Finally, it was not possible. There will not be a completely Spanish semi-final in the Champions League.
Atlético de Madrid tried hard and dominated the clash against Manchester City, but in the end the British team managed to secure a 0-0 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium that is worth a place in the semifinals of the Champions League.
Diego Pablo Simeone's squad say goodbye to their dream of playing in a Champions League semi-final against their city rivals, Real Madrid.
City endured a nervous night at Atletico Madrid as they secured a goalless draw in their quarter-final second leg which gave them progress 1-0 on aggregate.
Pep Guardiola's Premier League leaders now face a mouth-watering clash against record winners Real Madrid but will first focus on Wembley where they meet Liverpool, a point behind them domestically, in the FA Cup semi-final.
Atletico started strongly in Madrid in the reverse of their defensive display in Manchester but the only first-half chance fell to City's Ilkay Gündoğan, who stroked a shot off the post.
City were pinned back in a feisty second period but Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo De Paul fired just wide.
'Hunger, desire'
"We had so much desire and hunger in order to achieve what we’ve done so far in this competition and now we can be proud of what we tried to achieve here," said Atletico midfielder Koke. "But we couldn’t quite reach the semi-finals."
Defender Felipe was sent off in an injury-time brawl but there was one more chance which Ángel Correa struck straight at City keeper Ederson which ended Atletico's hopes of a semi-final derby with Madrid rivals Real, who eliminated holders Chelsea in the last eight.
"We knew it was not an easy place to come, it is a hostile environment, it was a difficult night all round and how we defended and controlled ourselves over the two legs was incredible," City defender John Stones said.
Liverpool-Benfica
Liverpool and Manchester City will now resume their domestic duel in the FA Cup on Saturday after the pair reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in contrasting styles on Wednesday.
Jürgen Klopp's Reds proved too strong for Benfica despite being held to a 3-3 draw at Anfield a week after winning 3-1 in Lisbon. They meet Villarreal, conquerors of Bayern Munich, in the last four ties which begin at the end of the month.
Star forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were rested along with defender Virgil Van Dijk but Liverpool always had an element of control.
“I think we’d want to do better overall, but we started the game well and could have scored one or two more goals," Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson told BT Sport.
"It was really comfortable but we’re disappointed at the goals we conceded. We got through to the next round which is the most important thing.”
Ibrahima Konate, who opened the scoring in Portugal, repeated the trick by heading in Konstantinos Tsimikas' 21st minute corner only for Gonçalo Ramos to level from a break of the ball soon after.
"It's fantastic for me to score in the Champions League for the first time, but nobody is happy," Ramos told Eleven Sports. "We ended up going out, but we have had a great journey."
Farcial defending ended Benfica's hopes when keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos spilled the ball and Roberto Firmino tapped in a cross from Diogo Jota 10 minutes after the restart.
Firmino then volleyed his second in the 65th from an excellent Tsimikas free-kick but Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Núñez drew Benfica level.
Only a brilliant save from Alisson stopped Nuñez immediately cutting the deficit to one with seven minutes remaining but Liverpool settled and saw out the tie.
