UEFA Champions League quarter-final second legs: What to look out for tonight
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
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Atlético de Madrid have a first-leg deficit to overturn while Liverpool are bidding to avoid a major slip-up as the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals conclude.
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Benfica have a significant amount of work to do to retrieve a 3-1 deficit at Liverpool respectively, but Atlético at least have home advantage on their side as they look to overturn a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City as the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals conclude.
Presented by Expedia, we pore over the talking points ahead of Wednesday's second legs.
Champions League quarter-final second legs
Tuesday 12 April
Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea aet (agg: 5-4)
Bayern 1-1 Villarreal (agg: 1-2)
Wednesday 13 April
Atlético 0-0 Man. City (agg: 0-1)
Liverpool 3-3 Benfica (agg: 6-4)
City protecting one-goal lead at Atleti
Phil Foden came on as a substitute to supply the ball that Kevin De Bruyne dispatched to give Manchester City a first-leg lead, the strength of Pep Guardiola's bench coming to the rescue against a typically rugged Atlético. "A 1-0 here isn't such a bad scoreline," said Atleti's ex-City defender, Stefan Savić. "When we get them to Madrid, it'll be very different."
Defiant words, but Diego Simeone's side have not always had their best results at the Estadio Metropolitano of late; they have not won in their last six Champions League home games (D4 L2) and Guardiola insisted he would not be going to Madrid to defend, warning: "We will go there to score and try and win again."
- Atlético vs Man. City match preview
- Champions League fixtures and results in full
- 2022 Champions League final: All you need to know
Liverpool out to end Benfica's journey
Benfica showed what they were made of in the second half of the first leg against Liverpool, only to be shattered by Luis Díaz's late third for the Reds. Portuguese sports paper A Bola concluded that they were a team with "lots of soul but not much glory".
Denying Liverpool a place in the semi-finals looks like a tall order for Nélson Veríssimo and his men, but with Darwin Núñez on song, the Eagles always have half a chance. They can also take inspiration from the class of 2005/06, who managed to build on a 1-0 lead from their first knockout round tie against the Reds with a memorable 2-0 win at Anfield.
Key dates
Semi-finals, first legs (26/27 April)
Semi-finals, second legs (3/4 May)
Final (28 May, Stade de France, Paris)