Manchester City and Inter Milan are the final two teams to secure their spots in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. City advanced thanks to a 4-1 aggregate win against Bayern Munich, while Inter punched their ticket with a combined 5-3 score in two games against Benfica.
City will now play against the reigning UCL champions Real Madrid in the semis, while Inter faces their cross-town rivals AC Milan. The semifinals phase of the competition is scheduled to start in early May.
Both Man City and Inter entered the second leg of the quarter-finals with healthy leads from the first matches and focused on keeping their opponents at bay.
Bayern needed a miracle to negate City’s 3-0 league from the first match but never got close, even with their home fans giving them some extra motivation. After the first half went scoreless, it was City that got the first goal via Erling Haaland in the 57th minute. The Bundesliga champs managed to tie the game when Joshua Kimmich converted a penalty late in the game, but the goal didn’t make much difference at that point.
On the other hand, Inter and Benfica delivered a goal fest for fans in their Wednesday night’s game. Inter opened the scoring through Nicolo Barella in the 14th minute before Benfica’s Fredrik Aursnes made it 1-1 before the end of the half.
Inter went on to build a two-goal lead midway through the second half, with Lautaro Martínez and Joaquin Correa each finding the net to put an end to Benfica’s hopes. The Portuguese club did respond with two goals of their own, but they came at a point where Inter was already thinking about the next stage.
