Champions League 23/24, Second Leg of the Round of 16 Matches (second batch)

All the teams advancing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League have been determined. On Tuesday, Arsenal edged past Porto on penalties, while Barcelona defeated Napoli to secure their spot in the next phase.

On Wednesday, Atlético triumphed over Inter on penalties, and Borussia secured their place over PSV.

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Arsenal 1(4×2)0 Porto

After suffering a 1-0 defeat in Portugal, courtesy of a last-minute goal by Galeno, Arsenal needed a win to stay alive in the Champions League.

In the 12th minute, Saka eluded the defense on the right, stormed into the box, and struck with his left foot. Diogo Costa made the save and then prevented the ball from going out for a corner.

The next minute, Arsenal took a short corner, the ball reached Ødegaard, who struck first-time, hitting the net from the outside.

In the 15th minute, Porto responded through Evanílson. The Brazilian forward stole the ball in the attack, hit with his left foot, narrowly missing the post.

At 22 minutes, Evanílson capitalized on a right-wing cross, controlled, and shot, but Raya made the save.

Arsenal opened the scoring at 40 minutes. Ødegaard delivered a beautiful pass to Trossard in the box, and the Belgian struck it across, putting the Gunners ahead.

In the first half, Arsenal, needing the result, started the game pressuring the Portuguese, but as time passed, Porto organized and balanced the match.

Arsenal got the second goal, which would have secured qualification at 21 minutes, but the referee signaled a foul by Havertz on Pepe, and the goal was disallowed.

At 25 minutes, Francisco Conceição initiated a counter-attack in a 3v3 situation, but the Portuguese attempted the shot, and Raya made the save.

At 37 minutes, the ball was bouncing in Porto’s box, and Gabriel Jesus had it, one on one with the goalkeeper. Diogo Costa made a great save.

At 39 minutes, Saka advanced on the right, cut inside, and shot. Diogo Costa saved, and Ødegaard missed the rebound.

With the 1-0 result for Arsenal, the match went to extra time.

At 5 minutes, Taremi shifted past his marker and missed the shot.

With no significant chances, the qualification came down to penalties.

Ødegaard and Havertz took their penalties with class and converted, while Pepê scored, and Wendell hit the post.

Saka and Grujić took their penalties next and didn’t waste them.

Finally, Rice took a safe shot down the middle, and Galeno couldn’t beat goalkeeper Raya.

With the qualification, Arsenal returns to the Champions League quarter-finals after 14 years.

Photo: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Barcelona 3×1 Napoli

The Montjuic Stadium was packed with Blaugrana supporters cheering on Barcelona towards yet another Champions League quarterfinal, but the task wouldn’t be easy, as they faced the current Italian champions Napoli.

Both teams needed a result to advance to the next phase, as the match in Naples ended 1-1.

The home team lined up with: Ter Stegen; Koundé, Araújo, Cubarsí, and Cancelo; Christensen (Oriol Romeu), Fermín López (Sergi Roberto), and Gündogan; Yamal, Raphinha (João Felix), and Lewandowski.

Meanwhile, the Blues fielded: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, and Mário Rui (Mathías Oliveira); Anguissa, Lobotka, and Traoré (Raspadori); Politano (Lindstrom), Kvaratskhelia (Ngonge), and Osimhen.

The game started hotly, with Napoli attempting to surprise Barcelona with a quick through ball to Osimhen, but young Cubarsí was alert and intercepted the pass from the Nigerian.

After this initial scare, Barcelona took control of the game, exchanging passes efficiently in the attacking third and exploiting the flanks, with Yamal’s individual skill on the right and Cancelo and Raphinha’s overlapping runs on the left. By the 5th minute, Barcelona had at least 3 good chances to score but couldn’t convert.

Napoli, on the other hand, tried to defend deep and relied on long balls to Osimhen, but they struggled to contain Barcelona’s intensity, especially in midfield. Christensen focused on marking and closing spaces, Gündogan circulated the ball well, and Fermín was a tireless presence in midfield.

At the 12th minute, Barcelona had their first significant chance as Cubarsí stole the ball in the defensive half and played a beautiful through ball to Fermín, who outran Napoli’s defense but missed the target.

Almost immediately after, at the 14th minute, Cubarsí delivered another excellent pass to Cancelo, who found Raphinha with a low cross. Raphinha’s shot hit the post, but Cancelo followed up and doubled the lead, making it 2-0 for Barcelona.

Perhaps these were Barcelona’s best 15 minutes of the season.

Barcelona continued to dominate possession and create chances, while Napoli persisted with long balls to Osimhen, who by this point had been caught offside 4 times. Consequently, the Blues decided to change their strategy and focused on controlling possession and making plays down the wings, which paid off at the 29th minute.

Rrahmani carried the ball and found Di Lorenzo on the right flank, who then played Politano behind Barcelona’s defense. Politano passed the ball back to Rrahmani, who had pushed forward, and the center-back-turned-striker shot confidently into the corner, making it 2-1. It’s worth noting the similarity of this goal to Barcelona’s first.

Napoli gained momentum from the goal and tried to press Barcelona more. Both teams created opportunities through overlapping runs on the wings.

In the 33rd minute, Napoli came close to equalizing with a header from Di Lorenzo, but Ter Stegen made a fantastic fingertip save.

What a first half, with Barcelona starting strongly and Napoli finishing strongly in the last 15 minutes.

In the second half, Napoli decided to press high on Barcelona’s field, which almost paid off immediately. In the first minute, Kvaratskhelia received the ball at the edge of the box, turned beautifully, and unleashed a powerful shot that grazed the post.

The game continued with both teams striving for a goal, but it was evident that Barcelona’s physical and performance levels were dropping, while Napoli was growing, especially physically. However, the Blues couldn’t convert their chances.

At the 21st minute, Raphinha took a strong, low free-kick, which Meret saved brilliantly. In the ensuing corner, Lewandowski rose above everyone and headed powerfully, but Meret made another good save. The rebound fell to Yamal, who put the ball into the net, but he was offside, and the goal was disallowed.

Despite Napoli’s pressure on Barcelona’s field, it was Barcelona who had the clearest chances to extend their lead. At the 32nd minute, Yamal attempted a shot on target, but it went wide.

Two minutes later, Napoli responded with a great cross from Mathìas Oliveira, finding Lindstrom free, but the Dane headed strongly but off-target, wasting a great opportunity for the Blues.

At the 82nd minute, in typical Barcelona style, the third goal came. Cancelo passed to Sergi Roberto on the left flank, who carried the ball into the middle and found a beautiful pass to Gündogan inside the box. The German saw Sergi Roberto’s run and passed to him, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, Sergi Roberto squared the ball for Lewandowski to score his 94th Champions League goal, securing their spot in the quarterfinals.

It was a great game between two highly qualified teams, but Barcelona emerged victorious, extending their unbeaten run to 9 games and showing signs of improvement with each passing day. They are indeed strong contenders to win the Champions League 23/24.

Atlético Madrid 2(3×2)1 Inter

Inter had won the first leg clash 1-0, so with the Metropolitano Stadium packed, Atlético Madrid asserted themselves and secured their qualification on penalties.

In the 4th minute, Samuel Lino bypassed two defenders on the left, stormed into the box, and struck across for a Sommer save.

At 12 minutes, Inter mounted a swift counter-attack, Dumfries took a shot, the goalkeeper saved, and then the Dutchman attempted again, but Oblak grabbed the ball.

Inter opened the scoring at 32 minutes. In a good passing sequence, Barella found Dimarco alone in the box to slot home.

The response was swift as Atlético leveled at 34 minutes. Koke delivered the ball into the middle of the box, Pavard missed, leaving Griezmann with a clean chance to score.

The second half started like the first. Fueled by their fans, Atlético pressed hard but couldn’t pose much threat to Sommer’s goal.

At 6 minutes, Llorente flicked the ball over Dimarco and crossed for Griezmann near the penalty spot. The Frenchman struck with his right, and Oblak saved it in two attempts.

At 30 minutes, Lautaro Martínez initiated a counter-attack, delivered a beautiful pass to Thuram, who found himself one-on-one with Oblak but shot over the goal.

At 40 minutes, Memphis Depay passed to Koke in the box, and after a scramble, the Dutchman hammered a shot against the post.

At 42 minutes, Koke passed to Depay, who controlled and struck across to put the Colchoneros ahead.

Atlético had a chance to seal the tie in the 92nd minute. Griezmann passed to Riquelme near the penalty spot, but the midfielder missed.

With the result, the match went into extra time, and both teams had chances to score. First, Depay received a low cross and shot, but Sommer stopped it. In the next minute, Lautaro posed a threat by heading the ball just past the post after a corner.

With the result unchanged, the match went to penalties.

Çalhanoğlu and Depay took their penalties confidently and converted.

Sánchez and Saúl were denied by the goalkeepers.

Oblak saved another penalty, this time from Klaasen, and Riquelme scored.

Acerbi and Correa converted, and in the decisive penalty, Lautaro Martínez missed, sending Atlético through to the quarter-finals.

Photo: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP