Leipzig's pressure and Real's resilience

The return match of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League with Leipzig was preceded by a number of events that could have a direct impact on Real Madrid's mood.

On the one hand, on the day of the game the royal club turned 122 years old, which should have additionally motivated the players to win a convincing victory and overcome the barrier of the first round of the playoffs for the fourth time in a row.

On the other hand, the Madrid team hardly had time to recover from the shock experienced in the national championship confrontation with Valencia, when in the end they were not only denied a goal, but also had their leader Jude Bellingham sent off.

And on top of that they slapped a disqualification for two meetings.

The accusations against Carlo Ancelotti that appeared in the media could also have a negative impact on the psychological state of the team.

Due to tax fraud, the Spanish prosecutor's office requested four years and nine months in prison for the Blancos head coach.

In addition, Real Madrid goalkeeper Andrei Lunin could also have mixed feelings.

For six months he played the role of number one quite well, but at the end of March his stay in the base promised to end.

As Marca reported a few hours before the starting whistle, Thibaut Courtois has almost completed his recovery from a torn cruciate ligament and his return to full training is expected on March 27.

True, in the first half Lunin had practically no work.

Leipzig tried to actively put pressure and sometimes achieved their goal by raiding Real's goal.

But it was impossible to disturb the goalkeeper for a long time.

Benyamin Sheshko's goal after going one-on-one was not counted due to offside, and Louis Openda was slightly lacking in accuracy.

He gave the opponent a great shake-up and went down the left half-flank, but failed to spin it into the far corner.

The Madrid team clearly played at half strength - no active pressing, no sparkling responses to the opponent’s positional attacks.

But the hosts’ starting line-up was not conducive to this either, where there was no place for right winger Rodrigo.

Instead, the nominally central midfielder Federico Valverde was called upon to fill this position, and the pair of forwards were actually formed by the aforementioned Bellingham and Vinicius, who moved to his favorite left edge at the first opportunity.

But he was unable to deal with the defenders.

Although this time among them there was neither the experienced Lukas Klosterman nor the talented Mohamed Simakan.

The first - due to injury, the second - due to disqualification.

At the end of the half, Leipzig came to life and still made both Lunin and the fans who filled the Santiago Bernabeu nervous.

First, Javi Simons made the first shot on target, and then Openda made a very dangerous volley.

Real did not respond to this and calmly waited for the break.

And although the Blancos' advantage was only one goal, they were the ones who qualified for the next round.

However, Real's performance in the first half did not suit Ancelotti, who already replaced Eduardo Camavinga with Rodrigo during the break.

But at first this change did not bear fruit.

Leipzig still had the initiative and were closer to success.

But after an hour of play, the balance of power began to change.

The Madrid team began to make their signature breakthroughs along the edges more and more often, and the updated midfield was in full force.

Having dropped to the midline, Valverde tirelessly plowed the right half-flank, and Toni Kroos began to rise up more and more often.

But Real scored not after positioning, but with a striking counterattack, led by Bellingham and Vinicius.

And the main creator of this ball was the Englishman, who first ran almost to the opponent’s penalty area, and then made a subtle pass inside it.

The Brazilian irresistibly shot into the near top corner and strengthened the superiority of Los Blancos.

To Leipzig’s credit, this did not break their spirit.

Marco Rose's team rushed forward and scored a return goal three minutes later - Willi Orban scored after a corner.

And he made the “bulls” believe in themselves even more and unleash a barrage of attacks on Lunin’s goal.

Real spent a lot of time under such pressure, and it was not even the appearance of Luka Modric on the field, but Joselu, that helped them at least move the game a little into the other half.

The big Spaniard began to cling to high passes and give his team additional possessions, and in one of the episodes he could even score.

But he was not really able to handle the cross from the flank.

However, Leipzig had a chance to extend the meeting for an additional 30 minutes.

And the most obvious of them was Dani Olmo, who in the end made not the best decisions at key moments a couple of times.

After his partner's discount, the midfielder took the ball with his chest and tried to throw it to Lunin, but he hit the crossbar and actually drew a line under this confrontation.

Real played far from the best match, losing both in shots on target (11:20) and in expected goals (0.69 - 1.13), but still achieved the result they needed and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League .

  • Leipzig footballer Dani Olmo

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City's killer start and Copenhagen's character

In turn, there was a complete lack of intrigue in the confrontation between Manchester City and Copenhagen.

The Danish team already jumped over their heads when they reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2011.

But she didn’t have to count on more.

A defeat at home with a score of 1:3 forced Jakob Neestrup's team to take risks and go forward with all their might, exposing their rear for lightning-fast counter-attacks from the "citizens".

And there was someone to complete them.

For example, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden, who scored nine goals between them in the last three meetings.

True, Pep Guardiola decided to give one of his scorers a break and left Foden on the bench, giving 20-year-old Norwegian Oscar Bobb a chance to prove himself.

However, City's starting spurt was started not by him, but by Manuel Akanji, who worked perfectly on the corner.

The Swiss got away from the defenders and elegantly kicked the ball under the crossbar.

Kamil Grabara, who worked miracles three weeks ago, did not save this time, and four minutes later he made a gross blunder in the style of Loris Karius.

The Pole failed to cope with Julian Alvarez's not the most dangerous shot and cut the ball into his own goal.

After that, the match could end.

But it was not the guests who thought so, but the hosts, who relieved the pressure so much that they allowed the opponent not only to create several dangerous moments near Ederson’s goal, but even to reduce the gap.

Mohamed Elyounoussi himself broke up Copenhagen's counterattack and completed it himself, having previously beaten his partner.

And the “townspeople” managed to restore the status quo only in stoppage time.

The magnificent Erling Haaland had his say, dealing not only with three defenders, but also with the goalkeeper.

And he caught up with the leading scorers in the race, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, and also reached 19th position in the table of the best goalscorers of the tournament in history.

But he failed to beat another legendary City forward, Sergio Aguero.

During the break, the hosts calmed down and played the second half without much enthusiasm.

And they not only lost to the Danes in terms of the number of shots on goal (4:7), but they never even disturbed Grabara, who was clearly not at ease.

Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva continued to watch the events on the field from the bench, while young Sergio Gomez, Micah Hamilton and Jacob Wright tried to prove themselves.

But they didn’t leave any particularly vivid memories of themselves, having only shot wide of the target twice in total.

“Copenhagen”, although they were a little sharper, could not even think about a comeback in a single match.

Magnus Mattsson could have brought back some semblance of intrigue, but Ederson demonstrated miracles of reaction, parrying his “shot” at point-blank range.

And that's where the guests' successes ended.

Manchester City prevailed with a total score of 6:2 and took another step towards defending the title.

  • Manchester City players in a match with Copenhagen

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