After Tuesday's crazy night, marked by the spectacular remake of the last final and Real Madrid's stunning victory over Liverpool (5-2), the last two round of 16 first legs were less memorable.

In Leipzig, the goalkeepers shone: Janis Blaswich diverted a fine shot from Jack Grealish (73rd), while Ederson won ahead of André Silva (63rd) then Dominik Szoboszlai (69th).

The attackers were less energized: against his former coach Marco Rose, Erling Haaland touched far too few balls to be dangerous.

The Norwegian left the star to the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, author of his 20th goal in C1 on a catastrophic recovery from RB Leipzig (27th), during a first half completely missed by the German club.

Riyad Mahrez opens the scoring for Manchester City on the lawn of Leipzig, in the 8th first leg of C1, February 22, 2023 © Odd ANDERSEN / AFP

The Germans still ended up waking up and taking advantage of their highlights to equalize, thanks to the header of Josko Gvardiol (70th).

Announced uncertain by Marco Rose, Christopher Nkunku came into play for the last 25 minutes, after resuming competition during the weekend.

Away from the field for three months by an injury, the Frenchman will be the Germans' N.1 weapon in Manchester on March 14...

City were playing under high pressure on their coach, Pep Guardiola, still unable to bring City their first Champions League title, despite their bloated squad.

Lukaku delivers Inter

The goalkeepers were also to their advantage on the side of Milan, where the victory for Inter only decanted in the 86th minute, on an unstoppable goal from incoming Romelu Lukaku.

Romelu Lukaku, scorer in the 86th minute for Inter against Porto, in the 8th first leg of C1, on February 22, 2023 in Milan © Marco BERTORELLO / AFP

Previously, André Onana and Diogo Costa had kept their respective teams alive, signing feat after feat for almost an hour and a half.

Excited, Onana even argued with … his partner Edin Dzeko, a surreal scene in the first period.

Mehdi Taremi for Porto and Hakan Calhanoglu for Inter, in particular, came up against opposing goalkeepers.

But the exclusion of Otavio for a second yellow card in the 78th minute upset the balance of the game.

The Nerazzuri are approaching qualification for the quarter-finals of the premier competition, which their supporters have been waiting for since the 2010-11 season... Lautaro Martinez's partners will have to ensure at least one draw at the Dragon stadium, the March 14.

The neighbors of AC Milan and the leader of Serie A Naples, both winners of their first leg, in any case allowed a faultless Serie A clubs at the start of these eighths.

The two clashes of the return leg are scheduled for March 8, with Bayern-Paris SG, and March 15, for Real-Liverpool.

© 2023 AFP