Bayern Munich were a few minutes away from taking the game to extra time, but with coach Julian Nagelsmann’s remarks ringing in Villarreal’s players’ heads, the Spanish side snatched a late 1-all draw to book a spot in the semifinals of the Uefa Champions League on Tuesday night.
According to Villarreal striker Gerard Moreno, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann’s comments leading up to the quarterfinal clash in Munish, inspired the club to a 2-1 aggregate victory over the European football giants.
With a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Samuel Chukwueze scored in the 88th minute to knock Bayern out. “Tonight they (Bayern) made the mistake of not killing us off and we took advantage of that,” said Moreno, who provided the assist for Chukwueze. Robert Lewandowski scored the opener.
What fuelled Morena and his side is Nagelsmann’s comments on Monday when he said that Villarreal had made a mistake by winning the first leg by a narrow 1-0 margin “which allowed Bayern to survive”.
“In the first leg, we made the mistake of not finishing them off. All the comments about that served as motivation,” said Moreno.
“What this team has done is great.”
The Spaniards will either tackle ace Benfica or Liverpool in the semifinals. In the other results on Tuesday, Real Madrid sealed a place in the semis after beating Chelsea 5-4 on aggregate.
Madrid won the first leg 3-1 in London, while Chelsea fought back hard and claimed a 3-2 victory in the return leg after extra time but it was not enough.
Tonight’s quarterfinal fixtures:
