The race for the Champions League last 16 delivered a dramatic set of second\u2011leg matches on Wednesday, with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Galatasaray and Atalanta all securing their passage to the next round.
\nEuropean heavyweights faced intense challenges across Spain, France, Italy and Turkey as comeback attempts, red cards and last-minute goals defined a decisive playoff night.
\nThe results finalize the list of clubs joining the league-phase qualifiers in the knockout draw scheduled for Friday.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid booked their place in the Champions League last 16 after defeating Benfica 2\u20131 at the Santiago Bernabeu, sealing a 3\u20131 aggregate win.<\/p>\n
Benfica briefly revived the tie when Rafa Silva scored early, capitalizing on a defensive mistake by Raul Asencio. Madrid responded within two minutes through Aurelien Tchouameni, who finished strongly from the edge of the box.<\/p>\n
Vinicius Junior, who had been at the center of an alleged racism incident during the first leg in Lisbon, settled the match with an 80th\u2011minute goal after being played through by Federico Valverde.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian was booed by away fans throughout the match although Madrid displayed a large \u201cNo to Racism\u201d banner inside the stadium. Benfica were without midfielder Gianluca Prestianni, suspended provisionally while UEFA continues its investigation.<\/p>\n
Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa praised Vinicius\u2019 performance, while Mourinho \u2014 returning to the Bernabeu for the first time since coaching the club from 2010 to 2013 \u2014 watched from the stands due to suspension.<\/p>\n
Defender Raul Asencio was taken off on a stretcher after a collision with teammate Eduardo Camavinga. Arbeloa said early indications suggested a neck injury that \u201cdoes not seem too serious\u201d pending hospital tests.<\/p>\n
In Turin, Galatasaray overcame a powerful Juventus fightback to reach the Champions League last 16, winning 7\u20135 on aggregate after extra time.<\/p>\n
Trailing 5\u20132 from the first leg, Juventus gave themselves hope when Manuel Locatelli scored a first\u2011half penalty. Their momentum collapsed when Lloyd Kelly received a red card shortly after the restart.<\/p>\n
Despite going down to ten men, Juventus forced extra time through goals from Federico Gatti and Weston McKennie. The comeback faded in extra time when Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz scored to secure Galatasaray\u2019s qualification.<\/p>\n
The Turkish champions now await a meeting with either Liverpool or Tottenham in the next round.<\/p>\n
Paris Saint\u2011Germain drew 2\u20132 with Monaco in Paris to complete a 5\u20134 aggregate victory and secure their place in the next phase.<\/p>\n
Monaco had taken the lead through Maghnes Akliouche, leveling the aggregate score. The game turned when Mamadou Coulibaly was sent off on 58 minutes, echoing Monaco\u2019s first\u2011leg red card.<\/p>\n
PSG quickly equalized through Marquinhos, before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored off a rebound to give the hosts an advantage. Monaco pushed until the end and scored through Jordan Teze in stoppage time although PSG survived a final scare after Wout Faes missed a clear chance.<\/p>\n
The defending champions will learn their potential route to the final in Budapest on Friday, with Barcelona and Chelsea possible opponents.<\/p>\n
Atalanta completed one of the night\u2019s biggest comebacks, defeating Borussia Dortmund 4\u20131 in Bergamo to progress 4\u20133 on aggregate.<\/p>\n
Dortmund arrived with a 2\u20130 first\u2011leg advantage, but the Italian side wiped out the deficit by half\u2011time. Mario Pasalic then put Atalanta ahead before Karim Adeyemi equalized for Dortmund.<\/p>\n
With extra time approaching, Ramy Bensebaini received a red card for a dangerous challenge. In stoppage time, Atalanta\u2019s Lazar Samardzic converted a penalty that sealed qualification and sparked celebrations across the Gewiss Stadium.<\/p>\n
The four qualifiers now join Europe\u2019s top clubs in the Champions League last 16 as Friday\u2019s draw approaches. A night defined by tension and decisive moments sets the stage for intense knockout clashes in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The race for the Champions League last 16 delivered a dramatic set of second\u2011leg matches on Wednesday, with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Galatasaray and Atalanta all securing their passage to the next round. European heavyweights faced intense challenges across Spain, France, Italy and Turkey as comeback attempts, red cards and last-minute goals defined a decisive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}