UEFA Champions League: Quarter Final First Leg Review

The first leg matches in the 2024/25 Champions League Quarter Finals were enthralling, and some clubs have taken an important step closer to the Semi Finals.

We are now at the halfway stage of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals, with the first leg of all four ties having been played on Tuesday and Wednesday night earlier on this week. Football fans are now one step closer to knowing exactly who is going to make it into the final four of this season’s competition, with the Semi Finals starting at the end of April before concluding in the early stages of May.

The matches were challenging for all of the six clubs still remaining in this season’s Champions League competition, with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal taking on 15 time European Champions and holders Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium, whilst fellow Premier League club Aston Villa faced a daunting prospect of a trip to Paris in order to face Paris Saint Germain at the Parc des Princes on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Hansi Flick’s FC Barcelona and Niko Kovač’s Borussia Dortmund faced off in Catalonia, Spain, whilst Vincent Kompany and his Bayern Munich team took on the reigning Italian Serie A Champions Inter Milan, led by Simone Inzaghi, at the Allianz Arena, the home of Bayern, in the heart of Bavaria.

Now, we are going to take a look back at all of the action that took place in all four of these 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final First leg ties over the past week ahead of the second and final leg, with those matches set to take place from Tuesday 15th April to Wednesday 16th April next week.

Arsenal (England) 3 – 0 Real Madrid (Spain) – Emirates Stadium – Tuesday 8^th April 2025

We will begin with Arsenal’s first leg match against reigning European Champions Real Madrid, with Mikel Arteta leading his Gunners side into a battle at the Emirates Stadium in North London against a Los Blancos outfit led by Carlo Ancelotti on Tuesday night.

Following this game Arsenal will be taking with them a significant advantage with them to Madrid when they take on the Spanish Heavyweights at the epic Santiago Bernabéu located in the heart of Spain’s Capital City.

The Gunners were emphatic 3 – 0 winners in the end, with Declan Rice, in particular, standing out by becoming the first player to have ever scored two direct free-kicks in one match, with both of his efforts on goal being spectacular (58’, 70’). Mikel Merino, playing as a striker, scored the other goal in the game for the home side (75’). Real Madrid’s French International Midfielder Eduardo Camavinga was also sent off after having been shown a red card deep into second half stoppage time.

This was also only the second defeat in the last 13 UEFA Champions League Knockout Round games for Real Madrid against sides from England’s Premier League.

Bayern Munich (Germany) 1 – 2 Inter Milan (Italy) – Allianz Arena – Tuesday 8^th April 2025

The next high profile game that we are going to be taking a look back at here is to be the blockbuster tie between Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich and Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan at the spectacular Allianz Arena in the very heart of Bavaria. It ended up being an exciting game, with the visitors showing why they are the reigning Italian Serie A Champions with a significant result against Bayern with them winning 2 – 1 in the end.

It was Inter who took the lead thanks to an opening goal from the Nerazzurri’s Argentine World Cup winning forward Lautaro Martinez in the latter stages of the first half (38’), and it remained at 1 – 0 to the Italian visitors until the latter stages of the second half when Thomas Müller (85’) found the equalising goal, only for Inter to re-take the lead just a few minutes later thanks to their Italian central midfielder Davide Frattesi, who scored with just mere moments to go in the contest (88’).

The second leg is of course set to be ultimately decisive, with the game taking place at the historic and iconic San Siro.

Paris Saint Germain (France) 3 – 1 Aston Villa (England) – Parc des Princes – Wednesday 9^th April 2025

We now move on to the only other game involving a side in the English Premier League in this week’s 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final matches, with Aston Villa, led by their Spanish Head Coach Unai Emery, taking on a Paris Saint Germain side led by his fellow Spaniard Luis Enrique.

In the end, it was a deserved 3 – 1 victory for PSG at the Parc des Princes in the French Capital. However, the Parisians did initially fall behind thanks to a great goal from Morgan Rogers who found the net at the far post following a sensational move forward from Villa late on in the first half (35’).

Unfortunately for Villa, PSG’s 19 year old forward Désiré Doué was on hand to score a spectacular goal, finding the top right corner of Emiliano Martinez’s net from range just mere moments after visitors Villa had taken the lead (39’). It was level at 1 – 1 at the half-time break.

In the second half, PSG showed their dominance on the scoreline, scoring two goals, the first being an incredible effort into the top left corner via the underside of the crossbar from a near impossible angle by PSG’s Georgian forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia just moments into the second half (49’).

Paris Saint Germain left back Nuno Mendes then made it 3 – 1 late on in the second half stoppage time (90+2’).

Overcoming this two goal deficit will be challenging for Villa in the second leg at Villa Park on Tuesday next week, but Unai Emery’s side are still in this tie.

FC Barcelona (Spain) 4 – 0 Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – Estadi Olimpic Lluís Companys – Wednesday 9^th April 2025

The fourth and final game that we are going to be taking a look back at is the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals clash between a Hansi Flick led FC Barcelona side who were going toe to toe with a Borussia Dortmund side led by their German Head Coach Niko Kovač in the heart of Catalonia in Spain at the historic Estadi Olimpic Lluís Companys, which is the temporary home of Barcelona.

In the end, this particular tie could already be over, with FC Barcelona putting on what was an incredible performance in the first leg at home, beating BVB emphatically by the scoreline of 4 – 0, which leaves little to no chance of their German opponents coming out on top with a comeback in the Second Leg next week in Germany at the Signal Iduna Park.

It was a close range finish that saw Barça take the lead through their Brazilian international forward Raphinha in the first half with almost half an hour having gone in this game (25’), and it stayed at 1 – 0 on the scoreline at half time.

Robert Lewandowski changed this very early on in the second half to double his side’s advantage to make it 2 – 0 to the Blaugrana (48’). The legendary Polish forward then got his brace to make it 3 – 1 with little over twenty minutes remaining of the game at what was the midway point of the second half (66’). Spain’s Lamine Yamal then completed the scoring with a fourth goal for Hansi Flick’s FC Barcelona with just under ten minutes remaining plus stoppage time (77’).

It would seem that Barcelona have already booked their place in the next round, with them more than likely to reach the Semi Finals of this season’s UEFA Champions League competition unless Dortmund make what would be a truly historic comeback.

All eyes are now on the highly anticipated matches to come in the second leg that are set to take place next week in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals, with the final leg of all four ties taking place from Tuesday 15th to Wednesday 16th April 2025. Excitement and anticipation is already growing rapidly ahead of the action in what is European Club Football’s Premier Cup Competition.

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