After a night of cascading drama, controversies, and intense football action, Real Madrid are finally through to the last eight of the Champions League. Following an untidy 2-1 win at the White House, Los Merengues went down to Atleti’s early burst of energy in the second leg. After failing to start the first leg at the Bernabeu, Conor Gallagher put the hosts ahead with only 27 seconds on the clock. As fate would have it, Gallagher's strike remained the only goal in the contest. The cross-city rivals battled their way into penalties where Madrid squeezed their way into the quarterfinals of Europe’s biggest competition.
Real Madrid will now face Arsenal in the quarterfinals, who made their way in with an out-and-out basting of PSV that earned them a 9-3 on aggregate. PSG pulled off the job of the season, eliminating the dangerous-looking Liverpool on penalties. At the same time, Barcelona, Inter, Bayern, and Aston Villa completed regulation wins. Lastly, Dortmund clinched a closely fought contest against Lille to complete the last eight.
Here are the power rankings ahead of a mouth-watering series of fixtures in the business end of the Champions League.
8. Aston Villa
Aston Villa’s business in the summer has been the talk of the town for quite some time now. Their inroads to the quarterfinals of the Champions League have added further fire. Marcus Rashford and Madrid’s very own Marco Asensio have proven to be strong additions to Unai Emery’s side. However, their heroics are only rewarded with a clash against the Parisians.
While Emery is someone who knows his way around pulling off famous European heists, a faceoff against his former club PSG could be a bit out of hands. The Parisians have been on fire. They eliminated one of the teams of the season in Liverpool. Not to forget, Ousmane Dembele’s red-hot form could be too much to handle for the underdogs.
Take nothing away from an impressive season for Villa, especially after their summer shenanigans, but this looks like the end of the road for Emery in Europe this season.