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Manchester City vs Tottenham

Manchester City hosted Tottenham on Wednesday as they looked to come from behind and reach the semi-final.

Spurs came out on top in the first leg at their new stadium thanks to a 78^th-minute strike from Heung-Min Son.

City have been in much better form recently than Tottenham in the league but their UCL form is often questionable in the bigger games.

The winner of Wednesday’s tie knew they would face Ajax in the semi-final after the Dutch side beat Juventus in Turin on Tuesday.

Heung-Min Son to miss Ajax first leg

The second leg got off to an absolutely brilliant start for neutral fans.

Raheem Sterling put the home side 1-0 up inside four minutes.

Heung-Min Son then put Tottenham in the lead with goals in the 7^th and 10^th minute.

Football. Just Amazing.

Heung-min Son bends one in to score his and Spurs’ second in Manchester

Bernardo Silva would pull one back for City just one minute later before Sterling added his second in the 21^st minute.

What a game this is!

Kevin De Bruyne’s ball is inch perfect and Raheem Sterling gets his second

Sergio Aguero would then get in on the goals, putting Man City 4-3 up over the two legs.

AGUEROOOO!

From back to front, and smashed into the net!

Fernando Llorente would then make it 4-3 on the night with Spurs going through on away goals.

There was a VAR check to see if it came off Llorente’s hand from the corner but it looked a lot more like it came off his hip.

Despite the excellent result, Tottenham did suffer one huge blow on Wednesday.

Son was shown a yellow card in the 48^th minute. this means the South Korean will miss the first leg of the semi-final vs Ajax.

Nobody saw this coming!

In what was the most incredible first half of football this season, Manchester City and Tottenham scored five goals between them in 21 minutes.

It was always expected to be an incredible game at the Etihad this evening.

Tottenham had a 1-0 aggregate lead after the first leg in London and Pep Guardiola’s side had to score to get back into the tie.

With the attacking talent City have, it was always going to be difficult for Spurs to stand strong.

However, no one quite expected what would follow that first leg when the two met again on Wednesday evening.

Rolling with the punches

It all started when Raheem Sterling scored the first goal of the game in the 4th minute of the game.

After some brilliant work from Kevin De Bruyne, Sterling curled a brilliant shot into the bottom corner making it 1-1 on aggregate.

An amazing statistic has emerged online this evening, showcasing the lack of progression made by Manchester United on the personnel front over the last 8 years.

Barcelona vs Man United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men travelled to the Camp Nou tonight, for the 2nd-leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Barcelona.

Hosts Barca headed into proceedings in firm control of the tie, having emerged from Old Trafford last week with a precious 1-0 win.

As such, ahead of kick-off in Catalunya, the Spanish champions were viewed as clear favourites to secure their place in the competition’s final-4.

And, when the 90 minutes were said and done, not only did Barca advance, but they did so in some style.

Messi at the double

It took the hosts just 20 minutes to put the tie to bed as a contest, after Lionel Messi fired in an early double.

The Argentine attacker opened the game’s scoring with a trademark piece of individual brilliance, capitalizing on a mistake from Ashley Young to rifle home a wonderful effort from the edge of the box:

Lionel Messi 😱🤯

We are blessed to watch him play football 🙏

Another amazing goal… pic.twitter.com/4wbZ7uECuP

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 16, 2019

And it was 2-0 just minutes later, as Messi again found the net, this time with the help of an absolute howler from David De Gea.

A relatively tame right-footed effort from the Barca captain somehow managed to squirm under the body of the United shot-stopper, in a real moment to forget for De Gea:

United’s defensive woes

As such, Manchester United’s European campaign has come to an end for another season.

The Red Devils’ sub-standard squad, particularly defensively, was laid bare for all to see tonight, with Barcelona’s rake of attacking talent having made short work of the likes of Ashley Young and Phil Jones.

And, as showcased by an incredible statistic garnering plenty of attention online, the struggles of the United backline should not come as much of a surprise, considering all 4 of Young, Jones, Chris Smalling and David De Gea, 3 of whom have long been considered liabilities, were also plying their trade for the Manchester giants upon their elimination from the Champions League in 2011.

That’s 8 years ago…

Viewers of the clash between Manchester United and Barcelona have taken to social media in their droves this evening, to take aim at David De Gea.

Barca welcome United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils are currently locked in action with La Liga champions Barcelona at the Camp Nou, in the second-leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie between the clubs.

The tie’s first-leg at Old Trafford last week saw visitors Barca emerge with a crucial away win, courtesy of an early Luke Shaw own-goal.

As such, the Blaugrana headed into proceedings this evening as clear favourites to advance.

Messi at the double

And it didn’t take long for Ernesto Valverde’s men to all-but secure their place in the Champions League’s final-8.

After a blistering start from visitors United, during which Marcus Rashford rattled the crossbar, Barca soon settled, before a mistake from Ashley Young with a quarter of an hour on the clock saw Lionel Messi take full advantage.

After cutting in from the right in trademark style, the Argentine superstar unleashed an unstoppable low drive beyond David De Gea into the bottom corner of the away goal.

And, incredibly, it was 2-0 just minutes later.

This time, though, De Gea not only had the chance to save Messi’s brace-clincher, but very-well should have.

Another low effort, this time with the Barca captain’s weaker right foot, somehow managed to squirm under the body of the United shot-stopper, in a real moment to forget for De Gea.

Porto vs Liverpool

Liverpool and FC Porto will go head-to-head on Wednesday as they look to fight for a place in this year’s Champions League semi-final.

Jurgen Klopp’s side do come into the game with a big advantage as they beat Porto 2-0 in the first leg at Anfield.

Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino got the goals in that outing.

However, despite Porto having to overturn a 2-0 deficit, Liverpool fans may have been hoping for a few more goals in the home leg.

This is because Liverpool’s away form in Europe this campaign has been rather questionable.

Baring their round of 16 win over Bayern Munich, the Reds have lost all of their other away UCL ties this season.

Liverpool injury update

Prior to facing Porto, Liverpool have been handed some injury boosts.

Jordan Henderson picked up an ankle injury on Sunday as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 to return to the summit of the Premier League table.

However, the England midfielder has trained with the main squad ahead of Wednesday’s game and now looks to be in contention to feature.

Adama Lallana has also returned to training with the first team after missing Liverpool’s last three outings.

Jordan Henderson trains despite picking up an ankle injury (vs Chelsea) on Sunday. Adam Lallana is also back with the group after missing the previous three matches due to a muscular problem. #LFC #FCPorto @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/QSKKajePQK

— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) 16 April 2019

Dejan Lovren was, however, left at home when Liverpool travelled to Porto.

Jürgen Klopp has explained why the decision was taken to leave Dejan Lovren out of our travelling squad to @FCPorto.

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 16, 2019