The most storied clubs in European soccer are out. Now it's up to someone else to make history.
Deportivo de La Coruna eliminated six-time winner and defending champion AC Milan, Monaco ousted nine-time titlist Real Madrid and Chelsea overcame an 18-match hoodoo to beat stylish London-rival Arsenal.
PHOTO: AP
"If Deportivo continues to play this way it will be a worthy successor to Milan as European champion," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said Wednesday.
Only UEFA Cup champion FC Porto played to form, beating Lyon to reach the Champions Cup semifinals. The Portuguese club is also the only one to have won the competition before, in 1987.
Deportivo plays Porto and Chelsea faces Monaco in the semifinals on April 20-21 and May 4-5. The final is scheduled for May 26 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
On Wednesday in A Coruna, AC Milan was stunned by Deportivo's remarkable comeback.
The Spanish club overcame a 4-1 first-leg deficit to advance 5-4 on aggregate over the six-time European champion.
"There was always hope," Deportivo coach Javier Irureta told Spanish national TV. "It was a sensational first half and we knew how to play the second half with care."
Deportivo was 3-0 up by the end of the first half.
Walter Pandiani scored after five minutes as Deportivo pushed forward. Milan goalkeeper Dida misjudged Alberto Luque's floated cross which allowed Juan Carlos Valeron to head into an empty net for Deportivo's second goal in the 34th.
Worse came for Ancelotti's team in the 44th minute when normally dependable defender Alessandro Nesta failed to control Jose Francisco Molina's clearance and allowed Luque to race past Cafu and sidefoot a rising shot which gave Dida no chance.
Milan, nine points clear in the Italian league, could have then advanced with a goal of their own, but despite switching to a more defensive style, Deportivo scored again through Fran Gonzalez in the 76th minute.
Deportivo was knocked out in its two previous Champions League quarterfinal appearances.
"We were really excited about the prospect of pulling this off," Irureta said. "The other two occasions we were knocked out but after seeing that Madrid couldn't advance our supporters were highly motivated. Everything turned out marvelously."
Porto also reached the final four with a 4-2 aggregate win over Lyon.
Maniche scored twice for Porto in the 2-2 second-leg quarterfinal draw in Lyon. Porto won the first leg 2-0.
Porto stayed alive for a possible treble. The Portuguese league leaders have also reached the final of their domestic cup.
Deco set up both goals for Maniche, who one-timed his first goal past Lyon goalkeeper Gregory Coupet. The next strike came from a volley from 10m after another Deco pass. Peguy Luyindula, who had a goal called back for offside in the fourth minute, scored for the hosts off a Florent Malouda cross in the 14th.
"We had five or six occasions," Lyon coach Paul Le Guen told Canal Plus television after the end of the first half. "It's frustrating not to have scored more goals."
Both 'keepers were tested as the match drew to a close, and it was Giovane Elber who headed in the late equalizer off a Malouda cross but refused to celebrate.
The hosts finished the match with 10 men as Edmilson got two yellow cards in just five minutes, the latter in the 74th.
On Tuesday, both Madrid and Arsenal, which are in first place in their respective leagues, took first-half leads and looked a sure bet to meet in the first leg of the semifinals on April 20.
But Ludovic Giuly, who scored two goals, netted the series-decider for Monaco to set the aggregate score at 5-5 and put the hosts in the semifinals.
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