Holders Man City joined by Real Madrid in Champions League quarter-finals

Erling Haaland of Manchester City controls the ball whilst under pressure from Elias Jelert of FC Copenhagen during their UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 second leg match at Etihad Stadium

Erling Haaland of Manchester City controls the ball whilst under pressure from Elias Jelert of FC Copenhagen during their UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 second leg match at Etihad Stadium Credit: (Photo by Jan Kruger - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Manchester City’s defence of their Champions League crown from last season now moves on to the quarter-final stage after a comprehensive 6-2 aggregate win over Copenhagen.

City won the second leg in Manchester 3-1 with all the game’s goals scored in the first half. Manuel Akanji, Julian Álvarez and Erling Haaland were all on target for the home side although visiting goalkeeper Kamil Grabara will want to forget his handling error that allowed Álvarez's shot to get by him.

Mohamed Elyounoussi scored a superbly taken goal in the 29th minute that proved a mere consolation.

"It's the best team in the world,” said Copenhagen midfielder Orri Oskarson speaking to Viaplay after the game. “They only have world-class players doing extremely well, and it was hard to play against them. But it was a good challenge for us, and we fought well."

Madrid

It was a nervy night for Real Madrid who were left defending their 2-1 aggregate lead late on against RB Leipzig in the Bernabeu. Having won in Germany in the first leg 1-0, they doubled their lead in the tie when Vinicius Junior scored in the 65th minute.

However, when Leipzig skipper Willi Orban made it 1-1 on the night three minutes later, the visitors were very much back in the tie.

They couldn’t quite find a goal to take the match to extra-time and so Real, the 14 time European champions, join Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-final draw that will take place on 15th March.

Real Madrid’s captain Nacho Fernández speaking to reporter Graham Hunter after the match said: "The first thing to say is we've met our objective, which was to go through.

"We all know that this wasn't our best performance of the season but sometimes you need to suffer through a bad game. Leipzig were terrific."



About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile