Two teams advanced into the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday in markedly-different fashion.
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Porto absolutely smashed Swiss champs Basel from the competition, while Real Madrid had to withstand a Schalke attack that came one goal from a startling upset.
Real Madrid 3-4 (5-4) Schalke - RECAP
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Roberto Di Matteo’s visitors just wouldn’t go away, scoring goal after goal to keep the hopes of an historic upset alive. Schalke took 1-0, 2-0 and 4-3 leads in the match yet never equalized on aggregate, as Real Madrid’s 2-0 road win from leg No. 1 held up.
Which isn’t to say Los Merengues didn’t have their moments. Cristiano Ronaldo provided the first two equalizers of the night before Karim Benzema gave Real an all-too-brief 3-2 lead.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored twice for Schalke while Christian Fuchs opened the scoring and teenage striker Leroy Sane added the fourth.
Basel 4-0 (5-1) Porto - RECAP
This one wasn’t close at all. While Basel held Porto at bay for most of the first leg, Portugal was an entirely different party, one where the hosts ripped shots from every angle into the Swiss goal.
Tomáš Vaclík was spectator on the first Basel goal, Yacine Brahimi’s free kick tracing the top of the Basel wall before leaving the keeper flat-footed. Distance goals followed from Casemiro, his a stunning free kick, as well as Hector Herrera and Vincent Aboubakar.
See Brahimi’s goal here, and the other three here.