Category: Football (Soccer)

Teenager looked at home in Bernabéu contest as Mikel Arteta’s side celebrated progress six years in the making

Where is la remontada? Seriously. There really was supposed to be a remontada around here somewhere. Of all the sprinkles of sugar, the crispy, salty, crunchy morsels for Arsenal’s supporters to pick over after Wednesday night’s brilliantly assured victory at the Bernabéu it is probably Myles Lewis-Skelly’s part that will give the most lasting satisfaction.

Sadly for the banter-angle it seems the immediate post-match rumour that Lewis-Skelly had approached Jude Bellingham and asked him: ‘Where is la remontada?’, as recycled across social media in a dizzying range of languages, turns out to have been, of all things, made up.

Arteta’s side delivered a performance for the ages to knock out Real Madrid, while PSG held firm at Villa Park and Inter outlasted Bayern to set up a semi-final of contrasts

Arsenal

• Defender reacted after ballboy threw ball away from him
• Bayern were chasing goal to force extra time at San Siro

Bayern Munich’s Josip Stanisic said it was “stupid” of him to push a ballboy off his stool after he tossed the ball away in stoppage time of their Champions League match against Inter on Wednesday.

A 2-2 draw in the second leg at San Siro enabled Inter to advance to the semi-finals 4-3 on aggregate.

Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli scored as Arsenal laughed in the face of the remontada

“Is there really any point watching this game?” asks Matt Dony. “I mean, is there really any point even playing it in the first place? It’s Madrid in Europe. We all know what’s going to happen. They’ll have a blindingly good 10-minute spell towards the end of the first half, where they score two goals. There’ll be a scruffy third goal around the 70th minute, then they’ll willpower a winner sometime after the 87th minute. And there is nothing Arsenal can do about it.”

The emergence of the Arsenal players for their warm-up is the cue for the home fans to pay tribute to Joe Root. The noise is quite something, especially as we’re still half an hour away from kick off.

Luis Enrique’s fearlessness sets apart arguably the most watchable team in Europe after years of disappointment

Luis Enrique had one word to describe Gianluigi Donnarumma. “Sensationnel,” the Paris Saint-Germain manager said, switching briefly into French from his native Spanish; no translation required.

Donnarumma was the difference for PSG against Aston Villa on Tuesday night, the goalkeeper making five saves in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Villa Park, three of them, well, sensational, as his team just about got the job done, losing 3-2 on the night having been 2-0 up but advancing 5-4 on aggregate.

Villa fell just short of completing one of the great European comebacks with a rousing second-half display

1 min: McGinn loops a pass down the left for Rashford to chase. Hakimi shepherds the ball back to Donnarumma, who blooters clear. From the resulting throw, McGinn wins the first corner of the evening.

Villa kick off. They’re kicking towards the Holte End in this first half. It’s tipping down in Birmingham.

Serhou Guirassy’s hat-trick gave Barcelona a scare but they held on to reach their first Champions League semi-final since 2019

The players gather round the centre circle to pay tribute to Dortmund legend Wilhelm Burgsmuller, who died last week aged 93.

A reminder of the teams