Champions League Tuesday comes to a close, with the first four first leg matches of the round of 16 already seeming to deliver some verdicts ahead of the quarterfinals. Aston Villa wins, beating Bruges 3-1 in the 6:45 p.m. match and will thus start ahead in the return match at Villa Park. Instead, the Madrid derby ends 2-1 for Real, which beats Atletico thanks to goals from Rodrygo and Brahim Diaz. Arsenal then avalanched over Psv, with Arteta’s men’s 7-1 thrashing of the Dutch champions that mortgaged qualification for the Gunners. Only a draw, finally, the one in Dortmund between Borussia and Lille, with goals from Adeyemi and Haraldsson.
In Madrid, the first blow of the night was struck by the Blancos with Rodrygo uncorking the match after just four minutes. It all stems from an illuminating feed from Valverde, who surprises Galan and triggers Real’s number 11: quick to get back on the left, the Brazilian unleashes an impregnable curling shot for Oblak. However, the team of after an initial twenty minutes of suffering, Atletico took control of operations and, in 32′ managed to find the equalizer, thanks to a magic from Alvarez. Just at the moment of Atletico’s greatest confidence, however, Real managed to take the lead again, thanks to Brahim Diaz’s solo effort: at 55′ the former AC Milan player shook the Blancos, entering the box, dribbling past Gimenez and scoring the 2-1 with a shot into the low corner.
Arsenal overwhelms PSV by winning the first leg of the Champions round of 16 match 7-1. Virtually one-sided match, decisive goals by Odegaard (double), Timber, Nwaneri, Merino, Trossard and Calafiori. Very heavy defeat for the Dutch, who had overcome Juventus in the playoffs, qualification is now a virtually impossible mission.
Two goals in the last minutes instead for Aston Villa, which violated the Jan Breydel Stadium and put one foot in the Champions quarterfinals: beaten 3-1 by Brugge thanks to Mechele’s own goal and goals by Bailey and Asensio. Belgians proactive but wasteful and who would need a miracle to turn things around in 8 days at Villa Park in Birmingham.
Finally, the match between Borussia Dortmund and Lille ends 1-1, with a first half played better by the hosts, who go ahead with an all-talented goal by Karim Adeyemi (22′). In the second half, Kovac’s lineup dropped too low and suffered the quality play of Lille, which would find the final equalizer at 68′ with Haraldsson on an invitation from Jonathan David.
