There really is nothing quite like the Champions League - the less you can believe, the more enjoyable it is

The drama and spectacle we have seen in these quarter-finals reinforce the very fair idea that the Champions League now represents the very peak of the game

Ronaldo made no mistake from the spot to send Real through (Getty)

After the type of dramatic climax the Champions League has only rarely seen, and the type of emotion that everyday life itself much less frequently does, one of the men at the centre of it all was so surprisingly… restrained. Juventus’ Mehdi Benatia was asked about the penalty decision that had so theatrically sent Real Madrid through to the semi-finals, and concluded: “Football is like this sometimes.”

Except, really, football is never actually like this. It never goes to such peaks of excitement, all at the same time in the same round, offering entertainment that goes way beyond reinforcing the very fair idea that the Champions League represents the very peak of the game.

Consider first the spectacular football that fired these quarter-finals, and then the momentous consequences that football had.

There was:

One of the great Champions League goals, as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant bicycle kick to the applause of the Juventus fans.

One of the most amazing Champions League own goals, as Daniele De Rossi put the ball into is own net to seemingly put Roma out.

That controversy over Manchester City’s coach getting smashed up.

That Anfield atmosphere.

That Sevilla atmosphere.

That Liverpool display, and the magic of demystifying Pep Guardiola’s side by destroying them.

That intense onslaught of a Manchester City display in the first half of the second leg.

Roma producing one of the greatest comebacks ever seen in the competition, as they overturned a three-goal deficit.

Barcelona suffering maybe their worst ever match in the Champions League, as they lost a three-goal lead, and Andres Iniesta played maybe his last European game.

Juventus going to the very brink of the best ever comeback, then that decision, that furore, as Gigi Buffon was sent off on what might have been his last European game.

There was then another Ronaldo goal - and the celebration of it all - to crown it all, bring it all to a peak on the pitches… even if there was more to come off them.

It’s rare that there’s so many events in an entire season, let alone a round.

Consider the core elements of that: comebacks, legacies, endings, philosophical arguments, defiance, devastation, celebration... and just pure action.

It’s rarer still that you see such dramatic and emotional extremes in fiction, at least not any fiction you could take seriously. Football doesn’t have that problem. The less you can believe it, the more enjoyable it is, and yet the Champions League just seems to be producing more and more of these moments.

That in itself speaks to the fundamental greatness of the sport, with these quarter-finals proving the dictum that you should never not watch a game. Something might always happen.

What’s all the more remarkable is that it felt like these quarter-finals couldn’t produce events to surpass the first legs, precisely because those first legs had been so spectacular all of the ties seemed finished. The worst possible set-up for the second legs in terms of competitiveness instead only resulted in the best possible football.

And maybe the best quarter-finals for some time, that could herald an era of pure entertainment and vibrancy to match the way the mid-1990s are talked about. It does feel like the rate of excitement is only escalating, that we’re seeing more and more games for the ages every season. For Barca’s collapse to come the very season after they subjected Paris Saint-Germain to the same fate is one thing, but for that to be followed by what happened in the Bernabeu the next night?

Liverpool have a tradition of overreaching within Europe’s elite competition (G (Getty)

Liverpool produced one of the two-leg performances of the ages to knock out City (Getty)

As regards that, this has probably been the most intense quarter-finals since 2003-04, and has a lot of echoes from that season, too. Roma’s comeback against Barcelona was the mirror of Monaco’s against Real Madrid then, but has the improbable three-goal scale of Deportivo La Coruna against AC Milan. There was also the way an apparently all-conquering English side were enjoying a supreme domestic season, only to be undone in the biggest game by a team from a few miles away, with Liverpool doing to City what Chelsea did to the Arsenal invincibles.

And yet still this season had more.

And what more is to come?

That very thought will bring so much giddy anticipation, but should also bring some sober pause for thought about the competition.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a sensational bicycle kick goal (Getty)

Ronaldo was at the centre of the drama in the Real Madrid-Juventus tie (Getty)

While this quarter-final stage has indeed spoken to the greatness of football as a sport , does it completely speak to the fairness of football as a game; as a business?

The excitement of the last week has after all been the direct flip side to the mostly uncompetitive dreariness of the group stages and - increasingly - so many lopsided last-16 games.

These stunning events are still down to the ongoing economic stratification of the game. There’s a reason that it is now said the competition only comes to life at the quarter-finals. That is when the biggest - and wealthiest - teams finally come crashing against each other, with the stakes so built up.

There are minimal differences, creating maximum action. There's also an element of infectiousness as to exactly why these quarter-finals got so wild. In the same way that so many players began trying scorpion kicks after Olivier Giroud had executed one, so many sides who require comebacks are inspired after they see another team do it. Juventus were surely inspired by Roma, a side they would consider themselves far superior to.

Roma produced a stunning comeback to dump Barcelona out (Getty)

There should still really be little wonder it produces wonder. This is what the game’s powers have wanted ever since former Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi asked in 1987-88 why exactly it was that the big teams weren’t meeting more in bigger games, a question that created the path to the modern Champions League.

Whether by design or not, the competition has also thereby reached a level of pure entertainment - to go with the pure football - that would delight a cable TV mogul like Berlusconi. It constantly sees the brightest stars involved in the most engrossing storylines. This is what every broadcaster, in any area, would want: the epic nature of something like Game of Thrones recreated and arguably surpassed by the simple but perfect balance of a game’s very rules.

Whether that pay-off is worth it for the game as a whole is a deeper question, to be explored at another time, and not in the wake of the excitement we’ve just seen. To do so now even feels curmudgeonly.

Ronaldo stood up when it mattered most in both legs against Juventus (VI-Images via Getty Images)

There were still some curmudgeonly attitudes after the games from those involved, but that only added to the further pay-off there. There were the comments of Guardiola, of Marcelo… of Gigi Buffon.

That’s just football, though.

That’s what it does. It’s not always like this, sure, but there’s really nothing else like it.