💫 Madrid better Liverpool yet again; Napoli fairytale reaches quarters | OneFootball

The Champions League quarter-finals are all set after Real Madrid and Napoli became the last two clubs to qualify.

Here is what went down on Wednesday night.

Madrid get the best of Liverpool again

Scorer: Benzema 78′

Liverpool faced a mountain to climb at the Santiago Bernabéu but struggled to click over 90 minutes, and a 1-0 win for Madrid ensured the Spanish side stayed alive (6-2 on aggregate).

The Premier League side demonstrated they were up for the challenge in the opening moments with a darting Darwin Nunez calling Thibaut Courtois into action. It looked like a comeback could be on the table, but their attack eventually fizzled out.

Los Blancos, meanwhile, had Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema also firing, and it was the efforts of an acrobatic Alisson Becker that kept the visitors in the game, stopping Eduardo Camavinga and Vinicius by mere inches.

Over time, Liverpool’s midfield struggled to connect with Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota in attack and combined with some last-ditch defending from Madrid’s back line, a goalless first half saw their chances of a comeback slip even further away.

Coming out into the second half, the pace of the game increased slightly though things still sat 0-0. Madrid’s first-leg performance had them with one foot in the next round already, and they didn’t need to play with any urgency.

The breakthrough eventually came with only 10 minutes to go as Vinicius got the better of Virgil van Dijk and nudged the ball over to Benzema, who drilled home for 1-0 and Liverpool fell short once again to Los Blancos.

Napoli rip Frankfurt apart

Scorers: Osimhen 45+2′, 53′, Zieliński 64′ (P)

Meanwhile, over in Italy, fairytale club Napoli continued their run in Europe with a 3-0 win over Frankfurt (5-0 on aggregate).

The visitors threw everything they had in attack to try and overturn their two-goal deficit, but the hosts had the best chance to break the deadlock.

Only the efforts of Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp stopped Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from finding the back of the net for most of the first half.

Down at the other end, a slip-up from Napoli’s defence opened a lane up for Mario Gotze, but the German couldn’t quite find the pace to get to the ball and kickstart a comeback.

It seemed as though things would remain 0-0 at the break until a leaping Osimhen headed the ball home from around the penalty spot to see the hosts grab the lead.

In the second half, things went from bad to worse for Frankfurt, ensuring their elimination in the Round of 16.

They didn’t follow rule No. 1, left Osimhen wide open at the back post, and the Napoli star tapped home a second. Unfortunately for the hosts, he injured his wrist in the process, which won’t be a welcome sight.

Piotr Zieliński then joined in on the action and sent a penalty straight down the middle as Trapp dove to the right for 3-0 on the night and the Italian fairytale lives on.

The winners tonight will join Bayern Munich, Milan, Chelsea, Benfica, Inter and Manchester City in the quarter-finals.