(AFP) - Real Madrid, Spain, and Napoli, Italy, once again beat their guests, Liverpool, England, and Eintracht Frankfurt, and completed the quarter-finals of the European Football Champions League, with the first winning 1-0 and the second 3-0 on Wednesday in the second leg of the final price.
And if Real is accustomed to reaching this role with its record of 14 titles in the competition, Napoli will play it for the first time in its history.
The lottery will be drawn on Friday, when it will be open, with confrontations between clubs from the same country and clubs that were together in the group stage allowed.
Real and Napoli joined Manchester City and Chelsea, Benfica of Portugal, AC Milan and Inter of Italy, and Bayern Munich of Germany.
At the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium, Real renewed its victory over its guest, Liverpool, with the goal of Frenchman Karim Benzema, after he swept him 5-2 in England in the first leg.
The English club's knot continued against its Spanish counterpart, and it failed to take revenge on the team that dropped it in last season's final in Paris.
Liverpool entered the match realizing that the task was very difficult after its humiliating loss at home in the first leg, despite its two-goal lead, before conceding for the first time in its history five goals at home in European competitions.
Liverpool also fell to the Royal Club in the final of the 2018 tournament, leaving the English team without any victory against Real Madrid in the last eight matches (7 defeats and a draw).
The last victory of the Reds against Real goes back to the two final price matches in the 2008-2009 season, with a total of 5-0 (4-0 and 1-0).
And while the task of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti's team is getting more and more difficult to defend his title in the Spanish League, due to his nine-point distance from his rival Barcelona, knowing that they meet Sunday in El Clasico at the Camp Nou, he is looking to continue his career in his beloved championship.
"We did our job in the first leg and respected them in the second leg," Benzema said. "It was a great match with a lot of momentum. These are high-level matches, they are never easy and it's all about the details".
And he continued, "It can be said that we have mastered our lesson. When you have the opportunity, you should translate it, and we were able to do that," referring to what he suffers from in his ankle by saying, "It is a mild pain, a blow, nothing serious."
Regarding the focus on the Champions League, he said, "In order to prepare for the Champions League, we must not give up anything in the Spanish League. We will go there (to Barcelona on Sunday) to win and try to catch up with them. Nothing is finished."
As for Liverpool, after recovering from its shocking loss at home against Real Madrid, it achieved a resounding victory after that in the league over rivals Manchester United 7-0, before returning to the cycle of shaky results by losing to humble Bournemouth 0-1, to drop to sixth place.
He will end his season without a title after leaving the England Cup and now the Champions League, and he will wage an intense struggle in the league to qualify for the continental competition next season.
Benzema scored the only goal of the match after the ball reached him from his compatriot Eduardo Camavinga in the depths on the outskirts of the area, he tried to shoot it, it collided with Dutch defender Virgil van Dyck to reach the Brazilian Vinicius Junior inside the area, he tried to follow it “on the fly” low, but he slipped and managed to pass it purely despite harassment From Van Dyck to the Frenchman on the goal, he easily followed it into the net (78).
Napoli achieved a historic achievement after reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in its history, by defeating its guest, Eintracht Frankfurt, 3-0.
The meeting was held without the presence of the fans of the German guest in the stands of the “Diego Armando Maradona” stadium, by decision of the local authorities, but that did not prevent them from traveling to southern Italy and clashing with the police, with the support of fans of the local competitor, Atalanta, according to the media.
And after winning the first leg outside the bases 2-0, coach Luciano Spalletti's team renewed its supremacy over the German team, which is competing in the main continental competition for the first time, as a result of winning the "Europa League" title last season.
As usual, Nigerian Victor Osimhen was the key to Napoli's victory by scoring a goal in each half (2 + 45 and 53), raising his tally to four goals in the Champions League and 23 in 28 games in all competitions this season, before adding Poland's Piotr Zelensky III from a penalty kick ( 64).
Osimhen said after qualifying, "It is wonderful to make history with this victory, and I am proud that I contributed to it. We want to continue in this way. I think I played a good match and the team played a great match against a difficult team."
In response to a question about the possibility of winning the Champions League, "We will continue to dream, we have the team to do it. I think we are on the right track. We have a great coach. We will see what the future holds for us, I think we have a good opportunity."
And Napoli confirmed that what he is achieving locally and moving steadily towards winning the Italian League title for the first time since 1990, with an 18-point lead over his closest pursuers, is not a coincidence, but was accompanied by this continental achievement.
In a city that had not dreamed of glory since the days of the late Argentine legend Diego Armando Maradona, Osimhen and Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia came to ignite the enthusiasm of the Naples fans again and give them hope not only to win the local league title, but also to achieve the miracle of winning the Champions League title.