#Title

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema peels away in celebration after scoring his side’s second goal which earned them a 5-4 win on aggregate over defending champions Chelsea in the quarterfinal second leg at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on Tuesday. (Bottom) Bayern Munich talisman Robert Lewandowski hangs his head as Villarreal players celebrate their aggregate win in Munich.

Ancelotti credits the ‘magic of the Bernabeu’
AGENCIES/AFP
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has credited the ‘magic of the Bernabeu’ for his side’s Champions League comeback against Chelsea to reach the semi-finals on Tuesday night.
Real held a two-goal advantage from the first leg at Stamford Bridge but saw that disappear when goals from Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner turned the tie around and gave Chelsea the aggregate lead with only 15 minutes remaining.
But Rodrygo pulled back a stunning late goal to force extra-time, before Karim Benzema continued his best ever season by winning it in the added period.
“At no stage did I think that it was over, particularly because we were playing here at the Bernabeu. It’s difficult to put it into words, but this magic spurs you on,” Ancelotti reflected.
“It helped to give the whole team that energy boost to get through to the semi-finals…the magic of this stadium helps the players to never give in.”
Benzema’s tie-winning goal was his 38th of an increasingly spectacular season and his 12th in the Champions League alone after successive hat-tricks in recent games.
The Frenchman has thrived at Real since taking over from Cristiano Ronaldo as the main man in 2018, with this season representing the most prolific of his career.
His previous record tally for a single season was 32 goals in all competitions and you couldn’t bet against him reaching 50 before 2021/22 is over.
Speaking ahead of the Chelsea game, Ancelotti didn’t hide away from how important the player is.
There were slight concerns that Benzema had suffered an injury as he appeared in discomfort towards the end of the game and seemed to be hobbling. But Ancelotti allayed fears.
“There’s nothing wrong with Benzema,” he confirmed.
‘Villarreal fuelled by Nagelsmann remark’
Villarreal forward Gerard Moreno said comments by Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann inspired the Spaniards to their shock 2-1 aggregate win over the German giants in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Villarreal snatched a 1-1 draw on the night and a semi-final place through Samuel Chukwueze’s 88th-minute goal.
“Tonight they (Bayern) made the mistake of not killing us off and we took advantage of that,” Moreno said.
On Monday, Nagelsmann said Villarreal had made a mistake by winning the first leg by a slender 1-0 margin “which allowed us to survive”.
“In the first leg we made the mistake of not finishing them off. All the comments about that served as motivation,” said Moreno, whose cross set up Chukwueze’s tie-winning strike.
“What this team has done is great.”
Robert Lewandowski had put Bayern ahead on the night to level the tie.
Unai Emery’s Villarreal had already knocked out Juventus in the last 16 following a stunning 3-0 win in Turin.
“It’s an extraordinary feeling, it was not easy for us. We are a small club, from a village, like that of Asterix and Obelix,” said Emery.
“We are moving forward step by step, we had a very difficult quarter-final.”
The Spaniards face either Benfica or Liverpool in the semi-finals. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds take a 3-1 lead into Wednesday’s second leg at Anfield.
“It’s unbelievable, it’s taken a lot of hard work,” said Villarreal captain Raul Albiol, the man of the match in Munich, who at 36 is two years older than Nagelsmann.
“Our victories are as a team. We have suffered a lot in both games, but to be in the semi-finals is great for Villarreal.
“We knew it was going to be a long 90 minutes and we were going to suffer a lot.
“We want more. We see ourselves as causing problems to all our opponents.”
Emery basked in the glory of a historic result for Villarreal in his 50th Champions League match as a coach.
“We took a lot of confidence from the first leg result, but we had to defend well and we tried to create our own chances -- we created five and took the final one,” he said.