Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Madrid, Chelsea advance to UEFA Champions League Semi-finals

Real Madrid staved off a thrilling Borussia Dortmund comeback to progress to the Champions League semi-finals despite a 2-0 defeat.

With a 3-0 first-leg advantage, Madrid were rocking at half-time as Marco Reus' double reduced the aggregate score to 3-2 in a fervent atmosphere at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday.

Both goals came after Angel Di Maria had seen a penalty saved by Roman Weidenfeller, the Argentinian losing his footing on the wet surface as he went to strike the ball.

Two efforts from Reus - capitalising on mistakes from the visitors each time - gave Jurgen Klopp's side hope of a memorable fightback but they could not force the third goal that would have sent the tie into extra-time as Real gained a measure of revenge for last year's semi-final loss to Dortmund.

In London, a late goal from Demba Ba sent Chelsea into the semi-final.

Demba Ba scored a late goal to send Chelsea through to the semi-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain, with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge enough to send Jose Mourinho's men through on away goals with a 3-3 aggregate scoreline.

Eden Hazard limped off 17 minutes into the first half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, although replacement Schurrle opened the scoring with a fine finish from 12 yards out on 31 minutes.

The Stamford Bridge side hit the woodwork twice in two minutes early after the interval, with Andre Schurrle cracking a shot off the crossbar before Oscar whipped a free kick against the frame of the goal as the hosts looked for an all-important second goal.

The visitors were subdued without the presence of mercurial striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic - with Edinson Cavani missing a glorious chance to wrap up the tie in the final stages - and with Mourinho introducing Ba and Fernando Torres late in the game, the former netted a close-range strike to spark joyous scenes at Stamford Bridge.

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