UEFA Champions League
Real played well but missed a chance to beat Man City says Ancelotti

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was disappointed his side missing an opportunity to defeat Manchester City but he was still pleased with their performance in the Champions League quarter-final, first leg that ended in a 3-3 draw on Tuesday.
After falling behind to a Bernardo Silva free-kick in the second minute, Real fought back to lead 2-1 at halftime following a Ruben Dias own goal and Rodrygo strike and then built enough momentum to extend their advantage.
But Ancelotti’s side were wasteful and missed several chances, leaving City to take a 3-2 lead with sumptuous strikes from Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol in the second half.
Real managed to salvage a draw thanks to a brilliant volley by Federico Valverde but Italian Ancelotti said the feeling he had at the final whistle was bittersweet.
“It was a winnable game because we had a chance at 3-1, but at 3-2 we could have lost if we didn’t have the confidence to come back,” he told a press conference.
“It was a very good game from our side, evenly matched and competitive as long as we had the energy to press up front. We had our chances but they managed to score two great goals… In the end, the outcome was adequate.”
It was another epic encounter as the teams faced each other in a Champions League knockout tie for the third year running, igniting a new and exciting rivalry between the 14-times European champions and the Premier League powerhouse.
Real eliminated City in the 2022 semi-finals but Pep Guardiola’s side gained revenge a year later at the same stage.
The winners of the tie ended up lifting the trophy both seasons – with City crowned European champions for the first time – and Tuesday’s match was one that left the fans eagerly looking forward to the return leg in Manchester.
INCREDIBLE GAME
“It was an incredible game for both teams,” Ancelotti added after Tuesday’s six-goal thriller. “We have no doubts about the quality of what we saw on the pitch, two extraordinary teams.
“I liked very much what I saw from our team, especially the interpretation of the match, the courage and the personality.
“In the second leg we have the idea of playing the same game and see what happens.”
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola seemed satisfied with the result despite his side having given up the lead twice.
After seeing Real recover from the brink of elimination to beat visitors City in the semi-final two years ago, Guardiola knows the importance of playing the return leg at home, like last year when they thrashed Real after drawing in Madrid.
Next week City will aim to become the first team to knock 14-times champions Real out of Europe’s elite club competition in successive seasons since AC Milan in 1989 and 1990.
“I’d rather play the second leg at home than at the Bernabeu for obvious reasons, past experience,” Guardiola told a press conference.
“We’ll take the (3-3) result. But as to whether we are favourites now… I don’t know. The favourites will be the ones who impose their way, but our people (supporters) will give us a hand for sure.”
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
LaLiga to have five teams in 2025-26 Champions League

Spain’s LaLiga will be represented by at least five teams in the Champions League next season after Italy’s Lazio were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday while Athletic Bilbao progressed to the semi-finals.
LaLiga earned the second of two European Performance Spots handed out by UEFA, which go to associations “with the best collective performance by their clubs” in UEFA competitions.
England’s Premier League was the first to secure an extra berth in Europe’s top competition, on top of the four granted to the top four teams in the domestic table.
Villarreal are fifth in the LaLiga standings, with 51 points from 30 matches.
They are three points ahead of sixth-placed Real Betis and eight in front of Celta Vigo and Mallorca, with all three clubs having played one more game than Villarreal.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
No complaints from Ancelotti, as Real humbled by Arsenal

Real Madrid’s record-breaking manager Carlo Ancelotti had no complaints after his side’s Champions League reign was ended in emphatic fashion by Arsenal in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Italian Ancelotti won a record-extending fifth Champions League trophy last season as Real beat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, but his side went down 2-1 at home to Arsenal for a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat.
“There are two sides to football, the happy part that has happened to us many times and the sad part we have to handle in the same way. It has happened to us fewer times than to other teams, but we have to manage it because it allows us to be better in the next games.”
When Real keeper Thibaut Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s early penalty and minutes later Real were awarded a spot kick for a push by Declan Rice on Kylian Mbappe, it seemed that the great escape might still be a possibility.
But Real’s penalty was overturned after a lengthy VAR check, and in truth, they never looked remotely threatening as their bid for a 16th European Cup crown ended in feeble fashion.
“To change the dynamic, we needed something positive, like the penalty he whistled and then took off. We needed something to have more confidence, but we were not able to change the dynamic of the first leg,” Ancelotti said.
Despite the defeat, Ancelotti said Real’s season still has plenty of possibilities, not least trying to bridge a four-point gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona.
“Now we are in the fight for La Liga. We have a disadvantage, but we have the Barcelona game, we have the Copa del Rey final, the Club World Cup, and we have to manage this part, which is another part of football that we are not used to,” he said.
“It’s time to hold our heads high and learn from our mistakes. It’s sad today, but I have absolutely no worries about how my players will respond. We’ll fight on, we’ll learn from the experience, and we’ll try to be better for the next match.”
-Reuters
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UEFA Champions League
Arsenal cruise past lacklustre Real Madrid to reach semis

Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semi-finals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabeu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.
Holders and 15-time winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week’s quarter-final first leg, and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.
Vinicius Junior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little too late as Carlo Ancelotti’s side exited feebly.
Arsenal’s superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.
They will face Paris St Germain in their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.
“I think it’s such a special night for this club, it’s a historic night for this club,” said Arsenal’s Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks put his side in control last week.
“There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead, they’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fuelled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.
But Real’s knack of extricating themselves from difficult positions in a competition they won six times in the previous 11 seasons deserted them as they were comprehensively outplayed.
“Did we fall short of what we wanted in pure football terms? Perhaps,” Real captain Lucas Vazquez said. “They really are terrifically organised defensively.”
PENALTY MISS
Real needed a storming start, and Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net in the opening minutes but was offside when chesting in a Vinicius cross.
Arsenal were in no mood to simply sit and protect their lead, though, and Saka forced a great save from Courtois. They were handed the chance to kill off the tie when Raul Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner, and referee Francois Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitch-side VAR monitor.
Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty, and Courtois clawed away the ball.
It looked like a potentially pivotal moment, and when Letexier pointed to the penalty spot at the other end after Kylian Mbappe tumbled under minimal contact from Rice, Arsenal’s night looked like taking a turn for the worse.
After five painstaking minutes, however, Letexier was again invited by VAR to view the monitor and to a chorus of whistles from the home fans, overturned his original decision.
That scare aside, Arsenal coped easily with Real Madrid’s famed frontline who were given little to work with.
Arsenal keeper David Raya was not required to make a save before halftime as Real’s predilection for hopeful crosses into the area proved easy pickings for the visiting defence.
Real’s Mbappe barely had a sniff of a chance as Arsenal showed great control and Saka made up for his first-half miss with a clinical finish after being sent clear by Merino.
William Saliba gifted Real a lifeline when he was caught in possession on the edge of his area, allowing Vinicius to score, but there was never any sense of panic in the visiting ranks.
Martinelli put the icing on the cake in added time, again from a Merino assist, to send Arsenal’s fans into raptures.
-Reuters
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