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On Wednesday, the last two semi-finalists of the UEFA Champions League were revealed. In order to secure a spot in the final on April 17-18 and 24-25, London's "Chelsea" will face off against "Barcelona," as well as Munich's "Bayern" against Madrid's "Real."
Safely advancing to the semi-finals was the only representative from England, London's "Chelsea" team, who defeated Portugal's vice-champions, Lisbon's "Benfica," for the second time, this time with a score of 2-1. The first match ended 1-0 in favor of the "Blues."
The match in London started very successfully for the hosts: defender Javi Garcia of "Benfica" found himself in an unusual position in the penalty area, fouling Ashley Cole, and Frank Lampard converted the penalty kick awarded by the referee. However, it was close that his shot would have been blocked by goalkeeper Arturas.
The Portuguese did not falter and had several opportunities to level the score, with Oscar Cardozo coming closest, but after his attempt, John Terry cleared the ball off the goal line. Nevertheless, soon after, "Benfica" defender Maxi Pereira was sent off the field for a second yellow card.
After the break, the visitors continued to show character, and the home team's defender Ramires caught the attention of internet commentators when he failed to send the ball into the empty net from a few centimeters because he missed it. In the 85th minute, "Benfica" had a faint hope as Javi Garcia headed the ball into the net, but not long after, former "Porto" defender Raul Meireles secured the victory for "Chelsea" with a brilliant strike.
Starting the work in Nicosia, Madrid successfully finished the job by defeating APOEL 5-2, thus winning by a three-goal margin for the second time. The Spanish vice-champions won the first match in Cyprus against a club with a yearly budget of just over 10 million euros, with a score of 3-0.
The "Real" team, which is playing in the semi-finals for the second consecutive season, took the lead after Cristiano Ronaldo's goal, and Kaka doubled the score with an impressive strike in the 37th minute.
Gustavo Manduca softened the gap in the 67th minute, but it did not have much significance: C. Ronaldo, Jose Callejon, and Angel Di Maria converted both the previous and later Esteban Solari's penalty kicks into mere consolation goals.
Results:
London's "Chelsea" 2 - 1 Lisbon's "Benfica" (first leg 1-0, aggregate 3-1) 21' [1 - 0] F.Lampard 85' [1 - 1] J.Garcia 90' [2 - 1] R.Meireles 40' M.Pereira sent off ("Benfica") Key moments:
Madrid's "Real" 5 - 2 Nicosia's APOEL (first leg 3-0, aggregate 8-2) 26' [1 - 0] C.Ronaldo 37' [2 - 0] Kaka 67' [2 - 1] G.Manduca 75' [3 - 1] C.Ronaldo 80' [4 - 1] J.Callejon 82' [4 - 2] E.Solari (from penalty) 84' [5 - 2] A.Di Maria Key moments:
Detailed analysis:
