And then there were four!
The winners of the 2026 Champions League will come from Germany, France, Spain or England.
When the quarter-final draw was made, I fancied PSG, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Barcelona to reach the last four.
What I didn’t bank on was Diego Simeone, whose Atletico side are 24 points off the pace in La Liga, knocking the Catalonians out of Europe, just as they did to them in the Copa del Rey last month.
Yet a first leg win in the Nou Camp, a game in which supposed Barca target Julian Alvarez netted a quite superb free-kick after the hosts had been reduced to 10 men, meant Atletico held all the aces going into the second leg.
I couldn’t think of a better team suited to that position than Los Rojiblancos under the Argentine.
However, almost as quickly as the game started, Barca had wiped out that advantage in a flash.
Just five minutes were on the clock when teenage sensation Lamine Yamal halved the deficit, sliding the ball under home goalkeeper Juan Musso.
When Ferran Torres latched onto a Dani Olmo pass and drilled a left foot shot into the top corner midway through the first half, this SBOTOP scribe felt Atletico could be about to waste the opportunity.
But in a new-look team this term, arguably their best signing is a former Charlton Athletic and Everton striker in the shape of Ademola Lookman, snapped up in January.
He soon woke up a raucous home crowd when he converted a Marcos Llorente delivery to restore their aggregate lead.
Scoring wise that was it as Atletico dug deep.
Musso, who has already kept out a Fermin Lopez header just before Lookman pounced, was their last line of defence and, as every minute passed, along with VAR disallowing a Torres goal 10 minutes after the restart, the noise grew louder and louder.
Just like in the first leg, the Spanish champions went close on a number of occasions, but when Eric Garcia tripped Alexander Sorloth as he raced onto a through ball with 11 minutes left, Barca were a man down for the second week in a row and the final whistle signalled massive emotion.
Atletico, who now play in the Copa del Rey final this weekend, are Champions League semi-finalists for the first time in nine years.
For Barca, they remain a work in progress but have a bright future and, given their line-up at the Metropolitano was the club’s youngest ever in a Champions League knockout game, perhaps it should not be a total surprise that experience won the day.
And so what of the holders?
Well, with a two goal advantage, PSG were always in the driving seat traveling to Anfield to take on Liverpool.
The SBOTOP Champions League 2026 betting odds made the home side slight favourites on the night – and in fairness it was a close contest for 70 minutes – but I couldn’t bet against the euro champs and, overall, the gulf in class was reflected by the aggregate scoreline.
For the second successive season, the Merseysiders took the fight to Luis Enrique’s men only for Parisien voices to fil the night sky.
Ousmane Dembélé, so wasteful in the first leg at Parc des Princes, put the quarter-final beyond any doubt with a clinical late finish and then, to add salt to the home wounds, struck again after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and the substitute Bradley Barcola combined in stoppage time.
The most mundane of all the quarter-final second legs came in North London where Arsenal played out a goalless draw with Sporting Lisbon to book their place.
In truth, the Gunners always appeared in control of the tie, even if their critics will say they are losing form at a critical juncture of the season.
It was cagey and both sides hit the woodwork but it was job done for Mikel Arteta’s men (1-0 winners overall) who face Atletico in the semi-finals.
It turned out that all the Champions League 2026 highlights on Wednesday night were being saved for German soil.
Without appearing cocksure, exactly what I thought would happen was confirmed – Real Madrid will end the season trophyless, a situation which appeared unlikely before their foolhardy decision to appoint a managerial novice to take the reins in January.
In their defence, Los Blancos trailing 2-1 to Bayern Munich after the first leg, put up a damn good fight.
A seven goal thriller went one way, then the other, before the Bavarians sealed it late on and Real, not for the first time in the competition this season, lost their discipline.
There were five goals in a blistering first half with Arda Guler opening the scoring after just 35 seconds to level the tie.
Aleksandar Pavlovic equalised before a Guler free-kick restored the Real lead.
Bayern levelled again through Harry Kane but Kylian Mbappe once more struck just before break.
With the time ticking and the aggregate score standing at 4-4, visiting midfielder Eduardo Camavinga was shown a second yellow card and, with Real reeling, Bayern profited with long-range strikes from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise.
That secured a 6-4 success, led to the already substituted Guler being sent off after full-time, and set up a mouthwatering tie with PSG.
Europe’s leading four are one step away from Budapest.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
