Champions League quarter-finals - Previews & how to watch first-leg ties including Chelsea vs Real Madrid

The Champions League quarter-finals get underway this week with some huge clashes in the second knockout round, including Real Madrid vs Chelsea.

Liverpool, Man City and the Blues are all in action as the three Premier League sides bid to make it to the semi-finals of Europe's top club competition.

Tuesday 5 April

Benfica 1-3 Liverpool

Manchester City 1-0 Atletico Madrid

Wednesday 6 April

Chelsea vs Real Madrid

Villarreal vs Bayern Munich

Wednesday 6 April

Chelsea vs Real Madrid - 7pm (KO 8pm) on BT Sport 2HD & Ultimate - Live stream

Wednesday night sees a true glamour tie in the Champions League as defending European champions Chelsea play host to the competition’s most successful team in Real Madrid.

Yet the stuffing was well and truly knocked out of the Blues at the weekend as they rolled out the red carpet for their west London neighbours Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

Despite taking the lead, Chelsea were thumped 4-1 by the Bees at Stamford Bridge in a result which sees their top-four position in jeopardy for the first time this term.

Now they must regroup in time to face a Real side who sit top of La Liga by 12 points and eased to a 2-1 win away at Celta Vigo this weekend.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men looked down and out in the last 16 when Kylian Mbappe, who looks set to join Real in the summer, gave his current employers Paris Saint-Germain a 2-0 advantage on aggregate.

Cue a sensational display from Karim Benzema, who netted a second-half hat-trick to stun PSG and send Real Madrid through to the quarter-finals while becoming the oldest player to score a treble in the competition aged 34 years and 80 days. 

Los Blancos have demonstrated an uncanny ability to up their game for the Champions League in recent seasons even following a bad result in Spain and will hope to have put their 4-0 Clasico defeat at home to Barcelona behind them. 

Chelsea will take heart from last season’s 3-1 semi-final aggregate victory, with the Blues undefeated against Real in five European meetings.

Key to the battle will be who stars out of the forwards on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge. Kai Havertz, who is currently preferred over Romelu Lukaku, is expected to lead the line for the quarter-final first leg and the German has five in his previous seven for Chelsea.

Yet Benzema appears to be getting better and better with age and the 34-year-old’s eight goals is already his most in a single Champions League campaign. How the Frenchman will adjust to the challenge in west London could go a long way to determining who claims this one.

Villarreal vs Bayern Munich - 7.15pm (KO 8pm) on BT Sport 3HD - Live stream

It was a humungous shock and one that few who watched the first 77 minutes in Turin would have seen coming.

With a 1-1 scoreline to hold on to from the first leg, Villarreal were under the cosh at Juventus for the majority of the game only to shock the Old Lady with three late goals to send The Yellow Submarine through to the quarter-finals.

Two penalties, one apiece from Gerard Moreno and Arnaut Danjuma, as well as a strike from centre-back Pau Torres, saw Villarreal spring one of the surprises of the round to make the last eight.

Unai Emery is the master of the Europa League, but for the first time the Spaniard is making some serious progress in Europe’s top competition with his side riding high on confidence.

The bad news? Now they face an even more daunting task in the form of machine-like Bayern Munich, who have destroyed all before them this term.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side have netted 30 times in eight games and ran out 7-1 winners in their last-16 second-leg clash against RB Salzburg to seal their spot in the quarters.

As usual it’s Robert Lewandowski whose doing most of the damage. The competition’s top scorer has accounted for 12 of those goals and will fancy his chances of adding to his total against a Villarreal team who sit seventh in La Liga.

Will Bayern sink the Yellow Submarine and roll into the semi-finals? Or will Villarreal spring a huge shock and qualify for the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 16 years?

Tuesday 5 April

Benfica 1-3 Liverpool - Watch replay

Winger Luis Diaz marked his return to Portugal with the crucial late goal which gave Liverpool a 3-1 lead over Benfica to take back to Anfield for their Champions League quarter-final second leg.

The former Porto star, signed in January, was booed relentlessly but he responded perfectly in the 87th minute to spare the blushes of Ibrahima Konate, whose mistake just over half an hour after scoring his first goal for the club had gifted the hosts a goal they had barely deserved.

Jurgen Klopp’s side had been coasting at half-time in the Estadio da Luz after Sadio Mane’s goal doubled the advantage given to them by their centre-back’s header but having squandered numerous chances, Konate’s legs got tangled as he tried to make a clearance early in the second half and Darwin Nunez capitalised.

It was a goal which significantly changed the game for a long period, as Benfica suddenly looked the better side with Liverpool completely out of sorts, but Diaz had the final word to make the return look slightly more comfortable than it had done.

Manchester City 1-0 Atletico Madrid - Watch replay

Kevin De Bruyne struck 20 minutes from time as Manchester City grabbed a slender advantage in their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid.

The Belgian playmaker fired home from a tight angle after Phil Foden came off the bench to stunning effect in a tense and tight first leg at the Etihad Stadium.

Atletico were their usual dogged, defensive selves for most of the game and frustrated City despite the hosts’ dominance of possession.

Yet the introduction of Foden as part of a triple substitution by Pep Guardiola in the 68th minute paid almost immediate dividends.

Within moments he had slipped in De Bruyne with a delicate through ball and he finished firmly to put City in control heading into next week’s second leg in the Spanish capital.