Wrapping Up: Champions League Round of 16 - 1st Leg
No matter how hard I try, my article titles continue to get longer. It’s unfortunate but at least you know exactly what I am talking about. Eight total games took place over the course of eight days. The Champions League knockout stage is in full effect and I could not be more excited. Then the games happened and I am less excited as the vast majority of them were mostly uninteresting. Uninteresting may be the wrong word. Even the blow-outs had storylines that spawned a bit of intrigue. The contest supposedly pits the sixteen best teams in all of soccer against one another, even the bad games can’t be all bad. That being said, normally in my Wrap Ups, I would take a paragraph to skim the results of some of the games, giving two sentences max to these games I deem less interesting. However, I will not be doing that here. All eight games deserve to be written about, even briefly.
Tuesday, 16 February
Paris Saint Germain defeated FC Barcelona by a score of 4-1. Paris looked like world-beaters in this game. Kylian Mbappe asserted his dominance over the Spanish side by netting a hat trick. This was Mbappe’s second career Champions League hat trick, giving him a total of twenty-four goals in eighteen Champions League matches. Barca’s issues in big matches continue. The turmoil they have had in their front office and management has not been just suddenly wiped away because they cleaned house. With PSG being up three goals on aggregate, they should have no problem putting Barca away, especially with the game having been played in Spain. However, Manchester United did come back from a similar deficit in Paris to knock PSG out of the Champions League two years ago. The real test will be seeing if PSG can finally put away a side they should be able to beat, now that they have such a commanding lead.
The other match of the day saw Liverpool beat RB Leipzig 2-0. Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane scored the two goals for Liverpool because of course they did, and a very depleted Liverpool side pulled out a win against a Leipzig side that maybe shouldn’t have even gotten into the knockouts had it not been for a team ahead of them collapsing epically in the group stage. Curtis Jones and Thiago Alcantara were both magnificent for the British side as well. Liverpool are still dealing with a wild amount of injuries, but they still have one of the best front threes in all of football and a top-three coach in football as well. RB Leipzig on the other hand, continue to make critical mistakes allowing higher quality teams to strike. Julian Nagelsmann can get this team performing world-class sometimes but the cracks in the foundation seem to inevitably get the best of this team at the worst possible times. Liverpool should be able to clean this up quite nicely, but Jordan Henderson just went down for them. If the defense is going to be this depleted, Leipzig might just have a shout at pulling this one out.
Wednesday, 17 February
In one of the more interesting games of the first leg, FC Porto defeated Juventus by a score of 2-1. Porto went out and smashed Juventus in the mouth. Their first goal came in the second minute Rodrigo Bentancur made an absolute mess of a pass back to the goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczęsny, who proceeded to fumble it straight into the sliding foot of Medhi Taremi. Sixty-one seconds into the game and Juventus were on the back foot. Porto dominated this game and made it look like they were the team from a major five league in Europe. However, Porto’s dominance suffered a lapse. In the eighty-second minute, Porto allowed in a goal from Juventus forward Frederico Chiesa. Juventus now has an all-important away goal that could act as a tiebreaker in a possible 1-0 finish to the second leg. The all-important late goal aside, Juventus is in a lot of trouble. Porto looked like 2018 Ajax and came for blood. If Porto look this good in the second leg, Cristiano Ronaldo is looking at an early Champions League exit.
Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund put on a show last Wednesday. Dortmund beat Sevilla by a score of 3-2. Dortmund was led by a stellar performance from their 20-year-old superstar Erling Haaland. Haaland had a brace by half-time and Dortmund rode that momentum to their win. The game stood at three to one from the forty-third minute until the eighty-fourth minute when Luuk de Jong scored a late goal to narrow the aggregate score to just a one-goal difference. Dortmund looked dominant in the first half of the game, then seemed to coast as the game got to its later stages. It cost them dearly. With a one-goal difference, the second leg of this fixture looks to be an interesting one. Sevilla might not have the sheer firepower of this Dortmund side, but they make up for it with immense experience in European tournaments. Sevilla should be able to parlay their Europa League success in recent years into a very competitive and fun game in two weeks' time.
Tuesday, 23 February
The next game on the slate was a bit of a disappointment. Atletico Madrid lost to Chelsea 0-1. The only goal in this game came from a sixty-eighth-minute bicycle kick from Olivier Giroud. The goal itself was a masterpiece. The set-up was not. Chelsea had a break on the counter and after a so-so cross into the box, Mario Hermoso attempted to clear the ball. The emphasis is on the word “attempted” because the ball went nowhere except up, and because it was played back by Hermoso and not a Chelsea player, the very much offside Giroud was allowed to do as he pleased. The rest of the game was characterized by neither team being able to create chances, and the most through balls turned into goal kicks that I have ever seen in a game. These teams did not come to play the way I expected, but Thomas Tuchel remains undefeated as the Chelsea coach and that’s all you can really ask for. This fixture is up for grabs as the goal difference means nothing. However if these two teams show up the way they did on Wednesday, the fixture will probably be Chelsea’s for the taking because Atletico could not do anything for the duration of the game. (As a side note, Chelsea, these alternate jerseys you guys have are just dreadful. They look like if “Blue Steel” was a really bad soccer uniform.)
Bayern Munich decimated SS Lazio by a final score of 4-1. There isn’t a whole lot to say here. Lazio made too many mistakes and Bayern did what great teams do by capitalizing on those mistakes. Robert Lewandowski scored the opening goal in the ninth minute, moving him into third all-time in Champions League scoring. Lazio have had a good run in the tournament to this point and should be praised for getting this far, as most did not expect them to do so. This round is over though, barring a massive miracle.
Wednesday, 24 February
This is not the Atalanta of old. Real Madrid defeated Atalanta 1-0 and did so only by the skin of their teeth. Atalanta had to play defense all game due to a seventeenth-minute red card on Remo Freuler. The challenge came just outside the box and was by no means malicious. It was however careless and deserving of a red card. Those familiar with the Stadio podcast may be aware of the phrase, “Always watch Atalanta.” This comes from the Italian side being capable of scoring goals in bunches, and very quickly due to their unique and fast style of play. They have been hurt by Covid and injuries more than most teams this season and it is showing. Real did not look good by any means though. They had an extra man for nearly seventy minutes before they finally put a goal in. With eleven men it will be interesting to see what the next game in this fixture looks like, because even though it may have lost its luster, “Always watch Atalanta.”
The very last game of the first leg of the Champions League was the tie between Manchester City and Monchengladbach. City won this game 2-0 and it was a fantastic victory for them. Gladbach absolutely came out to play. The team looked sharp. The only issue is that City is in its best run of form, maybe ever. The first goal of the game came in the twenty-ninth minute. Bernardo Silva headed in a stunning cross from Joao Cancello. Few words accurately describe the beauty of this cross from Cancello. It deserves to be looked up if you have not seen it. The second goal came in the sixty-fifth minute and Cancello put in another beautiful cross to Silva, except Silva was able to find Gabriel Jesus in the six-yard box who tucked it away in the net easy as that. This second goal came less than four minutes after Gladbach very nearly put in a goal of their own that would have tied the game. Denis Zakaria crossed a ball in from just outside the box towards Alassane Plea. The ball was behind Plea so he stuck up a foot behind his back and was about six inches off the goal. The goal would have been a tide-turner and sums up the game very nicely. Gladbach were great on this day, but they weren’t perfect. Right now perfection is the only thing that can stop Manchester City on their incredible run of form.