The final four of Europe’s most prestigious club competition have been decided and the FedEx Performance Zone provides the top performers of the week
And then there were four! The road to Wembley came to an early end for the likes of Barcelona, Atletico de Madrid, Arsenal and Man City as they came out second best in this week’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final ties.
Now, only two games separate Dortmund, Paris, Bayern and Real Madrid from booking a place in the final of Europe’s most prestigious club competition in London on June 1. Edin Terzic’s Dortmund overcame a 2-1 deficit from the first leg to beat Atletico de Madrid 4-2 in the return fixture and secure their semi-final spot, while Ousmane Dembele came back to haunt Barcelona in a 4-1 win for the French giants. Bayern, on the other hand, stole a narrow win against Arsenal and Real Madrid had the toughest time of all as they needed a penalty shootout to edge past reigning champions Man City.
It was a thrilling week of incredible football across the four matches, but who were the standout performers from the quarter-final second legs? With the help of the FedEx Performance Zone, GOAL takes a look at the stars of the round.
The FedEx Performance Zone uses a specially devised algorithm to track players’ performances in the UEFA Champions League.
Kylian Mbappe | Paris | 132 points
Paris’s top performers turned up when they were truly needed. Ousmane Dembele scored a vital equaliser and earned a second-half penalty to help put his team in the ascendancy against a Barcelona team that shocked them with an early goal.
It was Kylian Mbappe who turned up supreme, though, converting the penalty to put his team 3-1 up. Then, just as Barca looked capable of crawling their way back into the tie, the France international had two shots on a deadly counter attack, burying his second attempt past Marc-Andre ter Stegen to make it 4-1 and complete the victory against their hosts.
Marcel Sabitzer | Dortmund | 92 points
Who would have thought that Diego Simeone’s Atletico de Madrid would end up conceding four goals in a UEFA Champions League quarter-final when they already held a slender lead from the first leg?
Well, the Spanish side did not count on Marcel Sabitzer popping up to inflict some serious pain on them in Germany on Tuesday. After Julian Brandt opened the scoring for Dortmund, Sabitzer teed up Ian Maatsen to put the home team in control of the game.
Sure enough, Atletico de Madrid fought back and were back on top with two goals of their own, but Sabitzer once again set up a team-mate to level the score at 4-4 on aggregate before he popped up with a goal of his own to win the tie for Edin Terzic’s men.
Truly a masterclass from the midfielder!
Andriy Lunin | Real Madrid | 84 points
He wasn’t even their first choice goalkeeper for much of the season, but Andriy Lunin may have just secured his place as a Real Madrid legend for his exploits in their penalty shootout win against Man City. The Ukraine international was astounding all the way through their second-leg clash in Manchester, pulling off a total of eight saves to keep his team level against the reigning champions.
He stepped it up a notch in the shootout, though, as he made it look easy when he caught Bernardo Silva’s effort to turn the tide of the contest. He then kept out Mateo Kovacic’s spot kick to put his team in the lead and send them on the way to a massive win.
Raphinha | Barcelona | 70 points
His team may have surrendered a two-goal aggregate lead, but you can hardly fault Raphinha for his efforts in their 4-1 loss to Paris on Tuesday. It was the Brazilian winger who nipped in to meet Lamine Yamal’s cross and divert it into the net to give Barcelona an early lead against the run of play.
There was much more to his performance than that, though, as he stayed cool while some of his team-mates could not. He kept running at the Paris defence and dug in with a few tackles to keep the pressure on the visitors and give his team a fighting chance of getting back into the tie.