Villareal's "haram ball" stun Bayern as Chelsea's reigns come to an end

 

Samuel Chukwueze celebrates after delivering the soccer punch at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday night. Villareal progressed after ensuring a 1-1 result. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Tuesday night served us the best of European football as Real Madrid recovered from Chelsea’s electrifying surge to knock out the reigning champions after extra time and Villareal’s giant killing run continued at the Allianz.

We’ll come back to Unai Emery’s sensational night in Munich but first, there are lots of talking points in the game that happened at the Santiago Bernabeu. Chelsea were quick to wipe out Real Madrid’s first leg lead and with the away goals rule effectively abolished, 2-0 was enough to get Chelsea dreaming.

Marcos Alonso got the ball in the net but a long VAR review revealed a faint handball in the process; that was a lifeline for the hosts but it was Chelsea that scored again and had it stayed that way, the champions would have qualified.

Luka Modric rolled back the years with a sensational assist that got Rodrygo celebrating, even at 3-1, 4-4 on aggregate and the game went into extra time but Thomas Tuchel believes the referee lacked the courage to make big calls against Real Madrid in a game he thought wasn’t fairly officiated.

"I was disappointed at the referee. Tuchel said after being asked of his opinion of the game at full time.

"He had a good time with my colleague Carlo Ancelotti, who is a gentleman and a nice guy, but when I wanted to go and say 'thank you for the match,' I see him laughing, smiling, and laughing loud with the opponent's coach. I think this is the very, very wrong time to do this after the final whistle, after 126 minutes with one team giving their heart and fighting to the very last drop.

"To go as a coach and see the referee laughing and smiling with the other coach I think is very, very bad timing and I told him this. That was it."

At the other end, Bayern Munich were knocked out by what can be called “Unai Emery masterclass”. You won’t be wrong if you name it “haram ball” but it worked magic and the hosts were left frustrated at fulltime following a 1-1 draw.

Karim Benzema headed home the winner in extra time to deny Chelsea the chance of retaining their crown but they will look back at the first leg and regret their weak showings

Bayern missed a host of chances with Gerrard Muller heading wide when it looked easier to score midway into the second half. Robert Lewandoswki had fired Bayern back on aggregate in the second half after a frustrating first half.

The Yellow Submarines brought on Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze and he delivered the equalizing blow with only his second touch of the night.

Villareal are in their second ever UCL semifinals and will play the winner of the game between Liverpool and Benfica later in April.