The Champions League has produced a lot of shocking results over the past couple of seasons.
The 20/21 season brought some amazing yet shocking scorelines, which football fans haven’t seen in quite some time.
City Cruise Past PSG
Manchester City have reached one step closer for the infamous “treble” after they beat PSG 4-1 in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
With the game happening between two of Europe’s top team, the whole footballing world were watching with intense.
But the way City played throughout both legs, everyone went through some sort of a shock.
In the first leg, PSG took the lead via their captain Marquinhos and looked dominant in the first half.
However, City’s players knew they had to create history and played with such high pressure and intensity that the defence of PSG wasn’t able to handle them.
As soon as the second half started, the Cityzens pressured and started creating more chances for their away goal.
Also Read: City Reach Finals For The First Time
The first opportunity came to their Belgian midfield-maestro, Kevin DeBruyne. He scored the first goal in the 64th minute and gave his side an away-goal advantage.
With the goal, City’s confidence grew and they pressured even more than before and gave PSG’s defence the run for their money.
A big break came for ManCity in the 71st minute, when Riyad Mahrez put the ball past Keylor Navas’s net and made it 2-1 to the Cityzens.
With a two goal advantage, it looked like there would be no hope for PSG to comeback in the game.
Being two goals down, PSG’s manager Mauricio Pochhetino decided to do some tactical changes, and brought on Ander Herera.
The kings of France started playing a little better and tried to create some chances towards getting their second goal.
But, City’s defensive duo of Ruben Dias and John Stones along with their keeper Ederson proved strong against PSG’s attacking maestros.
The game ended 2-1 with the advantage towards Manchester City.
In the 2nd leg, PSG needed to score atleast three goals if they wanted to reach the finals of the Champions League for the second successive season.
Kylian Mbappe, the French prodigy suffered an injury and was placed in the bench. Without Mbappe, the only better attacker PSG had was Neymar.
However, the Brazilian himself alone couldn’t make any dent inside ManCity’s defence.
With the advantage they held, Pep Guardiola knew that he either had to defend the entire game and not let PSG score or put more pressure into scoring goals to build up their advantage.
He decided to go for the latter tactic. Riyad Mahrez proved vital once again in the second leg.
The Algerian scored his 2nd goal in this tie in the 11th minute and gave City a three goal advantage.
With this, PSG now needed to score atleast two goals if they wanted to take the game into extra time.
The team from France tried their best but were not able to get past Ruben Dias and John Stones, just like in the first leg.
In a total of 14 shots the entire game, they had zero shots on target. This ratio is something which the footballing fans haven’t seen from PSG.
The first half ended with City in the lead.
In the second half, Pochettino brought in Moise Kean in hopes of providing Neymar some attacking backup.
Alas, it became wrong.
Riyad Mahrez put the nail in the PSG’s coffin in the 63rd minute after scoring from a pass from Phil Foden.
With this goal, City now had a three goal advantage over their opponents and were looking to seal the deal.
PSG missed the partnership of Mbappe and Neymar this entire game. Apart from Neymar, no other player for his team was able to attack the City’s defense.
In making matters worse, Angel Di Maria received a red-card after stomping his foot against City’s Fernandinho.
Being down to 10 men, PSG couldn’t do anything and were forced to submit to Manchester City.
This win marked a history for Manchester City as this team, led by Pep Guardiola became the first squad to reach the finals of UEFA Champions League.
⏰ RESULT ⏰
🔵 Manchester City reach their first ever Champions League final!
👏 @ManCity become 42nd club to reach the European Cup showpiece
⚽️ Mahrez strikes in either half for hosts🤔 Who impressed you most?#UCL
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 4, 2021
Manchester City will now face either Chelsea or Real Madrid in the finals in Istanbul.
Chelsea Looking To Win Double
Thomas Tuchel and his Chelsea side have already reached one final this season in the form of F.A Cup and now are looking for their second.
The team from London went to Spain and got the advantage which they deserved based on their performance.
Chelsea have become a force to be reckoned with under the Thomas Tuchel era. Their defensive masterclass have been shown quite a lot this season.
Tuchel fielded an unchanged lineup from their win against West Ham in the Premier League.
The majority of the fans and the commentators were in disbelief regarding the team news.
However, no one was disappointed with this squad as they showed why Chelsea should be feared, especially in the European competitions.
In a fascinating tie at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, Chelsea came out ahead against the mighty Real Madrid.
A game, which many pundits believed to be easy for Real Madrid actually became a tough one against the tactical genuisness of Thomas Tuchel.
Christian Pulisic, who has been in-and-out of form this season gave the away side the lead in the 14th minute.
However, despite defending way better than their opponents, Chelsea let a goal in via Benzema, which made the scoreline 1-1.
Both teams scored their goals in the first half and the second half was quite different.
Despite showing signs of improvement in the second half, Chelsea completely outplayed Real Madrid.
Zinedine Zidane played a 3-4-3 formation which he rarely played against the manager who specialized in the formation and has been using it for a long time.
There were some serious doubts about Chelsea’s performance before the start of the game but everything changed at the final whistle.
With the game finishing 1-1, Chelsea took an important away goal advantage.
The second leg which is going to happen on the 6th of August, will prove quite fruitful.
