Real Sociedad (Spain) – PSG (France) – 1:2 (on aggregate – 1:4)
After two unanswered goals in a tough home match against Real Sociedad (2:0), the French PSG arrived in Spain amid conflicts and scandals. The main reason for this is Kylian Mbappe, who announced that he will leave the team next summer.
Head coach Luis Enrique has replaced his superstar twice in a row in the French championship matches, saying the team must get used to playing without him.
However, there was no doubt that Mbappe would take the field in the Champions League match and play a key role in it. And he did his best, twice managing to evade his opponents in the counter-attacks of the Parisians and scoring a goal each in the first and second half, deciding the outcome of the match (2:0).
Sociedad, where Russian Arsen Zakharyan played (he was not included in the match squad due to injury), looked quite good, played in the first row and definitely did not deserve defeat in terms of the opportunities created.
As a result, the Basques’ efforts turned into a last-minute goal from Mikel Merino; This may have helped the home fans and players get at least a pleasant taste of this encounter – 1:2.
“Bayern” (Germany) – “Lazio” (Italy) – 3:0 (overall – 3:1)
In the first match of this match, the Germans suffered a historic defeat in Rome: Lazio became the first Italian team to beat Bayern in European cups in 13 years.
Since then, the Germans have suffered another series of failures at home and remain ten points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga with ten games remaining. There is almost no chance left for the championship.
However, Lazio cannot shine in the Italian Championship, where it is in the middle of the rankings. As a result, the Italians failed to create another miracle.
The course of the game was immediately clear: Maurizio Sarri’s men arrived in Munich with a mission to fight back. The blue team did this very well for a long time in the first half, and Russian origin goalkeeper Ivan Provedel saved the team when necessary.
However, the pressure from Thomas Tuchel, who retired at the end of the season, increased with each passing minute and the Romans relaxed their defense completely in the first half.
The Munich team had the most active full-backs, who constantly found themselves in someone else’s penalty area and received the ball from there. This is especially true for Rafael Guerreiro, who plays on the left wing. He had already managed to score a few shots in the first half hour of the game, and in the 39th minute he entered the free zone again, picked up the ball and shot into the far corner.
The bullet went wide of the target, but master finishing Harry Kane stood in his path and sent his header into contact, so that the reacting Provedel could only correct the ball’s trajectory, but could not clear it from the goal (1:0).
With such a score, the match total was equal again, but it did not last until halftime. Unable to weaken the attack in the last minute, Bayern won a corner and defender Matthijs De Ligt scored a wonderful volley with the ball bouncing towards him. Leaving no chance, he dived into the far corner and touched down Thomas Müller on the way, who eventually scored the goal (2:0).
No matter how hard Lazio tried, they were unable to turn the game around in the second half. The Italian club created many dangerous moments, but Bayern’s advantage was beyond doubt. The intrigue came to an end in the 66th minute, when once again Kane was in the right place at the right time and sent the ball into the goal.
Bayern won with a score of 3:0 and took the lead. The German champions of the last 11 years have clearly had a bad season, but the Champions League can still fix that.
Real Madrid (Spain) – RB Leipzig (Germany) – 1:1 (on aggregate – 2:1)
Real Madrid barely escaped from Germany by defeating RB Leipzig with a score of 1:0, the opponent had several chances and the goal was suspiciously canceled by the German team. It seems that everything will be different at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the nature of the game has not changed much due to the change of venue.
Leipzig looked like a more active and offensive team from the first minutes. The Madrid team generally chose too rational, restrictive plan and did not create a single chance in the first half, while Andrei Lunin had to work hard to score goals for the “royal club”.
Marco Rose’s men started the second half better, but Madrid gradually managed to come to their senses, replacing midfielder Eduardo Camavinga with striker Rodrigo after the break. “Kremsi” played better and in the 65th minute, Toni Kroos cut the ball in front of his own penalty area and threw it into the space. Jude Bellingham, who carried the ball to someone else’s penalty area, waited for Vinicius’ breakthrough and gave the ball to him. . The Brazilian needed just one touch to pass the goalkeeper.
This is it; Were RB Leipzig penalized? Not like that. The visitors attacked with renewed energy and immediately created the opportunity for Javi Simmons’ shot to be deflected by Antonio Rudiger, who was in front of the ball. However, the defender only delayed the goal.
A series of set-pieces led to David Raum’s cross, then Willi Orban momentarily beat Nacho Fernandez and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner. Thus, just three minutes after Vinicius’ goal, the score was 1:1.
For the remaining 26 minutes (including the added four minutes) Real were under intense pressure and in some places barely responded. Finally Dani Olmo even hit the crossbar and brought down Lunin…
Still, Carlo Ancelotti’s team barely retained their minimal advantage but clearly had a serious scare in this encounter, where RB Leipzig exceeded all expectations and showed themselves to be a very strong opponent.
“Manchester City” (England) – “Copenhagen” (Denmark) – 3:1 (overall – 6:2)
After a 3:1 away win in Denmark, Manchester City would have no problems advancing to the quarter-finals on home soil, especially since the Danes set an interesting record: they became the first club to reach the quarter-finals. They will send three players under the age of 20 straight into the Champions League play-offs.
Just eight minutes after the start of the game, City took a 2-0 lead after taking advantage of two corners. First, Julian Alvarez’s service from the right wing led to Manuel Akanji’s volley (1:0), then from the corner kick taken from the left wing, Alvarez received the ball from the rebound from outside the penalty area and shot. near the top corner (2:0). The ball flew into the goalkeeper’s hand, but the goalkeeper couldn’t catch it and threw it into the net from his back…
True, Copenhagen striker Mohamed Elyounoussi sent the ball into Ederson’s goal after a wonderful combination at the end of half an hour of play (2:1), but before the half-time Erling Haaland had his say with his individual mastery, understanding the penalty. area and drive the ball towards the near corner.
3:1 – This blow finally put an end to the scoring feast and the teams finished both matches of this match with the same score in favor of the English.