champions league: Chelsea march into Champions League quarters with win over Atletico Madrid | Football News – Times of India

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LONDON: Chelsea beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since 2014 as Hakim Ziyech and Emerson Palmieri were on target to give coach Thomas Tuchel’s rejuvenated team a 3-0 aggregate win.
Ziyech squeezed the ball under Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak in the 34th minute of the last-16 second leg as he connected with a cross from Timo Werner who had raced down the left after being fed by fellow German Kai Havertz.
The three players involved in the goal had come under pressure after falling short of expectations since they arrived as big-money signings at Stamford Bridge last summer.
Substitute Emerson made sure of the victory with a 94th-minute strike on the break for Chelsea’s second goal.
Atletico were left to rue referee Daniele Orsato’s decision not to give a penalty when, with the score at 0-0, Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta underhit a back pass and put his arm around Yannick Carrasco who went down in the box.

The leaders of Spain’s La Liga struggled to pierce Chelsea’s defence with the tireless N’Golo Kante providing extra protection from midfield.
Coach Diego Simeone hauled off Uruguay striker Luis Suarez in the 59th minute and replaced him with Angel Correa to little effect as he failed to repeat his feat of 2014 when he masterminded a Champions League semi-final win over the Blues.
The visitors finished the game with 10 men after Stefan Savic was shown a red card in the 82nd minute for elbowing Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger in the chest at a corner.
The win left Chelsea unbeaten in 13 games since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as coach in January. He has engineered a turnaround founded on a defence that has let in only two goals under the German, who led Paris St Germain to last year’s final.

“This is another top performance with a deserved win,” Tuchel told BT Sport although he conceded he had been a “bit frightened” by the penalty scare.
“They tried to press up very high in the first half but they opened up some spaces in the back of the midfield and we could exploit it and then scored a fantastic goal. It gave us a lot of confidence,” he said.
Simeone said Chelsea deserved the win. “The first game was more even but today they were superior to us. We tried to press them high and make it hard for them to play out from the back and we managed that occasionally,” the Argentine said.
“I won’t look for excuses and whether or not it was a penalty. The referee made his decision. They were better than us and when your opponent is better you have to congratulate them.”



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champions league: Ruthless Bayern Munich complete job against Lazio to ease into Champions League last-eight | Football News – Times of India

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MUNICH: Holders Bayern Munich cruised through to the Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons after beating Lazio 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory.
Leading 4-1 from the first leg in Rome, Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Bayern from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, his 39th goal of the season in all competitions, to virtually end Lazio’s hopes.
The German champions took their foot off the gas before substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, having replaced Lewandowski, added the second goal in the 73rd minute. Marco Parolo headed a late consolation for Lazio.
Bayern joined fellow German side Borussia Dortmund in the last eight and Lazio’s exit means no Italian team will compete in the Champions League quarter-finals, with Juventus and Atalanta having also gone out at the last-16 stage.
“It was important for me that we won the game,” Bayern coach Hansi Flick said.

“Lazio defended well but I think the win was deserved. Our attack is so strong and we play a high-risk game. It’s important that we keep playing like this and defend from the front to put our opponents under pressure.”
Alexander Nuebel replaced the ill Manuel Neuer in goal for Bayern, but with Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi surprisingly leaving the club’s top scorer Ciro Immobile out, the stand-in keeper was rarely rested.
Although Lazio were facing a near impossible task – no side in European Cup history has progressed from a knockout tie after losing the first leg by three or more goals at home – Bayern named a strong starting side.

A clumsy challenge from Vedat Muriqi on Leon Goretzka gifted Bayern the penalty which Lewandowski converted, his fifth Champions League goal of the season, and the rest of match was a cruise for the Bundesliga leaders.
Lewandowski went within inches of his 40th of the season in the second half before being withdrawn and Choupo-Moting found the net two minutes after coming on, ensuring Bayern made it 19 games unbeaten in the Champions League.
Parolo did give Lazio something to take back to Italy in the 82nd minute when he headed home from Andreas Pereira’s free kick, but Bayern never looked in any danger of making a surprise exit.

“We did well, the boys were in the game then we conceded a goal from a penalty,” Inzaghi said. “We exit with honour after six matches unbeaten in the group.
“We were sorry for the first leg but I think we played a good match here.”



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Deal almost done for UEFA’s Champions League reforms: Agnelli | Football News – Times of India

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MANCHESTER (England): Agreement on the new-look Champions League structure is close to being complete and should be sealed in the next two weeks, says Andrea Agnelli, president of Juventus and chairman of the European Club Association (ECA).
UEFA has proposed a major change to the Champions League from 2024 with 36 rather than 32 teams and an overhaul of the group stage into a single table rather than the current groups of four clubs.
While there has been criticism of some elements of the plan from the European Leagues organisation, which represents the continent’s domestic competitions, Agnelli believes the deal is virtually done.
“I would dearly hope that everything will be done in the next couple of weeks, there are details that needs to be addressed, one being the access to the competition, how will the four extra spots be allocated?.
“But I would say that within a couple of weeks everything should be pretty much sorted,” he said.
UEFA’s initial proposal allowed for extra spots to be given for teams placed highest in their rankings, opening the way for the top leagues to have more than four clubs on a regular basis.
The Leagues have argued that the extra spots should go to the champions of smaller leagues and Agnelli said he expected the deal would see a compromise with both routes included.

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Liverpool-RB Leipzig Champions League match moved to Budapest: UEFA | Football News – Times of India

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Liverpool will return to Budapest to play RB Leipzig in the their Champions League last-16 second leg match due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday.
Liverpool, who beat Leipzig 2-0 in the first leg on Feb. 16 in the Hungarian capital, cannot host Leipzig at Anfield because the Bundesliga team would have to undergo 10 days of isolation upon returning from the United Kingdom.

The first leg, originally scheduled to be held at the Red Bull Arena in Germany, was shifted to Budapest after German authorities denied Liverpool entry into the country due to COVID-19 protocols.
The second leg will now be held at the Puskas Arena on March 10.
“UEFA is able to officially confirm that the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg match between Liverpool FC and RB Leipzig will now be played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest,” UEFA said in a statement.
“UEFA would like to express its gratitude to Liverpool FC and RB Leipzig for their support and close cooperation, as well as the Hungarian Football Federation for their assistance and agreeing to stage the match.”



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