Champions League journey: recap Real Madrid and Liverpool’s ride to the final

On Saturday night, the biggest club game in the world, the Champions League final, awaits us. It’s extremely difficult to get there, Real Madrid and Liverpool did it this year. How was their journey through the millionaire competition?

Real Madrid

Let’s start with the Spanish side, who clearly had the tougher journey through the knockout rounds. PSG full of stars and the trio Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, defending champion Chelsea and one of the strongest teams Manchester City. All this Real had to overcome, arguably the toughest knockout stage in Champions League history. But let’s start at the beginning.

Real were drawn in a group with Inter Milan, Shakhtar Donetsk and Sherif Tiraspol. In the first round on Inter’s soil, Real decided the game with an 89th minute goal from Rodrygo, a hint of things to come. In the second round, Los Blancos welcomed Sherif Tiraspol at home, for whom it was a feast. The Moldovan side was shelled, facing 30 shots, but held on. And in the 90th minute, a beautiful shot gave Tiraspol a historic 2-1 victory.

Real Is, however, subsequently put Shakhtar to rights, thrashing them 5: 0. The Ukrainian opponent was also beaten 2: 1 at home. The White Ballet did not allow the second Moldovan miracle and beat Tiraspol 3: 0 on its field. In the duel for first place, Real beat Inter 2: 0 to win the group with 15 points, five wins and one defeat and a score of 14: 3.

Eighth round – PSG

In the eighth round, Real got the toughest possible opponent from the runners-up. The star-studded PSG, with the Messi-Neymar-Mbappé trio, considered the biggest favourite in the competition. In the first match, the Parisians clearly had the upper hand, Messi even gave away a penalty, but Mbappé scored the winner 1: 0 in stoppage time.

The same player also scored in the first half of the rematch, so it was 2:0 for PSG and everything seemed to be decided. But the magic of the Santiago Bernabéu in the second half completely engulfed the Parisians, the fantastic Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick in 17 minutes to destroy the hated opponent.

Quarter-final – Chelsea

In the quarter-finals, the lot didn’t treat Real Madrid too kindly either, as they got defending champions Chelsea, who they also crashed out against last year and Tuchel’s style didn’t suit them at all. But it was not noticeable in the first leg, Los Blancos overcame the Blues at Stamford Bridge 3-1 after another heroic hat-trick by Benzema, and they could have scored many more goals.

In the return leg, however, we saw a very different game. Chelsea, feeling they had nothing to lose, pedalled hard and full on and eventually managed to turn the score around and lead 3-0 at the Bernabéu. At that point everyone thought Real Madrid were dead again, there was no getting over it.

But Luka Modric, with his magic shayta, devised a millimetre pass to Rodry who sent the game into extra time. There the duo of Vinícius – Benzema showed up again, and the Frenchman sent Real Madrid into the semi-finals with a header.

Semi-final – Manchester City

The third heavyweight of world football. Manchester City with a loaded roster and huge motivation to finally win the Champions League. In the first match we watched an absolutely wild performance, which finally ended 4: 3 for the Citizens, but especially the home team could have scored ten goals. But they didn’t, and in the rematch they were damn sorry for the missed chances.

It didn’t look like it, in the 73rd minute after Mahrez’s goal the Citizens already had a two-goal lead, which lasted until the 90th minute. For the third time, Real were deemed eliminated and for the third time the magic of the Santiago Bernabéu worked.

For in the 90th and 91st minutes, Rodrygo came out of nowhere to send the game into extra time with two goals. In the 95th minute, Benzema was fouled in the penalty area and converted the penalty himself, giving Real Madrid an incredible five-minute turnaround.

Liverpool

Liverpool were given a pretty tough group consisting of Atlético Madrid, AC Milan and Porto. However, they handled it brilliantly, winning the group without losing a point with a score of 17:6.

First the Reds beat AC Milan 3: 2, then they swept Porto 5: 1 and even beat Atlético 3: 2. In the rematch, they beat the Colchoneros 2-0, Porto by the same score and AC Milan 2-1.

Eighth round – Inter Milan

Liverpool returned to the San Siro in the Eight Finals, but this time not because of AC Milan, but because of Inter. In the first leg, the home side had plenty of chances, but the Reds survived them and decided the game with two goals in the 75th (Firmino) and 83rd minute (Salah).

In the rematch, Martínez sent Inter into the lead in the 62nd minute and it was set to be an interesting spectacle. However, a minute later Alexis Sanchez was needlessly sent off and Inter could do no more with ten men.

Quarter-final – Benfica

In the quarter-finals, Liverpool were handed their weakest opponent on paper, Portugal’s Benfica Lisbon. Konate and Mané sent the Reds into a two-goal lead at Estadio Da Luz, but Núñez reduced the deficit in the second half. Luis Díaz shot into a comfortable 3-1 lead in the 87th minute.

In the rematch, the Reds took the lead again 3:1 after a goal from Konate and two goals from Firmino, but Benfica equalised at 3:3 thanks to Yaremchuk and Núñez.

Semi-final – Villarreal

The semi-finals are here and for the third time a very acceptable opponent for Liverpool, in which they are a huge favourite. However, the yellow submarine reached the semi-finals deservedly, knocking out Juventus and Bayern Munich.

In the first leg at Anfield Road, the first half was marked by a siege of Villarreal’s goal, but after the start of the second half came a whirlwind and the Reds decided the match with two unanswered goals.

But Villarreal were not going to give up and entered the home rematch incredibly confident. He scored two goals by half-time, leading 2-0 and erasing Liverpool’s lead from the first leg. They went into the second half with a clean sheet, only to be handled brilliantly by the Reds. After goals from Fabinho, Díaz and Mané, they turned the score to 3: 2 and deservedly advanced to the final.

Source: UEFA, Youtube