Winners and Losers From the 2024 UEFA Champions League Semi Finals

The Champions League never fails to deliver.

Real Madrid's late comeback to crush Bayern Munich was a powerful reminder that this competition is the most brutal in football; take your eye off the ball and you're gone. Los Blancos' 2-1 win on Wednesday put them through to the Wembley final 4-3 on aggregate.

They'll meet Borussia Dortmund, newly crowned Paris Saint-Germain conquerers and major villains in the Kylian Mbappé story arc. Their brilliant 1-0 win on Tuesday completed a memorable 2-0 aggregate score and has them back at the stadium where they lost the 2013 final.

Here's your winners and losers for the penultimate time in this year's ridiculous competition...

Where to start?

Nico Schlotterbeck's unbelievable assist for Dortmund's winner in the first leg? Mats Hummels shutting down threats even when it looked like they had escaped his grasp? Hummels' tie-securing winner in the second leg? Or maybe with Julian Ryerson, who was not fancied by many to take on Kylian Mbappé at full-back for the return game?

Dortmund's defense was absolutely superb in both matches against PSG. They had to be, too, because the Parisians wracked up 44 shots across 180 minutes, including 30 in the second leg.

The Germans did ride their luck with PSG hitting the woodwork six times, but Edin Terzić's gameplan largely limited the French side to unlikely long rangers. Granted, Warren Zaïre-Emery really should have done better with his shot off the post in the second half on Tuesday, a miss that was quickly compounded by Hummels' free header.

That Mbappé was so quiet was a true sign of a well-drilled team who were ready to put it on the line.

And so with that, Mbappé's chances of capturing PSG's first-ever Champions League trophy comes to an end.

The French striker is highly expected to join Real Madrid in the summer, moving to the competition's most prolific winners. He'll forget the PSG failure in no time, but where does it leave the investment project from Qatar?

It's easy to be negative, sure. PSG probably should have won the European title by now, especially as we've seen Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar pitted together.

However, this year's squad is young and has arguably gone further than they could have expected to. Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo, Nuno Mendes, Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos are all 22 or under. Most of the squad remains in their mid-20s.

There's a good foundation to build on, although the loss of Mbappé could come back to haunt them more directly at some point.

The reaction to Jadon Sancho's form while on loan at Dortmund has been a bit odd.

Manchester United are constantly being ripped for letting him go, especially because their form continues to shock. They are dire. But nobody will be happier to see Sancho performing than his parent club.

For starters, he will earn them a larger loan fee, and potentially a greater sum if he's sold in the summer. Secondly, no matter what viral tweets and social media accounts want you to think, the Red Devils will want to see him succeed.

And succeed he has.

Sancho was excellent in the first leg against PSG. We saw all of his best qualities; the sharp, twisty-turny dribbling, the ball retention, and the ability to drift into space and eliminate his mark at a jogging pace. He has an incredible footballing IQ when he's confident and switched on. Sancho worked hard in the second leg but didn't get in the game as much. His body language didn't drop, though.

Well done to the Englishman for putting in the work and reminding the world exactly why he was one of the most coveted stars in the world a couple of seasons ago. And 'lol' at United.

You're 1-0 up at the Bernabeu. You're causing Madrid issues on the break and look like you could get a second goal through a combination of Jamal Musiala's pace and Harry Kane's precision. You remove them both and shell up. You quickly concede two to lose the game when there was absolutely no reason to do so.

Tuchel was playing a blinder and let it slip like Manuel Neuer fumbling Vincius Junior's shot before Joselu's opener.

Bayern didn't need to go so desperately defensive, and even if they did, removing Kane was never the move in case they needed a goal.

If Tuchel could be re-sacked, he probably should be. Any goodwill he built up after the announcement he was leaving gone again.

Jude Bellingham wasn't particularly good in the two legs against Bayern. He worked hard and certainly put in a shift, but Konrad Laimer managed to snuff him out in attacking positions.

However, Bellingham is having an INCREDIBLE debut season at Madrid. Twenty-two goals and eight assists across La Liga and the Champions League, including numerous late winners and match-defining displays. He was the key player in Madrid's domestic title win at the age of 20. He could be the key player in lifting this famous trophy again.

Who could argue with a Bellingham Ballon d'Or win if they get beyond Dortmund in the final? It'd be incredibly difficult, especially if England performed well at Euro 2024.

Football is an unbelievable sport that constantly surprises. Case in point: former Stoke City striker Joselu scored two in three touches off the bench to eliminate Bayern.

The man could barely do it on a wet and windy night at the Britannia Stadium, but boy, did he deliver in the sweltering warmth of Madrid's new and improved stadium.

Can he do it at Wembley? Until then!