there is Man City.
Playing a quarter-final with the B-Team, Klopp afforded this luxury thanks to the 3-1 win in the first leg.
And that didn't take revenge, despite three goals.
Former Leipzig player Ibrahima Konaté headed the 1-0 after a corner, then Roberto Firmino made his appearance.
After a double unclean clarification in Benfica's defence, the Brazilian only scored to make it 2-1, after a free kick the attacker then increased it to 3-1 in one of his rare starting XI appearances - the 30-year-old lost his place in the A-Elf.
The newly formed Liverpool defense also allowed some chances.
Gonçalo Ramos used one after losing the ball from Liverpool's veteran James Milner (32nd).
Substitute Roman Yaremchuk (73rd) and Darwin Núñez (81st) then ensured the draw.
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