Champions league: Real advance to quarterfinals
Captain Sergio Ramos and Marco Asensio sealed Madrid's victory by scoring a goal each in the second half.
Madrid: Real Madrid took advantage of Atalanta’s costly goalkeeping change to make it back to the Champions League quarter finals.
Madrid defeated Atalanta 3-1 on Tuesday to advance 4-1 on aggregate after two consecutive eliminations in the last 16, with Karim Benzema leading the way to victory after a first-half blunder by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello, who was among the changes made by coach Gian Piero Gasperini from the 1-0 first-leg loss in Italy.
“I don’t have regrets on my initial choices,” Gasperini said.
“We can’t afford to make mistakes and gift goals, we wanted to do better. It’s a pity.”
Captain Sergio Ramos and Marco Asensio sealed Madrid’s victory by scoring a goal each in the second half. Atalanta’s goal came from a free kick converted by Luis Muriel late in the game.
“The goal was to advance and we came out playing with ambition to try to win the match,” Ramos said. “We controlled the game and had chances to score even more.”
Sportiello tried to play from his area but misplayed his shot and the ball went directly to Luka Modric, who entered the box and made a low pass for an easy goal by Benzema from near the penalty spot in the 34th minute. Sportiello had replaced Pierluigi Gollini after the first leg and had been starting in Serie A since then.
It was the 70th Champions League goal for Benzema, making him only the fifth player to reach the mark in the competition after Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Raúl González. Only Ronaldo, Messi and Lewandowski reached the milestone quicker than the French striker’s 126 matches.
In Tuesday’s other game, Manchester City advanced to the quarterfinals for the fourth straight season by beating Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0, to seal a 4-0 win on aggregate.
The quarter finals have proved to be the ceiling for Manchester City in the Champions League under Pep Guardiola.
The team is back there again, for a fourth straight season, after sweeping aside Borussia Monchengladbach in the last 16. And this time, things feel very different. The ruthless nature of City’s 4-0 aggregate win over Gladbach, sealed by another 2-0 victory over the German team in the second leg on Tuesday, smacked of a side in control of its destiny.
The celebrations at the full-time whistle were as business-like as the performance. For City, it felt the competition now starts for real. “Since the first day I arrived here, five years ago, they told me you have to win the Champions League,” Guardiola said. “So it’s always on our shoulders.”
Yet the expectations have proved too much for Guardiola and his team in successive quarter final exits, to Liverpool, Tottenham and then — so painfully — Lyon last season. This looks to be City’s best chance of becoming European champion for the first time, though.
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