MUNICH: Late strikes from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise sealed a dramatic 4-3 win for Bayern Munich over Real Madrid on Wednesday, clinching a 6-4 aggregate victory and setting up a semi-final with holders Paris St-Germain.

In the other last-eight tie on Wednesday, Arsenal edged past Sporting to reach the semi-finals for the second successive season with a 0-0 home draw earning them a 1-0 aggregate victory.

At the Allianz Arena, the tie was level at the break in the second leg after a scintillating opening half, with record 15-time European champions Real going ahead three times on the night.

Bayern won 2-1 last week in the Spanish capital, but Arda Guler pounced on a loose Manuel Neuer pass to put the visitors ahead after just 34 seconds at the Allianz Arena. He scored again from a free-kick after Aleksa­ndar Pavlovic equalised.

Harry Kane put Bayern back ahead in the tie only for Kylian Mbappe to restore parity overall when he put Real 3-2 up before half-time.

Eduardo Camavinga was sent off for a second yellow card with four minutes left and Bayern pushed forward, Diaz blasting into the corner from outside the box after a crucial deflection.

With Real pressing for an equaliser, Olise curled in a magnificent shot to rubberstamp Bayern’s ticket to the last four and keep alive their quest for a seventh European crown. They will head to Luis Enrique’s PSG at the end of the month.

“I think even in the last 20 minutes of the game I felt like we were the team trying to make something happen,” Kane told reporters.

“They started to tire a little bit, and it just sometimes takes a moment, a moment of magic, an unbelievable finish, or an unbelievable pass.

“In this case it was two great finishes by Lucho (Diaz) and Michael (Olise), to finish the game off for us, and that’s what the Champions League is about.

“Sometimes, you can be the dominant team and lose, so it’s nice to get through and win this one.”

Tempers boiled over after the final whistle with Guler picking up a straight red for confronting the referee.

“We got off to a bad start, and then conceded again through a free-kick and a counter. The first half was hectic,” Joshua Kimmich told DAZN.

“The second half was calmer, we had more control — and then managed to win it in the end. It wasn’t our best performance, but we’ll take the win.

“The two best teams in Europe will face each other. We had many top level games against Paris in recent years. I’m looking forward to it.”

The defeat for Real effectively ended their season as they look set to finish without a major trophy for the second year running. Barcelona hold a nine-point lead in La Liga and Real suffered a shock last-16 exit in the Copa del Rey.

“I feel for them (the players), for the effort they made. It hurts,” coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Movistar. “I’m very proud. We’re going back to Madrid after giving it our all.”

For the first time in Real’s long Champions League history, their starting XI did not contain a single Spanish player. Jude Bellingham, who impressed off the bench in the first leg, was one of four changes to the line-up made by Arbeloa.

Arbeloa said the referee ruined the match by sending off Camavinga, claiming the official did not know he was already on a yellow.

“It’s unbelievable that you can send off a player for this action in a match like this,” Arbeloa told TNT Sports. “We feel really upset, really angry, really disappointing. This felt like a defining game in our season.”

“I think the referee didn’t even know he had a booking, and so that’s why he did it, but he’s ruined a knockout tie, a match that I think was really beautiful, that was flying, that was at a fantastic level, and that’s where the game ended.”

‘AMAZING ACHIEVEMENT’

Meanwhile, it was far from convincing for Mikel Arteta’s side as they held on to the lead given to them by Kai Havertz’s stoppage-time goal in Lisbon last week.

The well-organised visitors posed a threat at times, especially in the first half, and almost went ahead on the night just before halftime when Geny Catamo’s volley clipped the post.

Arsenal substitute Leandro Trossard also struck the woodwork in the tense latter stages of a dour game in which Sporting ran out of ideas and could not prevent the hosts keeping an eighth clean sheet in 12 Champions League games this season to set up a semi-final clash with Atletico Madrid.

While the result was ultimately all that mattered, Arsenal again lacked attacking spark and suffered an injury scare ahead of Sunday’s colossal Pre­mier League clash at Manchester City when Noni Madueke was forced off after a bang to the knee.

Arsenal’s Declan Rice said reaching another Champions League semi-final was “an ama­zing achievement” for Arsenal despite failing to silence their critics.

“To go back-to-back semi-finals is an is an amazing achievement for this group,” Rice told TNT Sports. “We want to now go one step further than last year and get to the final.”

Arsenal have won just one of their last five games in all competitions, a run which includes losing the League Cup final to City and being dumped out of the FA Cup by second-tier Southampton.

“Positivity all the way,” added Rice. “Who cares what people think. All that matters is what this group thinks, what the manager thinks, and we’re in another semi-final. I’m delighted.”

For Sporting manager Rui Borges and the visiting fans it was a case of nearly but not quite after the Portuguese side matc­hed the Premier League leaders over both legs.

“I think we deserved more and potentially deserved to play extra time; in both games the best opportunities were Sport­ing’s,” Borges said. “Arsenal didn’t create many opportunities. There can’t be any frustration, there can only be pride.”

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2026