Canceled Leipzig goal and Diaz's benefit performance
Before the first match of the Champions League playoffs, Real faced serious difficulties. Mostly they consisted of injuries to key players who determined the game of Los Blancos this season. So, last weekend the team’s main star, Jude Bellingham, joined the already overcrowded hospital. In the confrontation with Girona, the Englishman scored a double and reached the mark of 20 goals in all tournaments, but sprained his ankle ligaments. And he was out of action for a period of two to three weeks, calling into question his participation not only in the first, but also in the second meeting with Leipzig.
Despite the different status, the absence of Nacho, who until recently remained the only healthy central defender, could have no less serious consequences. Eder Militao and David Alaba broke down a long time ago; in early February, Antonia Rüdiger joined them, and a few days ago the Spaniard himself broke down. Due to muscle problems, he missed the last round of the national championship, and his trip to Germany was in doubt. But in the end, Fernandez still managed to recover and formed a defensive pairing with nominal midfielder Aurélien Tchouameni.
This alone was enough not to consider Real a clear favorite in the away match with Leipzig. But the misadventures of the Madrid team did not end there. Thus, due to a strike by employees of the capital’s airport, the Blancos were forced to travel a 160 km route by bus, and along the way they also got into an accident, colliding with a car. Fortunately, there were no casualties, and the team reached the hotel a little more than a day before the starting whistle.
Perhaps, mindful of a number of problems of their opponents, Leipzig rushed forward from the first minutes and even succeeded. Benjamin Sheshko completed a spectacular pass from the lawn and put the hosts ahead. However, Irfan Pelto did not count the goal, which caused violent indignation from the fans. And there really was reason for dissatisfaction. After all, it is difficult to say for sure on what basis such a decision was made. After all, it was not the Slovak forward who was offside, but Benjamin Henrichs, who was not directly involved in the episode, but lightly touched goalkeeper Andrei Lunin.
However, this did not cool Leipzig’s impulse. He continued to put pressure on Real and could have scored three or four times in just half the half. But either the attackers lacked accuracy, or the goalkeeper saved the game. The Madrid team responded rarely and mostly not very dangerously. Yes, at times the unstoppable Vinicius and Rodrigo, who was making his 200th meeting for the club, demonstrated their skills, but they could not really make Peter Gulacsi nervous.
After the first half, Los Blancos fans could complain about the absence of Bellingham, who not only became a key element in Carlo Ancelotti’s schemes, but also more than once single-handedly decided the outcome of confrontations. And it’s all the more surprising that the player who was called to replace him that evening opened the scoring. Brahim Diaz did everything himself: he moved from right to center and left Gulachi out of action with a phenomenally accurate strike. And he scored the eighth goal this season.
It’s all the more offensive that Diaz was unable to finish the match. In the 82nd minute, he once again intended to raid the opponents' goal, but suddenly grabbed the back of his thigh. And it provoked an extremely controversial episode on the field. The Spaniard himself made it clear that he could not continue the game and stopped, but Leipzig did not even think about fair play. The ball was delivered to Sheshko in the shortest possible time, and he almost missed Lunin. The Madrid team was clearly unhappy with the opponent's actions, and Toni Kroos even clashed with Amadou Aidara. But the conflict was resolved.
The “Bulls” did not stop attacking and in the last minutes they still tried to snatch a draw, but they were unable to upset Lunin. He caught the courage and made a total of nine saves, leaving the goal intact. Real still survived and made a bid to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Real Madrid players Brahim Diaz and Rodrigo
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Ederson's mistake and De Bruyne's magic
In turn, there was no doubt about the success of the current Champions League winners. Not only were Josep Guardiola's team in excellent shape and on a streak of ten wins in a row, but they were also up against an extremely modest Copenhagen. Yes, at the group stage the Danes managed to make some noise and finished behind Bayern, leaving behind not only Galatasaray, but also Manchester United. But they were clearly unable to compete with City, which had all the key players.
And at first, what happened on the field only confirmed this thesis. The guests immediately took the initiative into their own hands and began to lay siege to the hosts' possessions, regularly making Kamil Grabara nervous. And already in the tenth minute they took the Polish goalkeeper by surprise. Phil Foden received a pass on the right touchline, rushed closer to the center and found Kevin De Bruyne in the penalty area with a cutting pass. The Belgian immediately shot into the far corner and became the author of the first goal in the current Champions League playoffs.
City's pressure continued unabated after that, even after Jack Grealish was replaced by Jeremy Doku due to injury. The Citizens continued to attack and had several more chances to double their lead. The same Foden shot from the penalty line, Erling Haaland tried to close the serve in an acrobatic sketch, and Bernardo Silva had a couple of opportunities to score. But the Danes who “parked the bus” continued to desperately fight back and hope for gifts from their rivals. And they were given one when Ederson made a gross mistake during the clearance. But if Mohamed Elyounoussi's shot was blocked, no one was able to stop Magnus Mattson.
Copenhagen did the impossible, but Copenhagen still couldn’t go into the break with the score tied. Moreover, the goal again came from the right half-flank area and turned out very similar to the first one. This time, it was not Foden who moved from the edge to the center, but De Bruyne himself, who, in the fight with his opponent, still managed to poke the ball through to Silva. The Portuguese was extremely elegant and shot just over Grabara's hand.
The second half was not much different from the first, except that Copenhagen completely forgot about counterplay and tried to avoid defeat as quickly as possible. In total, the “citizens” made almost seven times more shots on goal (27:4), and the difference in shots on target (13:1) and expected goals (3.39 - 0.28) was absolutely colossal. But Grabara continued to work wonders in the frame and maintain some kind of intrigue.
Haaland was also diligent, trying with all his might to score his 41st goal in the Champions League and take 19th place in the list of top scorers of the tournament, equaling Sergio Aguero. In total, he accumulated as many as five blows, and he delivered two of them in the very end. First, he won the fight on the second floor and scored with his head, and then with his trademark left he “charged” from outside the penalty area. Only De Bruyne tried to upset the goalkeeper more than him (seven attempts).
And it was with the direct participation of the Belgian that the final point was put in this match. Already in stoppage time, they, together with Foden, played a spectacular double on the same right half-flank, and the Englishman acted as the finisher. Phil set the final score and celebrated by pretending to be an archer.
Manchester City players Phil Foden and Ruben Dias
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© Alex Livesey - Danehouse / Contributor