Home of football statistics and historyReal Madrid are on track to win their 15th Champions League title after a thrilling quarter-final encounter with Manchester City.
After a breathless 3-3 draw earlier in Spain earlier this month, the Premier League side were the bookmakers’ favourites to progress to the semi-finals.
However, Los Blancos produced a gritty defensive display to claim a 1-1 draw after extra-time to send the tie to a penalty shoot-out at the Etihad Stadium.
Madrid kept their nerve to knock out the reigning champions and jump to the head of the outright betting for UEFA’s top club competition.
Punters were clamouring to find bet365 welcome offers details after the game, with Madrid looking excellent value at odds of 7/5 to lift the trophy.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side will now face Bayern Munich in the last four and will fancy their chances of reaching the final at Wembley Stadium on June 1.
Bayern booked their place in the last four after Josh Kimmich’s second half goal at the Allianz Arena sealed a 3-2 aggregate victory over Arsenal.
The Bundesliga giants possessed too much know-how for the Gunners, who once again failed to live up to expectations in the Champions League.
Several key players went missing in both games including captain Declan Rice, who has done little to justify his monstrous £105 million price tag this season.
The hype surrounding the England international has been deafening, but his lack of influence across both games was clear for everyone to see.
Bayern will head into their semi-final clash with Madrid in a buoyant mood, but home advantage for the second leg should give the Spanish club a useful edge.
Madrid triumphed 4-3 on aggregate when the teams last met in the 2017/18 semi-finals and a similar outcome is on the cards this time around.
The other half of the draw produced a couple of surprise results, with Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund securing their places in the last four.
PSG trailed Barcelona 3-2 after the first leg in France but reached the semi-finals after taking advantage of the Spanish side’s ill-discipline.
Barca extended their lead in the 12th minute, but the tie was turned on its head after Ronald Araujo received a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The Ligue 1 outfit capitalised, firing four unanswered goals past the shell-shocked hosts. Kylian Mbappe (2), Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha got the goals on a memorable night for PSG.
Dortmund reached their first Champions League semi-final in 11 years by producing a stunning second-half comeback to defeat Atletico Madrid 5-4 on aggregate.
Atletico led 4-3 overall with 26 minutes remaining, but goals by Niclas Fullkrug and Marcel Sabitzer sent Dortmund through to a semi-final clash with PSG.
This is just the fourth time that Dortmund have advanced beyond the last eight and it would be a brave move to back against them making further progress.
Dortmund were paired with PSG during the opening phase of the competition, and finished three points ahead of the French side in Group F.
PSG took four points from their two meetings with Dortmund, but the German side have looked much-improved since the turn of the year.
A 2-0 league victory over Bayern at the end of March highlighted the progress they have made and they could be the value bet to ease past PSG in their semi-final.
The French side have a habit of underperforming when the heat is on in this competition and Dortmund are fancied to add to their woes next month.
The two semi-final first legs take place on April 30 and May 1, with the second legs scheduled for May 7/8.
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