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Champions League: Best XI from the quarter-finals

The UEFA Champions League threw up some exciting fixtures in the quarter-finals rather than the usual fare in recent years and it lived up to everyone's expectations when the final four teams were decided. Real Madrid, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and AS Monaco now await the draw on Friday to find out who they will be taking on in the semi-finals.

Looking back at the four ties, who were the biggest stars from the quarter-finals? We've made a XI of the best players to form one frightening team.


Goalkeeper

Manuel Neuer

While we were tempted to pick Gianluigi Buffon for keeping not one but two clean sheets against mighty Barcelona, the truth is that he was helped by the defence and was hardly called into action as much as Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer was against Real Madrid.

The German goalkeeper may have conceded in both legs but it was his incredible performances in goal that kept the scoreline respectable – especially in the first leg. The Bavarian giants were reduced to 10 men in both legs (red cards were shown to Javi Martinez in the first leg and Arturo Vidal in the second leg) and were on the backfoot for the majority of the 210 minutes as the second leg went into extra time.

Cristiano Ronaldo may have celebrated his 100th goal sooner had Neuer not been in the way. The 31-year-old made 10 saves in the first leg followed by six in the second leg. The highlight was arguably the save towards the end of the first leg where he simply held his arm out to block a Ronaldo rocket.

Anyone else's forearm would have broken in half but Neuer obviously has adamantium infused into his bones.

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