UEFA Champions League: Quarter Final Second Leg Review

The Quarter Finals are over now, and we now know the four clubs remaining in this season’s Champions League, and here we will be reviewing all of the action from this past week.

The Quarter Finals of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League competition are now over, with some of the biggest clubs in Europe and the world competing head to head for what is a much coveted place in the Semi Finals. Now, only four clubs remain in the hunt for the Champions League crown following aggregate victories from their respective two legged ties over the last two weeks.

Following the action, the following clubs have made it through to the Semi Finals of the UEFA Champions League for the 2024/25 season: FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, and Inter Milan. Only two of the clubs left are yet to get their hands on the trophy for this competition, and they are Luis Enrique’s PSG and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Both Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal will feel that they have an excellent chance to become European Champions for the very first time this season, and they will both be battling for glory alongside the other two clubs.

Meanwhile, FC Barcelona will be looking to add to their 5 wins to date, which took place back in 1991/92, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2010/11, and most recently in the 2014/15 season, beating Italian Giants 3 – 1 thanks to goals from Ivan Rakitić (4’), Luis Suárez (68’), and Neymar (90+7’), whilst it was Alvaro Morata who scored the goal for Juve that day (55’).

As for Inter Milan, they have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League on a grand total of three occasions, doing so back in 1963/64, 1964/65, and most recently in the 2009/10 season, when a José Mourinho led Inter were able to beat Louis Van Gaal’s Bayern Munich 2 – 0 thanks to goals from Diego Milito, who scored a brace with his goals coming either side of half time (35’, 70’).

Now, we are going to take a look back at the action from all four matches from the Second Leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final ties.

Borussia Dortmund (Germany) 3 – 1 FC Barcelona (Spain) – Signal Iduna Park (Agg. 3 – 5)

First up is the Second Leg of the Quarter Final tie between Germany’s Borussia Dortmund and Spanish Heavyweights FC Barcelona. BVB had an immensely difficult task on their hands, with them having to try and find a way of recovering from a 4 – 0 deficit that had taken place at the hands of the Blaugrana in the first leg a week before.

Unfortunately for Dortmund, they were unable to recover the tie, losing 5 – 3 on aggregate. They did put in a brilliant display at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday night, beating Barça on the night thanks to 3 – 1 success thanks to a spectacular hat-trick from Borussia Dortmund forward Serhou Guirassy, who scored his goals either side of half time (11’ – Penalty, 49’, 76’), it was an own goal from Ramy Bensebaini that more or less put this tie beyond the reach of the German hosts in the end (54’).

Aston Villa (England) 3 – 2 Paris Saint-Germain (France) – Villa Park (Agg. 4 – 5)

The next game that we will be taking a look back at is the one that saw Unai Emery’s Aston Villa take on a Paris Saint-Germain side led by fellow Spaniard Luis Enrique. Villa found themselves with a mountain to climb following a 3 – 1 defeat that they had suffered at the hands of PSG a week earlier at the Parc Des Princes in the French Capital, Paris.

As for the game itself on the night in B6, things got off to the worst possible start for the hosts, who saw Achraf Hakimi give PSG a 1 – 0 lead on the night with barely more than ten minutes gone (11’), and when Nuno Mendes made it 2 – 0 on the night and 5 – 1 on aggregate, all thought it was all over (27’).

Then Villa fought back. Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans made it 2 – 1 on the night and 5 -2 on aggregate in the first half (34’), before a John McGinn goal at the start of the second half got Villa Park really believing that a historic comeback was really possible (55’).

Before this goal had been processed, Ezri Konsa made it 3 – 2 on the night and 5 – 4 on aggregate (57’). Villa still missed out on a place in the Semi Finals, and there was an agonising moment for the hosts at the end of the game when Ian Maatsen’s effort on goal was prevented from finding the back of the PSG net by visiting defender Willian Pacho (90+3’).

It ended in disappointed for Aston Villa and Unai Emery, who were knocked out of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, but they will have taken pride from their performance on the night, as well as from their brilliant campaign overall in this season’s competition.

Inter Milan (Italy) 2 – 2 Bayern Munich (Germany) – San Siro (Agg. 4 – 3)

We will now move onto the game between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich in what was the second leg of what was a blockbuster 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final tie. It was the Nerazzurri who had won the first leg 2 – 1 in Bavaria at the Allianz Arena in the heart of Munich, the home of German Giants Bayern.

It was Bayern Munich who scored the first goal to level the tie on aggregate through the ever prolific Harry Kane, who was able to find the back of the Inter net early in the first half (52’), only for Bayern to concede an equalising goal almost immediately, with Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez giving his side a 3 – 2 lead on aggregate and 1 – 1 on the night (58’).

Then, former Bayern Munich player and current French international Benjamin Pavard scored a goal himself to give Simone Inzaghi’s side a 3 – 1 lead on the night to make it 4 – 2 on aggregate overall (61’). A goal from Eric Dier levelled the game at 2 – 2 on the night, whilst also making it 4 – 3 on aggregate, which is how it stayed in the end, with Inter Milan going through following intense attacking play and pressure from the German visitors (76’).

Real Madrid (Spain) 1 – 2 Arsenal (England) – Santiago Bernabéu (Agg. 1 – 5)

Now we are onto the fourth and final game that we are going to be looking back on here in what was a massive night for both holders Real Madrid, led by Carlo Ancelotti, and for Arsenal, led by Spanish Head Coach Mikel Arteta. In the first leg, two spectacular free-kicks by Declan Rice (58’, 70’) and a crucial goal from Mikel Merino (75’) saw Arsenal secure an emphatic and well deserved 3 – 0 victory at home at the Emirates Stadium in the heart of North London.

In the second leg, Arsenal were able to secure what was a crucial and a standout 2 – 1 victory in Madrid to win 5 – 1 on aggregate against Real Madrid. It was a goal from Bukayo Saka (65’) which opened the scoring before a goal from Brazil international forward Vinícius Júnior levelled things on the night, but it was still 4 – 1 on aggregate (67’).

Gabriel Martinelli then scored a goal in the latter stages of the second half’s stoppage time in order to take the tie away from Real Madrid, whilst also securing his side’s place in the Semi Finals beyond any reasonable doubt (90+3’).

There was plenty of enthralling action. Arsenal remain the sole English Premier League representative going into the Semi Finals of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League following Aston Villa’s narrow and hard fought 5 – 4 aggregate defeat against the Gunners’ last four opponents, Paris Saint-Germain.

Excitement is already building ahead of the action in the Semi-Finals of the Champions League, with the first leg ties taking place from Tuesday 29^th April to Wednesday 30^th April 2025.

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