The Champions League and Europa League came and went this week, and we got our fix.
This week, the other two La Liga behemoths broke into the Champions League quarter-finals. Atletico Madrid beat PSV on penalties while Barcelona saw off Arsene Wenger and co. in spectacular fashion.
The two European tournaments brought with them plenty to talk about and revealed much of how the top four leagues are performing on the continent.
This week’s European results by league against non-domestic teams:
La Liga – Four wins from four
Premier League – One win from two
Bundesliga – Two wins from three
Serie A – Zero wins from two
Seeing how this is Read La Liga, we’re going to focus on the Spanish teams left in Europe. If you missed crucial Europa and Champions League fixtures, we’ve got you covered. So click through as we give you takeaways and recaps from all the games:
PSV crash out to Atleti in penalty shootout for the ages
Atletico Madrid 0-0 PSV (0-0 on aggregate, Atleti win 8-7 on penalties)
This match made history, but not for the reason you’d think it would.
After no goals were scored in the first-leg and none were scored in 90 minutes and extra time on Tuesday, both teams were the first not to score a goal in a UCL knockout round, thus setting a Champions League record.
However, this match was by no means like the first leg. Both clubs saw chances, but none could finish.
At times it looked as though the teams swapped identities. Atleti controlled much of the ball while PSV defended their hearts out.
With the deadlock intact after extra-time, it went to a shootout. After both teams scored seven goals each, PSV’s Narsingh hit the crossbar and Juanfran scored, helping his side to another quarter-final birth.
Atletico will face Barcelona in the quarter-finals on April 5th.
Villarreal go through after Bayer draw
Villarreal 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen (Villarreal won 2-0 on aggregate)
Cedric Bakambu’s double in the first-leg was enough for the Yellow Submarine.
Marcelino Garcia’s side traveled to BayArena on Thursday and their defensive prowess saw them hold off their opponents and proceed onto the next round.
Bayer came out fired up, and Villarreal were more than comfortable to sit back and effectively stop Bayer’s possession-based play.
Bayer had their chances though, Kyriakos Papadopoulos saw his header bounce off the crossbar in the 55th minute. Furthermore, Javier Hernandez and Marlon Frey also had chances, but squandered them both.
Villarreal will play Sparta Prague for a place in the semi-finals.
Wenger admires "art" in defeat to Barcelona
Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal (Barcelona won 5-1 on aggregate)
“At some point in our sport, we must admire art and they have two or three players who transform life into art,” said Arsene Wenger after his side fell deep in the trenches of the Camp Nou.
The visitors came out with an extremely high-press on Wednesday only to see it backfire in the 18th minute when Neymar beat Ospina.
However, Mohamed Elneny equalised early in the second-half with a beautiful strike from outside the box, after Alexis Sanchez fed him with a neat pass from the right flank.
After that, Arsenal had to only score two goals in 40 minutes and Luis Enrique’s men were a bit nervous and playing on the backfoot.
That didn’t last long, however. A phenomenal mid-air strike from Suarez and a cheeky flick goal from Messi saw the Catalans cruise the rest of the way into the next round.
Sevilla crush Basel at home
Sevilla 3-0 Basel (Sevilla win 3-0 on aggregate)
Last week we said that Basel would have an uphill battle in Spain and we were right.
The Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán proved to be a huge deciding factor for Sevilla to break the tie deadlock, and Unai Emery’s men didn’t disappoint.
Sevilla used quick, short-passing on fast breaks to put Basel out of the drivers’ seat tactically. Jose Antonio Reyes’s return was fully felt after his corner kick met Adil Rami’s head in the first-half to put Sevilla 1-0 up.
Soon after that, Kevin Gameiro would score two goals right before halftime and it was over for Urs Fischer’s men.
Sevilla will face Athletic Bilbao in the next round of the Europa League.
Neville sent off as Valencia are eliminated at home
Valencia 2-1 Athletic Club (2-2 aggregate, Athletic Club through on away goals)
Gary Neville’s Valencia are out of European play.
After his side lost 1-0 at San Mames last week, they looked to overcome that deficit at the Estadio de Mestalla on Thursday.
Valencia looked like the more desperate and hungrier side when Santi Mina took advantage of a rebound in the 13th minute and beat Iago Herrerin. Valencia then took the aggregate lead after Aderlan Santos scored from a header.
However, Athletic Club didn’t lose hope. Aritz Aduriz scored in the 76th minute to put his side in front on away goals.
Neville then protested his way out of the match after it looked as though Markel Susaeta used his hand to settle a pass right before Aduriz scored.