The quarter-finals of the 2023/24 Champions League are in the history books and boy did we enjoy a feast of unbelievable football.
Four teams are left standing after eight enthralling games of football, highlighted by Paris Saint-Germain’s tremendous comeback against Barcelona and Real Madrid’s dethroning of reigning champions Manchester City.
Borussia Dortmund are also in the mix after dispatching Diego Simeone’s dogged Atletico Madrid, joining Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich – the conquerors of Arsenal, who were made to pay for their inability to capitalise on home advantage in the first leg.
There were a number of outstanding individual displays, as you might expect, with the following ten players the ones to really stand out on the biggest stage in European football.
Valverde’s sensational volley ensured Real Madrid took away a share of the spoils with Manchester City at the Bernabeu – the sixth goal of a truly absorbing contest.
The Uruguayan then reinforced his ability to do absolutely everything by providing Dani Carvajal with a superb shield during the return leg, and genuinely did not stop running.
Bayern Munich may have surrendered their Bundesliga crown to Bayer Leverkusen, but did people really think they were going to roll over against Arsenal?
The consensus was that Mikel Arteta’s side would prove to be far too strong over two legs, but Joshua Kimmich had other ideas as Arsenal attempted to win away at Bayern for only the second time in their history.
He scored the winning goal in the second half, sending the Bavarian giants through to a mouthwatering semi against Real Madrid.
With Thibaut Courtois out injured and Kepa, well, Kepa, it was down to Andriy Lunin to deliver the goods between the sticks for Real Madrid.
The 25-year-old clearly understood the brief, making a number of smart saves across the 120 minutes of action before denying Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic in the penalty shootout. Unsurprisingly, Lunin was Madrid’s player of the match.
Most people associate Leon Goretzka with one of the greatest physical transformations of modern times.
Now they’ll be associating the German with a superbly efficient performance…
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