Champions League delivers action packed drama as Real Madrid vs. Man City, Arsenal vs. Bayern end in draws

Ten total goals gave us a Champions League night to remember

By Chuck Booth

Apr 9, 2024 • 1 min read

The fireworks were flying as both of Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal matches both ended level as Arsenal drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid finished 3-3 with Manchester City. Each match started the scoring early as Bayern withstood a 12th-minute goal from Bukayo Saka and Real Madrid bounced back after a tricky free kick from Bernardo Silva to push things level. Alphonso Davies will be suspended for Bayern Munich in the second leg due to yellow card accumulation while Real Madrid will be without Aurelien Tchouameni after his yellow only 38 seconds into the match.

Madrid featured a host of beautiful goals as Fede Valverde, Phil Foden, and Josko Gvardiol all had finishes to remember but Silva's quick thinking on his free kick takes the cake. Noticing that Andriy Lunin wasn't expecting him to take a shot, Silva quickly whipped the shot in to go ahead two minutes in.

All three goals for City came from outside of the box as Real Madrid maintained control of their area stopping Erling Haaland from shooting but without Kyle Walker, City also struggled on the defensive end. Without Kevin De Bruyne due to illness, City weren't at their best creating chances but going back to Manchester level is something that they'll still feel good about.

For Arsenal, a halftime change was needed as Jakub Kiwior wasn't up to the challenge of defending Harry Kane, and David Raya was caught too early twice but everything that could go wrong did and they still emerged with a draw. That shows growth for the Gunners in top matches as now they'll need to polish up those errors heading into Germany for the second leg. There was a moment at the end of the game where Manuel Neuer could've conceded a penalty after bringing down Saka but the Englishman was judged to have initiated the contact, saving the draw for Bayen.

No ad available

Live updates

Pinned

Champions League scores

Arsenal 2, Bayern Munich 2 (FT)
Real Madrid 3, Manchester City 3 (FT)

Only one team remaining matters to Thierry Henry

Let's look at some Champions League bracket picks

How to watch

You can watch every minute of the quarterfinals on Paramount+ including the pre-game and post-game shows. CBS will simultaneously air the UEFA Champions League Today pre-game show and select games, while post-game coverage will also air on CBS Sports Network. CBS Sports Golazo Network will air corresponding content each day, including CBS Sports Golazo Matchday and The Champions Club. CBS Sports Golazo Network concludes today's coverage with the latest episode of Kickin' It featuring an interview with NBA icon Dirk Nowitzki.

Good evening from the Emirates

They weren't all here for Dundalk and Rapid Wien, I'll tell you that. Indeed I am not sure I have ever seen the Emirates Stadium media center this busy in eight years of attending the vast majority of Arsenal games. It's a who's who of great names from the Gunners history and beyond: Martin Keown, Marcel Desailly, some ex-pros who aren't defenders. There is a buzz in the air that you wouldn't have felt here in a very, very long time.

Arteta is determined to harness that energy in any way they can. I mean any way. They seem to have deleted the suggestion on the website that the crowd of 60,000 supporters -- all home fans with Bayern banned from having an allocation -- all buy a £4 programme and raise them to the skies.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arteta said:

I see the energy change in the players. Their belief, their body language, actually how much they are looking forward to it, how protected they feel. It's like a cushion there to tell them, and a wind blowing on their backs, saying, 'Go for it, we are right behind you'.
"And you can sense it. When we are able to do that at home it is extraordinary. The changes, you feel things in your body and tomorrow we have to feel that. We have to be ready for every ball."

Kevin De Bruyne ill

According to Guillem Balague, Kevin De Bruyne is unwell and unable to start for City vs. Real so therefore a substitute which has pushed Jack Grealish into the starting XI.

Confirmed starting XIs

Arsenal: Raya; White Saliba, Gabriel, Kwior; Odegaard (c), Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.

Bayern: Neuer (c); Kimmich, Dier, De Ligt, Davies; Laimer, Goretzka; Sane, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane.

Arsenal vs. Bayern

Based on relatively recent history, the visit of Bayern Munich ought to fill Arsenal with dread, but if anything seems so unlikely as to be approaching an impossibility ahead of the quarterfinal first leg at the Emirates Stadium it is another 5-1 win for the Bundesliga champions. Arsenal were sent crashing out of the 2017 round of 16 with a 10-2 aggregate defeat, a year and change after they'd let in five at the Allianz Arena in the group stages. Five is as many goals as Arsenal have conceded in all competitions since the start of February, a stretch where Bayern have been beaten five times in all competitions. Thomas Tuchel will be out of a job come the end of the season while for Harry Kane, back in north London, this represents a last chance for a major club trophy this season.

Confirmed starting XIs

Real Madrid: Lunin; Carvajal, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Mendy; Fede Valverde, Kroos, Camavinga, Bellingham; Vinicius, Rodrygo.

Manchester City: Ederson; Akanji, Stones, Ruben Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo Silva, Kovacic, Foden, Grealish; Haaland.

One matchup to watch in Real vs. City

Vinicius Junior vs. Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji - Manchester City might be in their favorite time of the season, but while they start to win in high-scoring matches, things have not been perfect at the back. City's somewhat porous back line could be good news for Real Madrid's star-studded attack, which has bailed the team out of trouble time and time again this season in the Champions League. It's hard to single out just one of those players, but if there's one Real Madrid goalscorer to keep an eye on it's Vinicius Junior, who has six goals in the team's last five games.

Real XI

Real Madrid are doing Real Madrid things... Although this is far from the first time that the Spanish giants have done it, Carlo Ancelotti's starting XI is published long before anybody else's.

Does it give Pep Guardiola enough time to make a tweak or two to his approach with City? If any coach was equally ready to match Ancelotti's promptness, Pep would have been most people's first choice.

Real vs. City

Real Madrid and Manchester City meet again on Tuesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal with the 14-time winners facing the current titleholders. Pep Guardiola's side blitzed Carlo Ancelotti's men 5-1 over two legs last year with the Premier League outfit handing out a thrashing at Etihad Stadium after a tight affair in the Spanish capital. Real are in better form this time and are currently comfortable atop La Liga by eight points, although they have gone out of the Copa del Rey while City also suffered elimination in the EFL Cup, so both sides have had setbacks. This is a 13-game unbeaten streak for Los Blancos while the last defeat suffered by City came back in December against Aston Villa in the Premier League, so both are n formidable form.

The last side to knock Real out in the quarterfinals was AS Monaco back in 2003-04 when Fernando Morientes came back to haunt his parent club as Les Monegasques advanced on away goals having finished 5-5 on aggregate. Nine days without a game will also have refreshed Ancelotti's troops as well as the boost of having Eder Militao slowly regaining match fitness after most of the season out injured and 26 unbeaten games at home is a tough task for City to face. The current UCL champions eased past FC Copenhagen in the round of 16 and are on a run of of three goals scored in their eight Champions League games so far this edition. Their 1-1 draw at Santiago Bernabeu last year was the last time they failed to win at all in this competition and it is now a second longest unbeaten run in UCL history for Guardiola's men on 21 games. The last team to beat them though? Real 3-1 back in 2022 so get ready for the next chapter in this battle of the Champions League's two most successful managers in terms of wins.

One matchup to watch in Arsenal vs Bayern

Harry Kane vs. Gabriel - Tottenham's all-time record scorer is back in north London, his hopes of a first major trophy contingent on finding a way past the formidable defense of his one-time rivals. Kane is going to drift into midfield, as is his wont, but Gabriel will surely follow him, the Arsenal center back always backing himself to set the tone in the big duels.

Safety first

We have two big ones today in Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich and Real Madrid vs. Manchester City but first of all an update regarding the heightened security around all of this week's European action via James Benge.

This week's Champions League fixtures will take place with heightened security measures following alleged threats against the venues from a pro-Islamic State media outlet. UEFA has confirmed that the four matches in Paris, Madrid and London will go ahead as planned on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Government officials in France and Spain have confirmed that there will be an enhanced presence at home matches involving their European representatives while London's Metropolitan Police said "a robust policing plan" was in place for Tuesday's match at the Emirates Stadium. These statements come in light of several posters allegedly published by a media outlet supportive of Islamic State that called for attacks on the quarterfinal matches.

In a statement European football's governing body, said: "UEFA is aware of alleged terrorist threats made towards this week's UEFA Champions League matches and is closely liaising with the authorities at the respective venues. All matches are planned to go ahead as scheduled with appropriate security arrangements in place."

Hello and welcome

It's getting real, only a few more matches and we'll have a winner determined for the competition but there will be significant chess matches happening before getting to that point. Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund are the teams remaining with a shot at lifting the trophy and you can make an argument that most have a shot showing that this is a fair reflection of the best teams currently in Europe.

2 of 2