The favorites “spoke” and “signed” two doubles in the first pair of matches of the “16” phase of the Champions League, as Real Madrid had a difficult time at the “Red Bull Arena” beating Leipzig 1-0, while the same time last year’s European champions Manchester City came away with a 3-1 victory in Copenhagen, making things easier for the return matches on March 6 at their respective venues.
In Germany, the “queen” went with too many shortcomings and with a “service” defense (Tsoameni, Nacho), as the injured Alaba, Rudiger, Bellingham, plus the permanently absent Militao and Courtois were absent. Leipzig put a lot of pressure on them in the first half, they missed important opportunities with Cesko, but Lunin was very stable under the posts, keeping a clean sheet in Madrid’s defense.
At the start of the second half, Real “struck” at the right time, with a wonderful goal by Brahim Diaz, who avoided two players and sent the ball from the edge of the area into the “loophole” of Gulasi. In the 72nd minute, Vinicius missed the chance to “finish” the match, as his shot hit the left post, while in the final, Lunin had two more saves “sealing” Real’s victory.
At “Parken”, City’s clear footballing and competitive superiority was “challenged” for just 12 minutes. That is how long it took for the “citizens” to retake the lead with Bernardo Silva’s goal (45’+1′) after Matson’s equalizer in the 34th minute.
Pep Guardiola’s team opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a “frozen” corner shot by Kevin de Bruyne and in the second half they looked hard for the third goal, but the failure of their “hunters” and the wonderful Grabara kept the score at 2- 1 for a long time. Finally, Kevin de Bruyne, “served” his second assist in the match at 90’+3′ with Phil Foden spotting it right for the final 3-1.
The detailed results and scorers of the first matches for the “16” phase of the Champions League are as follows:
Leipzig (Germany)-Real Madrid (Spain) 0-1 (48′ Brahim Diaz)
Copenhagen (Denmark)-Manchester City (England) 1-3 (34′ Matson – 10′ De Bruyne, 45’+1′ Bernardo Silva, 90’+3′ Foden)
Lazio (Italy)-Bayern Munich (Germany) 14/02
Paris Saint-Germain (France)-Real Sociedad (Spain) 02/14
Inter (Italy)-Atletico Madrid (Spain) 20/02
Eindhoven (Netherlands)-Dortmund (Germany) 20/02
Porto (Portugal)-Arsenal (England) 21/02
Napoli (Italy)-Barcelona (Spain) 21/02
The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the competition is scheduled for March 15.
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