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Tag: Champions League – English

  • Real Madrid advance after heart-stopping shootout

    Real Madrid advance after heart-stopping shootout

    Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a Champions League penalty shootout – again – to keep its title defense alive Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals.

    Defender Antonio Rudiger scored the decisive spot-kick in a 4-2 shootout win after two Atletico players missed. Marco Llorente’s shot struck the bar after Julian Alvarez’s score after he slipped was disallowed because the ball struck his right foot twice.

    Madrid also beat Atletico in a shootout to win the 2016 final – part of a streak of eliminating its city rival in four straight years.

    Madrid moves on to the quarterfinals to face Arsenal, which also advanced Wednesday along with Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund. The quarterfinals lineup was completed with Madrid’s win in a tense derby that ended 2-2 on aggregate score after extra time.

    Atletico led 1-0 after 90 minutes and extra time in its Metropolitano Stadium to cancel out Madrid’s 2-1 advantage from the first leg last week.

    Two key incidents defined regulation time. Atletico Madrid scored within 30 seconds and Real Madrid missed a penalty in the 70th minute.

    Atletico took the lead with its first attack when England midfielder Conor Gallagher pounced on the ball from close range when a cross by Rodrigo De Paul was deflected into the goalmouth.

    Madrid star Vincius Jnior blazed a penalty kick high over the Atletico goal when he could have sent the defending champion into the quarterfinals. He was substituted in extra time for his teenage fellow Brazilian, Endrick.

    Arsenal rested some regulars in a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven to run up a 9-3 aggregate score.

    Aston Villa also had a stress-free evening at home to ensure England has two teams in the quarterfinals, one night after Premier League leader Liverpool was beaten at Anfield by Paris Saint-Germain.

    Villa won 3-0 against Club Brugge, which played with 10 men from the 17th, after a 3-1 win in Belgium last week. Brugge defender Kyriani Sabbe was sent off for pulling back Marcus Rashford when running clear on goal.

    Substitute Marco Asensio, on loan at Villa from PSG, scored twice in the second half to ensure his temporary club will meet his parent club next.

    Borussia Dortmund rallied with two second-half goals to win 2-1 at Lille and advance 3-2 on aggregate. The beaten finalist last season now faces Barcelona.

    Quarterfinals draw

    The quarterfinals pairings are: Arsenal vs Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain vs. Aston Villa, Barcelona vs. Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan

    First-leg games are on April 8-9 and return games are one week later.

    England’s unexpected challenge

    There’s only one former European champion from England left in the Champions League. Villa’s unbeaten home record has driven its run to the quarterfinal, with wins against Bayern, Juventus, Celtic and now Brugge.

    Liverpool’s exit to PSG followed Manchester City being pushed out of the knockout playoffs last month by Real Madrid. Without the Champions League winners in 2019 and 2023, respectively, England’s challenge halved to just two.

    Villa’s 1982 European Cup title is perhaps a less-remembered one in the competition’s 70-year history. Arsenal’s only time in the final was a loss to Barcelona in 2006.

    Villa manager Unai Emery now goes back to Paris where his two seasons as coach there until 2018 seemed to be unsatisfactory for both parties.

    Asensio lived up to his status Wednesday as the most prolific substitute in Champions League history. The former Real Madrid player now has 12 goals in 51 games off the bench in the competition.

    Dortmund thrives in Europe

    Just like last season, Borussia Dortmund is better in the Champions League than the German league.

    The Bundesliga’s 10th-place team trailed Lille from the fifth minute to Canada forward Jonathan David’s shot, before rallying in the second half for a decisive 2-1 win. Dortmund leveled in the 54th from Emre Can’s penalty and Maximilian Beier sealed the victory nine minutes later with a rising shot.

    Dortmund was the beaten finalist last June – losing 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium – and got into this Champions League only because Germany earned a bonus entry for fifth place in the Bundesliga.

    Niko Kova, the club’s third coach in the Champions League this season, now takes Dortmund to face former star forward Robert Lewandowski at Barcelona.

    Top-5 leagues dominate

    Expected exits for Brugge and PSV – after Benfica and Feyenoord were eliminated Tuesday – leaves only the five wealthiest leagues in Europe are now represented.

    No team from outside England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France has reached the Champions League final since Porto coached by Jose Mourinho won in 2004.

    UEFA will share almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) total prize money among the 36 Champions League teams this season and the 20% higher payouts this season figure to widen the wealth gap in European soccer. England and Spain also are in line for bonus fifth places in the Champions League next season, sending tens of millions more in prize money there.

    Each quarterfinalist will get 12.5 million euros ($13.6 million). A place in the semifinals pays an extra 15 million euros ($16.3 million).



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  • Real Madrid beats Atletico 2-1 in derby

    Real Madrid beats Atletico 2-1 in derby

    A superb goal from Brahim Diaz helped Real Madrid maintain its dominance of the Madrid derby on Europe’s biggest stage with a 2-1 victory over bitter rival Atletico in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday.

    Atletico has been beaten by the record 15-time European champion in both Champions League final matchups and has won only three of 11 meetings with their city rivals in UEFA competitions.

    Also Tuesday, Arsenal made a massive step toward a quarterfinal spot with a 7-1 win at PSV Eindhoven.

    On a good night for Premier League teams, Aston Villa won 3-1 at Club Brugge, and Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 with Lille.

    A tense encounter in the Spanish capital was decided by a moment of individual brilliance. Diaz scored the winner for Real Madrid after squeezing past a couple of Atletico players and curling a low strike into the far corner in the 63rd minute.

    Diego Simeone’s team lost its finals to Madrid in 2014 and 2016 and was eliminated the other two times they faced off in the knockout rounds – in the 2015 quarterfinals and 2017 semifinals.

    Gunners romp to emphatic win

    Arsenal got off a shaky start and Jurrien Timber scored against the run of the play with a header at the far post, just after PSV hit the woodwork.

    The London team never looked back after that and led 3-0 at the half-hour mark. Noa Lang scored from the spot before the interval for PSV but the Dutch team crumbled once back from the locker room.

    Aston Villa wins away

    Aston Villa shook off its poor away form, and it was largely due to an own goal from a rival player.

    A turning point came in the 82nd minute when Club Brugge defender Brandon Mechele beat his own goalkeeper with the teams tied 1-1. Mechele slid to stop a cross from Morgan Rogers, only to deflect into the back of the net.

    Before that, the Belgian side had looked solid, enjoyed most of the possession and created the best chances in the second half.

    Looking demoralized, the hosts then conceded a late penalty that was converted by substitute Marco Asensio.

    Villa had suffered two away defeats in the group phase of the tournament, including one at Club Brugge. In the Premier League, the team has lost seven of 13 away matches.

    On Wednesday, it will be Paris Saint-Germain hosting Liverpool, Inter Milan visiting Feyenoord, Benfica taking on Barcelona, and Bayern Munich welcoming fellow German club Bayer Leverkusen.



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  • Champions League draw serves up a Madrid derby, Bayern vs. Leverkusen and Liverpool-PSG

    Champions League draw serves up a Madrid derby, Bayern vs. Leverkusen and Liverpool-PSG

    AMadrid derby. A German classic. A rare meeting between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.

    The Champions League got more heavyweight clashes when the draw for the round of 16 was made Friday.

    Pascal Siakam shows love for Real Madrid

    Defending champion Real Madrid’s reward for ousting 2023 title winner Manchester City is two city derbies against Atletico Madrid – the team it beat in the final in 2014 and 2016.

    Bayern Munich was paired with Bayer Leverkusen – the Bundesliga leader against its defending champion, who played a tight 0-0 draw just last weekend.

    Liverpool was the top-seeded team in the draw after finishing first in the 36-team standings last month but still got a tough assignment as the Premier League leader was paired with No. 15 seed PSG.

    Liverpool and PSG have never met in knockout games in the Champions League or the old European Cup. Their previous meetings were in the group stage in 2018-19, trading home wins in a season that ended with Liverpool winning its sixth European Cup title.

    The first-leg games will be played March 4-5, with the return games one week later.

    Also in the draw, No. 2 seed Barcelona was paired with Benfica – which it beat 5-4 in Lisbon one month ago – Arsenal will face PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan plays Feyenoord.

    Club Brugge, which got into the knockout stage in the 24th and final qualification place, will face Aston Villa, which it already beat in November. Borussia Dortmund will play Lille.

    The Madrid and German matchups were not possible in the old Champions League format where teams from the same country could not face each other in the round of 16. The new tennis-style seeded bracket allows for those derbies, and for teams to reunite after already playing each other in the league phase of the competition.



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  • Mbapp hat trick for Real Madrid dumps Man City out of Champions League

    Mbapp hat trick for Real Madrid dumps Man City out of Champions League

    Kylian Mbapp scored a hat trick, Erling Haaland stayed on the bench injured and Real Madrid dumped Manchester City out of the Champions League on Wednesday.

    Mbapp’s stellar trio of goals in the fourth, 33rd and 61st minutes in a 3-1 win padded Madrid’s lead to 6-3 on aggregate score over the 2023 champion in their two-leg knockout playoff.

    One superstar striker was watched by another from the sidelines. Haaland was not fit to start for an ultimately overmatched Man City because of a knee injury suffered late in a Premier League game Saturday.

    Paris Saint-Germain beat French rival Brest 7-0, to run up a 10-0 aggregate score, and will play either Liverpool or Barcelona in the round of 16.

    PSV Eindhoven and Juventus were heading to extra time with the Dutch side leading 2-1 to level the aggregate score at 3-3. United States international Timothy Weah scored for Juventus.

    In the early game Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund started with a 3-0 lead at home to Sporting Lisbon and was barely stretched in a 0-0 draw. Sporting’s Champions League campaign imploded after coach Ruben Amorim left for Manchester United in November.

    Round of 16 draw

    Real Madrid, PSG, Dortmund and PSV/Juventus join Bayern Munich, Benfica, Club Brugge and Feyenoord, which all advanced Tuesday, as playoff round winners who will be unseeded teams in Friday’s draw. They will host the first-leg games on March 4-5.

    The top eight in the 36-team standings three weeks ago – Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa – skipped the playoffs round and are seeded in the round of 16 draw. They host second legs on March 11-12.

    The round of 16 is in a new, tennis-like seeded bracket for the knockout stage in the expanded competition format.

    Madrid, as the 11th-place team in the standings and No. 11 seed already knew its next opponent would be Atletico or Leverkusen, who respectively placed fifth and sixth.

    Top-seeded Liverpool will play No. 15 PSG or No. 16 Benfica.



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  • Barcelona qualifies for the round of 16 in the Champions League by beating Benfica 4-5 in a crazy game

    Barcelona qualifies for the round of 16 in the Champions League by beating Benfica 4-5 in a crazy game

    Raphinha scored in stoppage time to complete a rousing comeback as Barcelona beat Benfica in Lisbon despite having been 4-2 down with less than a quarter of an hour remaining.

    Howdy! Vinicius Jr stuns in cowboy style for Pepsi commercial

    Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis scored the third-fastest hat trick at the start of a Champions League game, with two of his goals coming after errors by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Barcelona stays second with 18 points from seven games.

    Liverpool won every game

    Liverpool became the first team to guarantee a place in the last 16 of the new Champions League format by beating Lille 2-1 on Tuesday, while Barcelona fought back from two goals down to stun Benfica 5-4 in a thriller.

    Harvey Elliott‘s bouncing, deflected shot gave Liverpool its seventh win from seven games, just after 10-man Lille had equalized following Mohamed Salah‘s opening goal.

    Liverpool needed a point at Anfield to be sure of reaching the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams in the league stage, skipping the playoff round for teams ranked ninth to 24th.

    Salah raced through in the 34th minute to sweep Liverpool ahead with his 22nd goal in all competitions this season. And when Lille’s Aissa Mandi was sent off just before the hour mark, Liverpool looked certain to extend its 100% record in the league phase.

    But Anfield was stunned when Canada striker Jonathan David converted from close range to level the score in the 62nd. It didn’t take long for Liverpool to regain the lead through Elliott’s deflected effort five minutes later.

    Atltico de Madrid is close to qualification

    Another Spanish club staged a comeback as Julian Alvarez scored a 90th-minute winner to lift Atletico Madrid past Bayer Leverkusen 2-1. Atletico lost Pablo Barrios to a 23rd-minute red card and went into half time 1-0 down to a Piero Hincapie header for Leverkusen.

    Alvarez scored in the 52nd and had the momentum when Hincapie was sent off for a second yellow card, before Alvarez struck again to take the win and lift Atletico to third.

    Villa slides out of the top eight

    With Prince William watching on, Aston Villa‘s hopes of automatic qualification for the round of 16 took a blow after a 1-0 loss to Monaco.

    Villa led the standings early in the league phase of the competition after winning its first three games. But defeat to Monaco left the Premier League club eighth. Wilfried Singo‘s goal at a corner in the eighth minute was enough to secure the win for ninth-place Monaco.

    Dortmund slump continues

    Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 loss at Bologna increased the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin in Dortmund’s fourth consecutive loss at the start of the new year in all competitions.

    Serhou Guirassy gave Dortmund the lead with a chipped penalty and ran to celebrate with Sahin.

    It looked like the Champions League could provide a much-needed boost for a team floundering in the Bundesliga, but two goals in two minutes from Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Iling-Junior changed the game for previously winless Bologna.

    Atalanta beat Austria’s Sturm Graz 5-0, strengthening the Italian club’s push to qualify directly for the round of 16. Atalanta finished the evening fourth.

    PSV Eindhoven hung on for a 3-2 win at Red Star Belgrade despite losing defender Flamingo to a red card just after halftime while leading 3-0. Stuttgart eased to a 3-1 win over Slovan Bratislava, which has lost all seven of its games. Club Brugge and Juventus drew 0-0.



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  • Late Ferran Torres double lifts Barcelona to second place in Champions League

    Late Ferran Torres double lifts Barcelona to second place in Champions League

    Barcelona jumped into second place in the Champions League standings with a 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund, with Raphinha and Ferran Torres, twice, scoring.

    Ferran Torres came off the bench to inspire Barcelona to a fifth win in six games and push Dortmund, last season’s runner-up, out of the top eight.

    Torres came on in the 71st to replace Robert Lewandowski, who had a quiet game against his former club. Just four minutes later, Torres scored a goal on the rebound from Dani Olmo‘s shot.

    Pep Guardiola’s Fiery Encounter with a Fan After Liverpool Defeat

    Serhou Guirassy‘s second goal of the game leveled the score at 2-2 but Torres scored again in the 85th off Lamine Yamal’s pass on the counter.

    Raphinha gave Barcelona the lead before Guirassy equalized from the penalty spot. Raphinha and Guirassy are tied for second place in the scoring chart on six goals, behind Lewandowski’s competition-high seven.

    The top eight qualify directly for the last 16 and the teams placed No. 9-24 go into a two-legged playoff.

    Danger for City

    Manchester City plunged deeper into trouble in the Champions League by losing 2-0 at Juventus on Wednesday, the latest setback in a scarcely believable run of poor results for the ailing English champions.

    City dropped to 22nd place in the 36-team standings, with only the top 24 advancing. Progressing to the next round of the new-look format looked a certainty before the season for a team that was European champion in 2022 and has won the last four Premier League titles. But not anymore as City manager Pep Guardiola battles injuries and an apparent loss of belief among his players.

    City has won just one of its last 10 matches in all competitions, with goals by Duan Vlahovi and Weston McKennie inflicting the latest defeat and igniting Juventus’ qualification hopes.

    Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola.LAPRESSE

    In-form Julian Alvarez

    Man City could sure do with Julian Alvarez at the moment.

    With a brilliant curling finish to open the scoring, the Argentina striker helped Atletico Madrid beat Slovan Bratislava 3-1 and provide a timely reminder of what City is missing after selling him for more than $100 million in August. Alvarez has 12 goals for the season, with four coming in the Champions League.

    Antoine Griezmann scored Atletico’s other two goals at Metropolitano stadium as the Spanish team climbed to 11th place after a 10th straight win in all competitions.

    Arsenal beat Monaco 3-0 mainly thanks to two goals by Bukayo Saka to move into third place.



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  • Luka Modric won't reveal future yet but wants to retire at specific club

    Luka Modric won't reveal future yet but wants to retire at specific club

    Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric has assured that he still sees himself as having “strength, physique and football” to continue playing “in the elite” and has reiterated his “dream” of retiring with the white team, so he hopes that later of the Champions League final can reach an agreement with the club.

    Recently, the team felt the loss of Toni Kross after he announced his retirement from professional soccer and even though many had that as a possibility in their radar, he will be missed in Madrid. The team can’t afford to lose another star midfielder if Modric decides to call it a career soon. It does not seem like that would be case for the following season, but he is not a young player anymore and he and everyone in the organization knows it.

    “I have always said that I would like to retire at Real Madrid, when I said that I would like to retire, Real Madrid is what I really want and think. But let’s see what happens, let’s see what happens little by little and hopefully it will happen. It would be a dream for me to retire in my home, in the club of my life and I hope that happens,” he said in an interview on COPE’s El Partidazo with Juanma Castao.

    Luka Modric may already know when he will retire

    Luka Modric is a smart person and like one, he said something that has led to believe that he already knows when he will say goodbye to the most popular sport in the world.

    He said in the interview that he “cannot” say anything yet about his future and “what matters now is the Champions League final, you have to be focused on the final and the rest will be known in time,” he specified.

    “Not everything you want can always happen the way you want, at my age, I can’t think much ahead. I have to go day by day, week by week and see how I feel, what I can contribute, how I feel physically, mentally.”

    One thing is for sure, whether it is after the Champions League Final even if it seems unlikely, or after the following season, he will be missed by the Real Madrid supporters, his home country followers in Croatia and many other around the world, but he will probably miss the game the most.



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  • Raphinha double and Xavi subs guide Barcelona to thrilling PSG triumph

    Raphinha double and Xavi subs guide Barcelona to thrilling PSG triumph

    Raphinha stepped forward as the unlikely hero for Barcelona, as Xavi Hernandez savored a memorable 3-2 win over PSG in the Champions League victory quarter-final first leg at Parc des Princes.

    While much of the prematch build-up focused on Kylian Mbappe ahead of his impeding move to Spain, the Frenchman had a quiet evening as the two sides played out a fascinating game in Paris.

    The game started on a lively note when Lewandowski thought he had headed Barca in front after a misguided claim from Gianluigi Donnarumma, but left-back Nuno Mendes did superbly to hack the ball clear off the line.

    Lewis JolyAP

    The visitors continued to press for an opener as PSG felt the heat, with Ilkay Gundogan and Lewandowski again going close with Donnarumma looking less than assured in the PSG goal.

    And the opener came thanks to a piece of quality from the 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who proved with one pass why there is such a hype surrounding the teenager.

    The Spanish youngster produced a stunning delivery with a trivela – using the outside of his left boot – to find Lewandowski in the penalty area. The striker ducked out of a 50-50 with Donnarumma, but there was Raphinha to mop up the rebound with a well-placed effort into the empty net to score his first Champions League goal.

    It was no less than Barca deserved after taking the initiative to PSG, with Mbappe and the former Barca man Dembele a long way off their best in the first half.

    Dembele inspires PSG turnaround

    But after the break, fresh from Luis Enrique’s inspiring half-time team-talk, PSG looked fired up and found the equaliser just three minutes after the break. Mbappe’s cutback deflected into the path of Dembele, who smartly faked a shot onto his left foot and hammered the ball into the roof of the net, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen a mere passenger due to the sheer power of the strike.

    Lewis JolyAP

    Buoyed by the vocal home support at the Parc des Princes, PSG turned the game on its head when Fabian Ruiz received the ball on the right and slid a disguised pass through to Vitinha, who managed to sneak his effort under Ter Stegen to make it 2-1.

    Xavi’s subs make their mark

    Not long after Ter Stegen denied substitute Bradley Barcola with a wonderful fingertip save, Barca responded in perfect fashion through Raphinha, who after going 10 games without a goal in the competition grabbed his second of the night, volleying home from a world-class through ball from Pedri.

    With around half an hour remaining, the tie was there for the taking and Barcola nearly put his name on the back pages after bursting through on goal, only for Ronald Araujo to deny him with a last-ditch sliding challenge.

    That proved to be crucial as the pendulum swung again. Another of Xavi’s substitutes, Andreas Christensen, met Gundogan’s delivery and headed beyond the Donnarumma, who looked bereft of confidence after staying rooted to his line.

    The petty nature of the tie began to set in towards the end with Christensen, Pau Cubarsi, Fermin Lopez and Lucas Beraldo all receiving cautions late on, ruling the former out of the second leg. But Xavi won’t mind after watching his side bounce back late on thanks to his substitutions, putting his side in firm control ahead of the second leg.



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  • Champions League quarter-final draw: Date, teams, rules and conditions

    Champions League quarter-final draw: Date, teams, rules and conditions

    With the round of 16 games now completed, these are the teams that have qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals.

    Teams qualified for the quarter-finals

    • PSG
    • Bayern Munich
    • Real Madrid
    • Manchester City
    • Barcelona
    • Arsenal
    • Atletico Madrid
    • Borussia Dortmund

    When is the Champions League quarter-final draw?

    The date, time and venue of the draw for the 2023-2024 Champions League quarter-finals is already set, and it will take place on Friday, March 15 at 07:00 ET. It will be held at the House of European Football in Nyon (Switzerland).

    What are the rules and conditions for the Champions League quarter-final draw?

    The draw will feature the eight teams that have made it out of the round of 16, taking into account two new conditions: any team will be able to face the seven remaining teams in the draw.

    From this stage onwards, teams from the same country and teams that have met in the group stage of the competition will be able to meet in the draw. The first ball to be drawn will be for the home team, while the second ball will be for the visiting club.

    As has been the custom since the 2018-2019 season, the paths of the semifinals and the final will also be drawn here. That means the eight qualified teams will know the route needed to reach the final at Wembley on Saturday, June 1.

    We will also know which side of the draw will lead to being the ‘home’ team in the final. The home team gets to wear their home shirt in the event of a clash of colors.

    Dates of the Champions League quarter-final matches

    The quarter-finals will be played on April 9th and 10th for the first leg, while the second leg will come one week later, on the 16th and 17th of the same month.

    Real Madrid, Bayern, Manchester City and PSG already in the quarterfinals

    Carlo Ancelotti’s side awaits an opponent in the Champions League quarter-final draw, to be held on Friday. Real Madrid beat Leipzig 2-1 in the Round of 16 after winning 1-0 in Germany and drawing at the Santiago Bernabeu.

    Another European Cup heavyweight in Bayern already find themselves waiting in the quarter-finals after beating Lazio. Lazio left Rome with a 1-0 lead, but the Bavarians came from behind to win 3-0 at the Allianz Arena.

    The third team in the quarterfinals is Manchester City. The reigning champions gave Copenhagen no chance with a 1-3 win in Denmark and a 3-1 win at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola’s men thus confirmed their candidacy to retain the European title.

    PSG made it through without too much trouble against Real Sociedad.The Parisiens confirmed Luis Enrique’s theory that they have improved over the course of the season with a win against Real Sociedad with a 4-1 aggregate win (2-0 in Paris and 1-2 in San Sebastian).

    Barcelona and Arsenal joined by Dortmund and Atletico

    After a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 match at Napoli, Barcelona turned on the style at home to comfortably win the match 3-1, ensuring a 4-2 victory on aggregate to secure passage into the last right of the competition.

    Arsenal meanwhile won their second leg against Porto 1-0, but that was only enough for extra time and then penalties which saw Mikel Arteta’s men triumph.

    Inter took a 1-0 lead over Atletico Madrid to the Spanish capital, but a late goal from Memphis Depay sent the match into extra time and before Jan Oblak saved two and Lautaro missed Inter’s decisive penalty to send Diego Simeone’s men through.

    And finally, Dortmund‘s match with PSV was finely poised at 1-1 after the first leg, but Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus ensured the Bundesliga side made the last eight of the competiton.



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  • Nervy Real Madrid hang on to qualify at RB Leipzig's expense

    Nervy Real Madrid hang on to qualify at RB Leipzig's expense

    Real Madrid fans will point towards Wolfsburg, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain and suggest that some of their greatest Champions League triumphs came with a slow start to the knockout phase.

    Describing Los Blancos’ 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu as slow would be an understatement, as a Real Madrid team that played far below their ability was able to avoid an embarrassing elimination.

    In truth, the German side were kept at a safe distance by Ancelotti’s charges, but there were a number of nervous moments, despite the hosts taking the lead in the second-half.

    The skeleton of a generational team is there in Madrid

    There is talent wherever you look in the current Real Madrid team… and it’s young. When you factor in the likely addition of Kylian Mbappe in the summer, this is a potentially generational team that the club has recruited.

    With that being said, they haven’t yet mastered the art of the rope-a-dope, which many great teams use to keep fitness levels fresh over the course of a season.

    Dani Olmo tries his luck as Antonio Rudiger slides inBallesterosEFE

    After taking a 1-0 victory in Germany it became obvious that RB Leipzig were set up to try and score the first goal.

    Lois Openda was recalled to the starting XI after missing the first-leg, and it was the visitors who made the early chances.

    Xavi Simons tested Andriy Lunin, whilst Openda and Benjamin Sesko missed glaring chances. The best of which fell to Sesko who was one-on-one with Lunin but fired a shot straight at him. Sesko’s only saving grace was the fact replays showed he was offside.

    Real Madrid’s opener came through their best two players. Jude Bellingham expertly orchestrated a counter-attack, providing a clever pass in behind at just the right time, and Vinicius Jr. finished with a powerful first time shot into the net.

    Leipzig, though, hit back immediately. Real Madrid’s continuous inability to clear their lines allowed the German team to string multiple corners together, and eventually a clever cross was aimed at Willi Orban, who nodded the ball into the far corner beyond Lunin.

    Real Madrid held out, although Dani Olmo tried an audacious lob which hit the bar with virtually the last kick of the game.

    Nevertheless, Real can now start to prepare for the next round, although they have to raise their performance levels.



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