Cheryshev’s prestige goal in Milan and London sensation: how Valencia and Tottenham stumbled in the Champions League 1/8 finals

Goalkeeper saves and Leipzig advantage

Following the current Liverpool trophy holder, on Wednesday, the current Tottenham finalist held the first playoff match. In the rivals of the Londoners was the offender of the “Zenith” “Leipzig”.

At the same time, the English team was not led by Mauricio Pochettino, but by Jose Mourinho, who replaced the Argentinean at the end of last year. The eminent Portuguese had to fight with one of the most talented coaches of Europe of the new wave Julian Nagelsman.

By the way, a German specialist at the age of 32 years and 211 days became the youngest coach in the history of the Champions League playoffs. He broke the record of the current mentor of Spartak Domenico Tedesco, set last season.

Well, “Tottenham Hotspur”, unlike the opponent, approached the game with a number of losses. And after Sunday's fight with Aston Villa, the company of Harry Kane and Mousse Sissoko in the "infirmary" was composed by Song Heung Min.

It is not surprising that the hosts decided to play “second number” and made a bet on defense. The guests immediately crushed the opponent with high pressure and in the third minute they could open an account, but the ball after hitting Angelino and a rebound from the knee of Hugo Lloris hit the post.

Subsequently, the Frenchman was noted by a couple of important saves. “Tottenham Hotspur” answered “Leipzig” extremely rarely. You can only recall the unpleasant blow to the far corner in the performance of the newcomer Stephen Bergwein in the debut, which Peter Gulachi managed.

Eloquent statistics: in the first half, the German team owned the ball 63% of the time and delivered 12 shots against three of the Londoners.

The second half, “Tottenham Hotspur” began more actively and even created an assist moment. Lucas Moura from the slaughter position beat in the far corner, but the guests were again saved by the Gulaci.

It is not known how events would develop in the future, but after ten minutes Leipzig managed to earn an eleven-meter. Ben Davis openly knocked down Konrad Lymer, who burst into the penalty area. Timo Werner approached the “point” and confidently realized a penalty. Hugo Lloris, although he guessed the direction of the blow, but the ball did not reach. The German striker scored the 26th goal of the current season in all tournaments.

But the Frenchman really saved the team after hitting Patrick Chic at point blank range. If he had not shown miracles of reaction in this episode, and the chances of the hosts to save would have become minimal. And so Mourinho took a risk and threw Tangay N'Dombele Alvaro into battle with Eric Lamela.

After that, “Tottenham Hotspur” managed to seize the initiative, but to set the opponent unsolvable tasks did not work. The owners created the danger only through the drawing of standard provisions. For example, after a dangerous strike by Giovani, Lo Chelso from the free kick Gulachi transferred the shell to the post. A little later, he managed with a shot of Lamela. And shortly before the final whistle, Moura from the goalie line struck his head higher.

The final whistle recorded the away victory of Leipzig with a minimum score, which brought the team closer to the quarterfinals. In Germany, the current tournament finalist will have to try hard to win.

Hatebour's debut rout and take

In another match of the game of the day, Atalanta, which made its way into the playoffs of the Champions League for the first time in history, and Valencia, whose colors are defended by Denis Cheryshev, came together. The Russian just recovered after another damage and fell into the application, but remained on the bench.

And without a Russian, “bats” in the first half missed twice. The hosts actively began the meeting and forced the opponent to snuggle up to the goal. This onslaught led to a quick ball by Hans Hatebour already in the 16th minute. After the filing of Alejandro Gomez, the representative of the Netherlands struck the goalkeeper with his head in the counter.

In the middle of the half, the guests managed to seize the initiative and even create a couple of moments at the gates of others. In particular, Ferran Torres from the corner of the goalkeeper struck into the near post.

But “Valencia” did not use their chances, and “Atalanta” shortly before the break increased the advantage in the long run. This time, Josip Iličić was noted for a beautiful long-range shot after the transfer of former Spartak midfielder Mario Pashalich.

After the break, the wards of Albert Selades returned to the field with the desire to at least reduce the backlog, but very quickly missed another. Remo Froiler hit from the penalty line brought the matter to defeat. And after a couple of minutes, Hatebourg broke through to the wrong goal from the right flank and scored a double.

Only at that moment Selades threw Cheryshev into battle instead of Gonçalo Guesdes, and he literally scored with the first touch. After the opponents made a mistake, the Russian picked up the ball and just shot into the far corner.

Thus, Denis not only held his debut meeting in the playoffs of the Champions League, but also marked the second goal in the current season of the main European Cup.

At this meeting was actually completed, as well as the participation of “Valencia” in this Champions League draw. It will be extremely difficult for the team to break into the next round after such a defeat. “Atalanta” has demonstrated excellent implementation. Of the five shots on target, four were successful. The opponent marked 17 shots, only three of which were on target.