PEP Guardiola’s Manchester City and Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan booked their spots in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals tonight, eliminating Bayern Munich and Benfica respectively in the quarter-finals.
Both second legs tonight ended in draws, but City and Inter had done enough in the first legs last week to advance on aggregate.
At the Allianz Arena, Manchester City drew 1-1 with hosts Bayern Munich, the English side progressing 4-1 on aggregate having won the reverse fixture 3-0 last week.
City boss Guardiola became the first manager ever to reach 10 Champions League or European Cup semi-finals, overtaking his next opponent, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has reached nine.
Erling Haaland missed a first half penalty but made amends 12 minutes after the break, firing home from point-blank range after taking advantage of Dayot Upamecano’s slip.
It was Haaland’s first-ever penalty miss at senior level but with his goal, his 12th in the Champions League this season, he equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record for the most scored in a Champions League campaign for a Premier League club.
Bayern Munich levelled on the night through captain Joshua Kimmich’s penalty in the 83rd minute as City held on to reach their third consecutive Champions League semi-finals.
With their advancement, Manchester City became only the third English team to qualify for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in three consecutive seasons, along with Chelsea and Manchester United (both 2006/2007 to 2008/2009), according to Opta statistics.
At the San Siro, Benfica came from 3-1 down to hold Inter Milan to a thrilling 3-3 draw but the Italians progressed 5-3 on aggregate.
Nicolo Barella, Lautaro Martinez and Joaqin Correa struck for Inter, while Fredrik Aursnes, Antonio Silva and Petar Musa scored for Benfica.
Inter will face city rivals AC Milan in an all-Italian semi-final, with Manchester City and Real Madrid meeting for the second consecutive season at this same stage.
Comments are closed.