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Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin: Always there
Photo: Lisi Niesner / REUTERS
From sideline to hero:
A vote of no confidence could hardly have been clearer: After goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois tore his cruciate ligament in August, Real Madrid immediately looked for a replacement. The Royals found what they were looking for in Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga, who the Blues once made the most expensive goalkeeper in history with a transfer fee of 80 million euros. Only: The prominent newcomer lost the duel against the supposedly demoted Andriy Lunin - and the 25-year-old Ukrainian showed in Leipzig why Carlo Ancelotti now trusts him: The U20 world champion from 2019 showed nine (!) saves, some of which were outstanding, and denied Benjamin, for example Šeško (10th/81st minute), Dani Olmo (51st), Xavi (81st) and Amadou Haidara (84th) scored the goal. Only thanks to Lunin's goalkeeping performance did the royal pomadicity go unpunished this time. "That was his best game since I've known him," praised Ancelotti later.
The result:
RB Leipzig lost 0-1 (0-0) to Real Madrid in the first leg of the round of 16 - even though the Bundesliga club were on par in terms of play. The second leg on March 6th at Madrid's Estadio Bernabéu will be a mammoth task. Click here for the match report.
Without the talisman:
does he play – or doesn’t he play? Jude Bellingham's loss from Real Madrid seemed a done deal. The Englishman had only scored two goals for FC Girona in their 4-0 win at the weekend, but then sprained his ankle. Marco Rose, Bellingham's former coach at Borussia Dortmund, didn't trust it: "I'll only believe he's out if he's not in the stadium tomorrow," said RB Leipzig's head coach at the press conference on Monday. Leipzig could count themselves lucky: the man who scored four goals and prepared three in the group stage was actually not available to Real.
He whistles, they whistle:
Knockout games are naturally nothing new for record champions Real Madrid, nor for RB Leipzig. The Bundesliga club is in the round of 16 of the premier class for the fourth time in five years. But one person made his debut in the round of sixteen: referee Irfan Peljto. The Bosnian came to Leipzig with the experience of seven group games - and conducted an involuntary whistle concert: after two minutes he ruled that Benjamin Šeško's header was offside by the passive Benjamin Henrichs, and after half an hour he completely overlooked a yellow-worthy foul by Dani Carvajal on Xavi . A frustrated Marco Rose received a yellow card before the break.
Asked to dance:
Leipzig's positive rebelliousness continued after the break, but from then on it came from behind: Brahim Díaz was nominally Ancelotti's Bellingham replacement as the most attacking midfielder, but in fact the Spaniard plays far more delicately than the angular English all-rounder . And so Díaz's opening goal became a work of art: He ignored a kick from David Raum on the ankle, he shook off Xavi on the way to the right wing to the center, and Xaver Schlager couldn't get close either. At the end of the solo it was 1-0 for Real Madrid, which only partly corresponded to the course of the game (48th).
Nagelsmann's last cartridge:
Not that the Madrid Champions League connoisseurs explicitly played cucumber football. Only: In year one after world-class striker Benzema, without a world-class successor Bellingham, there was a lack of presence around the penalty area to be able to put Leipzig under constant pressure. Vinicius Junior's shot on the post (72') remained the exception. At least the control of the game in the center was largely successful, also thanks to veteran Toni Kroos: The possible DFB returnee brought 95 percent of his passes to his teammate and had the most Madrid ball contacts. As a collective, however, Real acted less brilliantly than usual.
What can they really do?
A strange impression remains from the game: Real once again glided through the tournament with an aura of invincibility (the Royals also won all six group games), but were only convincing to a limited extent. RB has already lost its fourth competitive game in the current calendar year and is in danger of missing out on the Champions League places in the league - but had an increase in chances. In any case, the tension is far from over before the second leg in three weeks.