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After playing the last two second leg quarter-final matches in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, all four participants in the semifinals were determined. Joining "Milan" and "Villarreal," who had already secured their place among the strongest teams in the continent, were the favorites from the first leg matches, "Barcelona" and "Arsenal." After drawing in the first leg matches in Lisbon, the showdown between "Benfica" and "Barcelona" was settled in Barcelona. In order for "Barca" to advance to the next stage, they practically needed a win, so the Catalan team, known for their powerful offense, took the initiative from the start of the match. Just five minutes into the game, after Armando Petit handled the ball in the penalty area, a penalty kick was awarded to the visitors. As usual, the responsibility of taking the penalty kick fell to "Barca's" superstar Ronaldinho, but his shot was brilliantly saved by "Benfica's" goalkeeper Marcelo Moretto. However, shortly after, the Brazilian corrected his mistake - after Beto lost the ball, Samuel Eto'o deceived Anderson and passed the ball to Ronaldinho, who this time put the ball in the net and put his team ahead. The hosts continued to dominate, and five minutes later Ronaldinho almost scored with a penalty kick, S. Eto'o had an inaccurate shot, and after a mistake by Leo, the shot from Mark Van Bommel was saved by M. Moretto. The visitors had the best opportunity at the end of the first half, but Anderson's attempt after a penalty kick missed the target. In the second half, "Barca" continued to maintain the initiative but failed to create more dangerous opportunities, while "Benfica" countered and nearly equalized after an hour, but the team captain Simao missed the target after a pass from Fabrizio Miccoli. Towards the end of the match, the Catalan goalkeeper Victor Valdes finally had some serious work, as he had to parry a powerful long-range shot from Giorgos Karagounis. The hosts defended well and sealed the victory in the penultimate minute - Ronaldinho's pass to Ludovic Giuly, who then passed to S. Eto'o, and the latter, stopped by the chest, scored with a powerful shot from close range, defeating "Benfica's" goalkeeper. "Barca" celebrated the victory in front of almost 90,000 spectators and advanced to the semifinals, where they will meet their old rival in the Champions League, "Milan." In a different match in Turin, the visiting London "Arsenal" had a two-goal advantage against the local "Juventus." Although the hosts had probably the first real opportunity when a shot by Gianluca Zambrotta passed by the "Arsenal" goalpost, the English visitors controlled the situation and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had a lot of work, especially saving a shot by Thierry Henry with his left foot. The "Arsenal" defense was mostly troubled by Gianluca Zambrotta on the right, but the "Gunners" also dangerously attacked on the right side, and Emmanuel Eboue, breaking into the penalty area, failed to control the ball, although Freddie Ljungberg and Cesc Fabregas were already waiting for his pass. After the break, "Juventus" attacked, and T. Henry once again outplayed Fabio Cannavaro, but G. Buffon rushed out of the goal in time to prevent the Frenchman from scoring. In the second half, the dangerous attack was already made by the visitors, but David Trezeguet failed to reach Pavel Nedved's cross, and on the other side, G. Buffon parried C. Fabregas's shot. "Juve" continued to attack, and the London team's goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had to work, as he initially almost mistimed Zlatan Ibrahimovic's shot, which bounced off the crossbar, and then had to save Pavel Nedved's attempt from the penalty area. Failing to score, the Czech failed to keep calm, and in the 77th minute he was shown a red card for a rough foul on E. Eboue. "Juventus's" situation became even more complicated, and "Arsenal" did not take advantage of several opportunities to take a win from Italy, but it no longer mattered - the young proteges of A. Wenger moved on to the next stage, where they will face another tournament surprise, "Villarreal." Statistics of Wednesday's second leg matches:
2 - 0 in Lisbon (First leg 0-0, total result 2-0) 19` [1 - 0] Ronaldinho 89` [2 - 0] Samuel Eto'o 5` Ronaldinho ("Barcelona") missed an 11-meter penalty kick 0 - 0 in Turin (First leg 0-2, total result 0-0) 77` Pavel Nedved ("Juventus") sent off the field Champions League semifinal matchups: "Barcelona" - "Milan" "Villarreal" - "Arsenal"
