New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah at Anfield saw Liverpool overturn a first-leg deficit to secire a 4-1 aggregate victory over Galatasaray and book a Champions League quarterfinal versus Paris Saint-Germain.
Liverpool produced a performance of authority and class to emphatically overturn a 1-0 deficit from last week’s first meeting in Istanbul, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah getting the goals.
Szoboszlai opened the scoring midway through a first half that ended with Salah seeing a penalty saved, before Ekitike and Gravenberch struck in a two-minute spell soon after the restart.
With just over an hour gone, Salah did get on the scoresheet – this after a Wilfried Singo own goal had been disallowed for offside against Jeremie Frimpong – with a trademark curler for his 50th Champions League goal.
The Egyptian then hit the crossbar before being substituted due to injury in the only negative to emerge from an otherwise wholly positive evening for Arne Slot and his team, who can now look forward to a last-eight showdown with PSG.
Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid beat Tottenham Hotspur on aggregate in the round of 16 and made it to the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier competition for the 13th time (from a total of 20 participations). Furthermore, it is the eighth time under the tenure of Diego Pablo Simeone.
Atletico twice came back to stifle Tottenham and reach the quarter-finals, despite eventually losing in London. The home side had the better of the first half and led at the break through Randal Kolo Muani’s header, only for Julián Alvarez’s 14th Champions League goal in 17 appearances to cancel it out after the restart.
Spurs offered a quick response through a curling Xavi Simons strike but Dávid Hancko’s header all but ended their hopes. A Simons penalty in added time gave the hosts victory on the night, but Atleti progressed 7-5 on aggregate.
They will take on FC Barcelona in the last-eight, with the first leg at Camp Nou and the second at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
–IANS
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