Champions League takeaways: Arsenal, Barcelona return to quarterfinals

Arsenal is back in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in 14 years. After trading home wins in the two-match, total-goals-wins series with Porto, the Gunners prevailed in a penalty shootout in London in which goalkeeper David Raya made two saves — including the clinching spot versus Brazilian forward Galeno:

In Spain, Barcelona broke its own drought by returning to the last eight for the first time since 2020, when Lionel Messi was still pulling the strings in Catalonia.

Arsenal and Barça will join Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in the next round, with the final two entrants to be determined on Wednesday.

Here are a couple of quick thoughts on Tuesday’s games plus a look ahead to the final two round of 16 second leg contests.

Gunners shake off controversial call to advance

The hosts needed at least a one-goal win in London just to send this series to extra time after giving up a late goal in Portugal two weeks ago. And things appeared to be exactly on track at the Emirates when Leandro Trossard gave Arsenal the lead just before half-time.

The momentum was all on Arsenal’s side at that point, and the home side seemed destined for its first quarterfinal appearance since 2010 when Martin Ødegaard added what looked like the all-important second with about 25 minutes to go — only for the would-be series winner to be snuffed out when he ruled that Porto defender Pepe had been fouled on the play.

It was probably a soft call in a match of this magnitude, but the decision stood despite the objections of Mikel Arteta. The Gunners’ manager was incredulous, and he was promptly shown a yellow card.

Arsenal’s players, on the other hand, never lost their heads. And now they have a quarterfinal series to prepare for.

Barcelona outlasts plucky Napoli

Heading into Tuesday’s decider, most of the pressure was on Barça after these two sides played to a 1-1 draw in last month’s opener. Much of that tension evaporated when Fermín López and João Cancelo put the hosts ahead 2-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate with goals two minutes apart early in the first half.

That changed on the half-hour mark, when Napoli center back Amir Rrahmani (of all people) clawed one back for the visitors, who were suddenly just a goal away from pulling even. The next 50-plus minutes were played on a knife’s edge. But a defensive slog this wasn’t. Like a pair of prizefighters standing toe-to-toe, Barcelona and Napoli traded blows much of the rest of the way. The hosts finished with a gaudy 24 shots on goal, 10 of those on target.

But the Italian champs gave almost as good as they got. The Neapolitans even out-possessed Barça as they pressed forward in search of the equalizer, managing 14 attempts on goal of their own. 

The breakthrough strike they needed never came, though, leaving the door open for Robert Lewandowski to put the scoreline out of reach when he restored the Blaugrana‘s two-goal cushion with just seven minutes of regular time to play:

Dortmund, Inter Milan are Wednesday’s faves

The knockout stage has over-delivered so far, with a spate of thrilling, hotly contested home-and-homes. Wednesday’s two matches set up the same way.

Last year’s losing finalist, Inter Milan, takes a 1-0 advantage to Spain’s capital, where they’ll face a battle-tested Atlético Madrid side that is more than capable of overturning that slim deficit.

PSV and Borussia Dortmund tied 1-1 in Eindhoven two weeks ago, a match that the hosts really should’ve won. PSV’s slew of squandered chances in that one could come back to haunt them in the rematch in Germany. BVB is undefeated in the Champions League at the 81,000-seat Westfalenstadion this season.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.

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