Chelsea’s reign as European champions came to an agonising end despite beating Real Madrid on a night of high drama at the Bernabeu Stadium.
In a Champions League epic, Mason Mount’s wonderful finish and Antonio Rudiger’s powerful header wiped out Real’s 3-1 first-leg advantage and brought the quarter-final tie level in Spain’s capital.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were outstanding throughout and Timo Werner’s clever finish from an angle put them ahead for the first time on aggregate and within sight of a place in the semi-finals.
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But substitute Rodrygo – after a stunning pass by Luka Modric – forced extra time with a volleyed finish before Karim Benzema, a hat-trick hero in the first leg at Stamford Bridge six days earlier, headed the decisive goal in the 96th minute to send Real through 5-4 on aggregate.
Consequently, Villarreal, for the first time since 2006, are in the Champions League semi-finals. Unai Emery’s side scored a late equaliser at Bayern Munich on Tuesday to give them a 2-1 aggregate lead that sent them past the German giants.
A 1-0 first-leg win allowed Villarreal to travel to Bavaria with a slight edge over Bayern, but there was a sense that the LaLiga Santander side might go on to regret the missed opportunities of the game in Spain, where a one-goal lead didn’t paint the whole picture of the game.
As frustrations grew around the Allianz Arena, the hosts went ahead, but that was to be as good as it got for Lewandowski and his team-mates.
Villarreal continued to believe that they could be behind another giant killing, and they managed to do just that. Samuel Chukwueze stepped off the bench and ended up grabbing the tie’s winning goal, appearing in the 88th minute and just as the game looked destined to go all the way to extra time.
Villarreal, despite sitting seventh in LaLiga Santander, now await to see if Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid can join them in the semi-finals. (AF)
