Neat start and goal sharing

The program of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League was closed with matches in Munich and Barcelona. The greatest attention of fans was riveted to the meeting, “Bavaria” - “Liverpool”. This was largely due to the fact that it was very difficult to predict the winner of this duel, because the first game ended in a goalless draw.

The Germans took to the field of home stadium with the desire to pave the way to the next round. But “Liverpool” was not going to give up. Jurgen Klopp hoped to avenge Munich for all previous failures. In case of victory, Liverpool became the fourth English team in the top eight, along with Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham.

In the first stage of the playoffs, three Anglo-German confrontations took place at once, and the other two ended in victories of the British teams: Tottenham knocked out Borussia Dortmund, and Manchester City left no stone unturned from Schalke, sending it to his goal is 10 goals in 180 minutes. Thus, Bavaria had to fight for the prestige of their country.

An additional challenge for Munich was the return to service after the disqualification of the main central defender of rivals Virgil van Dyck. If in his absence the Germans failed to hit the gates of the team of Jürgen Klopp, now the task was even more complicated.

The beginning of the response meeting seemed to be a continuation of the first. The teams, as in Liverpool, were in no hurry to go forward and sought to minimize the risk, especially since none of their opponents had to get blood from their nose.

Slightly more on the rights of the owners of the ball owned the players, "Bavaria". Through the center, their attacks practically did not develop in the first half hour, since van Dijk and Joel Matip securely covered Robert Lewandowski. But regularly received the ball on the left edge of Frank Ribery, who was opposed by the young Trent Alexander-Arnold, and in general the Englishman coped with the most experienced visitor.

True, already in the first minutes, Liverpool was left without a captain. Jordan Henderson was injured on level ground and had to ask for a replacement. Instead, he went on the field Fabinho.

It seemed that the teams in this unhurried manner would hold the rest of the match, but in the 26th minute Liverpool literally scored from nothing. After the removal of van Dyck, Rafina lost sight of Sadio Mane, and Manuel Neuer for some reason jumped out of the gate towards the Senegalese. As a result, he calmly beat the goalkeeper and sent the ball into an empty net.

Now there was no talk of a closed game, because Bavaria had to score twice. And shortly before the end of the first half, the wards of Robert Kovac also waited for errors from the opponent. Jordan Henderson missed Serge Gnabry's jerk, he shot from the front at the belt level, hoping for a touch from Lewandowski. But in the end, Matip cut the ball into his own goal - 1: 1.

Unintelligible tactics and fatal corner

“Bavaria” was required to score one more ball, but the second half the hosts started very carefully and carefully. Despite the fact that Munich had to attack and take risks, they were in no hurry to do so. Probably, Kovacs wards were afraid of missing the second goal, which could be fatal for them.

One way or another, it was completely unclear how the German team was going to pull out a victory. Perhaps the only noteworthy episode at the gates of Alison Becker occurred after an hour of play, when all the same Hnabry was dangerously sweeping along the goal line, but this time the ball flew past.

Immediately Kovac changed the tired Ribery, who could not do anything with Alexander-Arnold, to fresh Kingsley Coman. But, looking ahead, the game “Bavaria” the Frenchman did not change much.

“Liverpool” closer to the middle of the half, seized the initiative and unexpectedly laid siege to the gates of the opponent. As a result, the guests managed to earn a corner, after the filing of which van Dyck outplayed Mats Hummels in the air and sent the ball with his head exactly into the near corner. Thus, the return of the Dutchman in the composition really turned out to be fateful for Bavaria.

After the second ball conceded, the game could have been completed, since the Munich players had little chance of saving. Kovacs for pro forma released on the field of Leon Goretska with Renata Sanshes, but these replacements were rather inertial in nature.

The point in the match put Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian, who had previously tried his luck in counterattacks with punches from the penalty area, cut out the thinnest gear by the outside of the foot on Man, and he sent a projectile into the net and designed a double - 3: 1.

Liverpool made their way into the next round and made the company to three other English teams. This is the first case in the last ten years, when the British will have such an impressive representation in the second round of the playoffs of the tournament.

Five holes for "Lion"

In the standoff between Barcelona and Lion, the favorite was obvious, but the French team managed to create some intrigue by winning a home goal in the first match.

The teams' paths crossed into the playoffs of the Champions League for the third time, and in the two previous cases Lyon also managed to play at home with a favorite in a draw, but at the Camp Nou he suffered two defeats with a total score of 2: 8.

The situation repeated this time. “Barcelona” defeated the wards Bruno Genesio - 5: 1. However, the bill does not reflect everything that happened on the field that evening.

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In the first half, the hosts scored two unanswered goals and seemed to be in complete control of the situation. But after the break, the guests unexpectedly managed to reduce the backlog to a minimum after a corner (not without the help of VAR). Now, one precise strike could have led Lion to the quarter-finals.

Subsequently, the owners had to go through several unpleasant moments, but everything ended predictably. “Lion” began to open up too much and was quickly punished for this by a venerable rival.

The main hero of the meeting was Lionel Messi, who designed the double and gave two assists. Thus, in the race of the scorers of the tournament, the Argentine caught up with Lewandowski and is second only to Dusan Tadic from Ajax.