The extravaganza of Messi and Mbappe, the masterpiece of Havertz and the failure of Allegri: how the 5th round of the Champions League started

The impenetrable goalkeeper of "Salzburg"

Following Manchester City, another English team, Chelsea, secured a ticket to the 1/8 finals.

Before that, Salzburg, which had not suffered defeat in the current season of the Champions League, could not cope with it at home - 1:2.

Judging by the score, the hosts gave the venerable opponent a worthy fight.

However, partners should rather thank Philip Köhn for a great match.

The Swiss goalkeeper has repeatedly saved the Austrian team and made eight saves.

Sometimes he worked wonders on the “ribbon”, and only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired five shots on target, but did not manage to force his opponent to surrender.

At the same time, at the very beginning of the meeting, Kyon faced Kai Havertz.

The German hit him with a knee in the head, and the goalkeeper was assisted for several minutes.

Fortunately, there were no serious injuries.

Philippe could not cope only with long-range strikes by Mateo Kovacic and the already mentioned Havertz.

The last one scored a particularly beautiful goal.

From the semicircle of the penalty area, he spun the ball into the near nine with a rebound from the crossbar.

It is doubly important that the midfielder's masterpiece brought Chelsea victory and a place in the playoffs, because at that time two units were on the scoreboard.

Immediately after the break, Chukvubuike Adamu closed the pass from the left flank.

Real Madrid defeat

But the giants, who have already secured their participation in the 1/8 finals, allowed themselves unnecessary losses in the fifth round of the group stage.

For example, devoid of motivation, Real Madrid lost to Leipzig on the road, to which three points were vital - 2:3.

At the same time, Carlo Ancelotti did not take care of the leaders and put up an almost optimal line-up.

However, his wards still looked inert and limp.

In addition, for a long time they could not establish a game in attack.

But the wards of Marco Rose brilliantly took advantage of the set pieces.

Joshko Guardiol and Christopher Nkunku scored twice by the 19th minute after the corners.

And in the second half, the coach completely guessed with the replacement.

Timo Werner, who entered the field with renewed vigor, put an end to it in the end.

Thus, the Madrid not only suffered their debut defeat this season, but also the fourth in total in the Champions League in 2022.

More in the main European Cup in their liability turned out to be only in 2001, when cream lost five times.

Leipzig, on the contrary, won for the third time in a row and, thanks to Shakhtar's misfire, secured the second line of the quartet F. Now, a draw in the head-to-head match against the Pitmen is enough for them to qualify from the group.

In turn, Manchester City failed to beat Borussia Dortmund 0-0 on the road.

Even Erling Holland, who spent the first half on the field, could not break through Gregor Kobel.

But the townspeople missed the most dangerous moment after an hour of the meeting, when the Swiss parried Riyad Mahrez's blow from the “point”.

It is noteworthy that two weeks ago, in an away match with Copenhagen, the Algerian also did not convert a penalty, and the rivals also parted in a goalless draw.

Disgraceful performance by Juventus

But Juventus did not qualify for the Champions League playoffs for the first time since the 2013/14 season.

After a sensational defeat by Maccabi, he needed to score maximum points in the remaining two rounds and wait for misfires from PSG and Benfica.

However, Turintsy failed the very first test in Lisbon - 3:4.

They allowed António Silva to open an account already in the 17th minute, but quickly bounced back.

Moreover, the judges did not count Moise Keane's goal at first due to offside, but then changed their decision.

And in the middle of the first half, Juan Cuadrado let the team down.

The Colombian out of the blue played a hand in his own penalty area, and João Mario confidently converted a penalty.

Finally, shortly before the break, the former Lokomotiv midfielder and Rafael Silva accomplished a feat.

The first one performed an excellent cross from the flank, and the second closed it with his heel with the full connivance of the defense.

Moreover, in the 50th minute, the striker calmly scored a brace, and the defenders again played the role of spectators.

However, in the end, the Italian team almost made a comeback.

Returning to the game helped him to replace the 19-year-old debutant of the main European Cup, Samuel Ayling.

As soon as he appeared on the field, he completed an assist from the left side to Arkadiusz Milik.

In the next attack, the young Englishman made another effective pass, and Weston McKenny finished off the ball into the net after the goalkeeper saves.

In the time remaining before the final whistle, Juve could both save themselves and miss more.

For example, Silva missed a one hundred percent chance to score a hat-trick.

He ran away to a rendezvous with Wojciech Szczesny, but hit the post.

Humiliating defeat by PSG

Together with Benfica, he guaranteed himself a ticket to the playoffs and PSG, who predictably defeated Maccabi at home - 7: 2.

Along the way, the Parisians managed to repeat their own record in European competition.

Previously, they scored seven goals against Rosenborg (7:2) in the Champions League in 2000, Gent (7:1) in the Intertoto Cup in 2001 and Celtic (7:1) in the Champions League in 2017

Of course, the unstoppable attacking trio of Lionel Messi - Kylian Mbappe - Neymar played the main role this evening.

The Brazilian performed worse than the others, limiting himself to one effective blow.

But his partners scored four points on the “goal + pass” system (2 + 2).

The Latino, at 35 years and 123 days old, became the oldest player in Champions League history to do so.

Messi also reduced the gap from Cristiano Ronallu to 11 goals in the list of top scorers in the Champions League.

The Portuguese has 140, and Lionel now has 129.

As for Mbappe, he beautifully spun the ball into the far corner from outside the box twice and brought the Argentine to the ball the same number of times.

This helped him to take the lead in both the tournament's scorer race (6) and the top scoring list (6+2).

And as part of the guests, Abdoulaye Sek unexpectedly scored a double.

The Senegalese defender is not famous for his high performance, and he had never distinguished himself in European competition before.

However, in Paris, he successfully connected to the draw of standards twice.

Major win for Milan

Another defeat was recorded in Zagreb, where Milan left no chance to the local Dynamo - 4:0.

In the first half, the hosts, clinging to their own goal, selflessly defended.

They had to literally throw themselves under the ball, and Dominik Livakovic made one save after another.

However, Matteo Gabbia's goal in the 39th minute psychologically broke the team.

The defender, after a perfect serve by Sandro Tonali, sent the ball into the net from close range from a standard head in the fall.

At the very beginning of the second half, the defense of the hosts in an incomprehensible way crumbled in front of Rafael Leau, who easily passed several opponents and accurately broke into the near one.

And the main anti-hero in Dynamo turned out to be a young defender Robert Lubicic, who clearly showed himself in a victorious match with Chelsea.

First, he missed and knocked down Tonali in his own penalty area, and then sent the ball into his own goal.

So the Rossoneri for the first time in 17 years scored four times in an away meeting of the Champions League.

However, it is much more important that the defeat of Salzburg brought them to the second line of the quartet E. In the last round, the teams will meet each other in Italy, and the hosts will have enough draws in order not to let themselves get ahead.