Real Madrid beat Atletico in Champions League

Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a Champions League penalty shootout – again – to keep their title defence alive and advance to the quarterfinals.

Defender Antonio Rudiger scored the decisive spot-kick in a 4-2 shootout win on Wednesday after two Atletico players missed.

Marco Llorente’s shot struck the bar after Julian Alvarez’s score after he slipped was disallowed because the ball struck his right foot twice.

Madrid also beat Atletico in a shootout to win the 2016 final – part of a streak of eliminating its city rival in four straight years.

Madrid moves on to the quarterfinals to face Arsenal, who also advanced on Wednesday along with Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund.

Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe scores the first penalty of the shootout [Susana Vera/Reuters]

Real Madrid’s penalty low and high

The quarterfinals lineup was completed with Madrid’s win in a tense derby that ended 2-2 on aggregate score after extra time.

Atletico led 1-0 after 90 minutes and extra time in its Metropolitano Stadium to cancel out Madrid’s 2-1 advantage from the first leg last week.

Two key incidents defined regulation time. Atletico Madrid scored within 30 seconds and Real Madrid missed a penalty in the 70th minute.

Atletico took the lead with its first attack when England midfielder Conor Gallagher pounced on the ball from close range when a cross by Rodrigo De Paul was deflected into the goalmouth.

Madrid star Vinicius Junior blazed a penalty kick high over the Atletico goal when he could have sent the defending champion into the quarterfinals.

He was substituted in extra time for his teenage fellow Brazilian, Endrick.

Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior misses a penalty during normal time [Juan Medina/Reuters]

Arsenal, Aston Villa and Dortmund also progress

Arsenal rested some regulars in a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven to run up a 9-3 aggregate score.

Aston Villa also had a stress-free evening at home to ensure England has two teams in the quarterfinals, one night after Premier League leader Liverpool was beaten at Anfield by Paris Saint-Germain.

Villa won 3-0 against Club Brugge, which played with 10 men from the 17th, after a 3-1 win in Belgium last week. Brugge defender Kyriani Sabbe was sent off for pulling back Marcus Rashford when running clear on goal.

Substitute Marco Asensio, on loan at Villa from PSG, scored twice in the second half to ensure his temporary club will meet his parent club next.

Aston Villa’s Marco Asensio, centre, celebrates scoring their third goal with Aston Villa’s Marcus Rashford, right, and Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans [Jaimi Joy/Reuters]

Borussia Dortmund rallied with two second-half goals to win 2-1 at Lille and advanced 3-2 on aggregate. The beaten finalist last season now faces Barcelona.

The quarterfinals pairings are: Arsenal vs Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain vs Aston Villa, Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

First-leg games are on April 8-9 and return games are one week later.

There’s only one former European champion from England left in the Champions League. Villa’s unbeaten home record has driven its run to the quarterfinal, with wins against Bayern, Juventus, Celtic and now Brugge.

Liverpool’s exit to PSG followed Manchester City being pushed out of the knockout playoffs last month by Real Madrid. Without the Champions League winners in 2019 and 2023, respectively, England’s challenge halved to just two.

Aston Villa the only English winners still standing

Villa’s 1982 European Cup title is perhaps a less-remembered one in the competition’s 70-year history. Arsenal’s only time in the final was a loss to Barcelona in 2006.

Villa manager Unai Emery now goes back to Paris where his two seasons as coach there until 2018 seemed to be unsatisfactory for both parties.

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Asensio lived up to his status on Wednesday as the most prolific substitute in Champions League history. The former Real Madrid player now has 12 goals in 51 games off the bench in the competition.

Just like last season, Borussia Dortmund is better in the Champions League than the German league.

The Bundesliga’s 10th-place team trailed Lille from the fifth minute to Canada forward Jonathan David’s shot, before rallying in the second half for a decisive 2-1 win. Dortmund levelled in the 54th from Emre Can’s penalty and Maximilian Beier sealed the victory nine minutes later with a rising shot.

Dortmund was the beaten finalist last June – losing 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium – and got into this Champions League only because Germany earned a bonus entry for fifth place in the Bundesliga.

Niko Kovac, the club’s third coach in the Champions League this season, now takes Dortmund to face former star forward Robert Lewandowski at Barcelona.

Expected exits for Brugge and PSV – after Benfica and Feyenoord were eliminated Tuesday – leaves only the five wealthiest leagues in Europe now represented.

No team from outside England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France has reached the Champions League final since Porto coached by Jose Mourinho won in 2004.

UEFA will share almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.7bn) total prize money among the 36 Champions League teams this season and the 20 percent higher payouts this season figure to widen the wealth gap in European soccer. England and Spain also are in line for bonus fifth places in the Champions League next season, sending tens of millions more in prize money there.

Each quarterfinalist will get 12.5 million euros ($13.6m). A place in the semifinals pays an extra 15 million euros ($16.3m).