Following their defeats in the second leg games against Roma and Liverpool respectively, both Barcelona and Manchester City have been sent out of the UEFA Champions Leagues (UCL).
Manchester City had long looked destined for the exit after their first-leg defeat at Anfield, but Barcelona on the other hand were widely tipped to pull through after registering a 4-1 win at Camp Nou last time out.
Roma reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with a stunning 3-0 win over Barcelona to secure an improbable aggregate win on away goals.
The Giallorossi had trailed 4-1 after the first leg, but they blew LaLiga’s leading side away at the Stadio Olimpico as goals from Edin Dzeko, Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas clinched a dramatic triumph.
Dzeko was sublime throughout and netted early before winning a penalty after the break for De Rossi to pull Roma to within one goal of the last four.
An out-of-sorts Barca still looked as though they would do enough to scrape through as chances came and went for the hosts, but Manolas – who, like De Rossi, had put through his own net at Camp Nou – headed home eight minutes from time to put Eusebio Di Francesco’s side in the driving seat.
Although the visitors suddenly mustered a challenge, they could not force a decisive goal and Lionel Messi and co crashed out in scarcely believable circumstances.
The City game
In the other game of the night, Liverpool marched into the Champions League semi-finals with a 2-1 victory at Etihad Stadium that confirmed a 5-1 aggregate triumph over Manchester City.
On a fraught and energy-sapping evening, the home side reduced their three-goal deficit from the first leg within two minutes of kick-off through Gabriel Jesus, before Bernardo Silva struck the post and Leroy Sane had an effort disallowed.
But Mohamed Salah killed City’s hopes of a comeback when, 11 minutes into the second half, he punished City’s hesitant defending to chip in a decisive away goal while Roberto Firmino put the icing on the cake when he slotted home a second.
So the Reds progress to the competition’s last four for the first time in a decade and await Friday’s semi-final draw with huge anticipation.
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