Brahim strike gives Real Madrid first-leg win over Atlético
Carlo Ancelotti praises the overall quality of the round-of-16 first-leg tie between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.
Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz scored a second-half winner as the hosts edged out neighbours Atlético Madrid 2-1 in a scrappy first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday after Julián Álvarez had cancelled out Rodrygo’s opener.
It was a stuttering capital derby between bitter rivals who at times looked to be playing within themselves, seemingly conserving some energy for what is likely to be a compelling return leg at Atlético’s Metropolitano Stadium next week.
The hosts started on fire when Rodrygo scored a fine opener four minutes after kickoff, but Atlético slowly got into the game and Álvarez equalised with a stunning strike in the 32nd minute.
Real Madrid got the winner in the 55th through Brahim , who worked his magic to find a tiny pocket of space inside a crowded box and slotted a low, angled strike inside Jan Oblak’s far post.
“I think we always had the balance throughout the game, despite going a bit down after their equaliser, but at any moment we can find a goal with the talent we have and that’s what we did,” Brahim told Spanish TV station Movistar Plus.
“Everything is still open in the tie. It’s good that we won at home, but it’s far from over. This is the Champions League and every little thing you do makes a difference.
“The goal was good, it helped us grab an important win on another magical night at the Bernabeu. But there is still the second leg.”
Brahim’s goal gave Real Madrid the edge in a hard-fought clash with Diego Simeone’s Atleti, who dominated proceedings for large stretches of the match and could easily have finished with a better result if they had made the most of their chances.
“It isn’t a good result. We were looking to draw or win,” Simeone said after the game. “I feel the team competed well. I think we could have done more with the two goals we conceded. The team is competing. From Sunday, we’ll start to think about the return leg, which will be tough, we play at our stadium with our fans.
“Our fans push us, they give us energy, we’ll need our fans on Wednesday.”
The hosts started better and Rodrygo gave them the lead after an outstanding pass by Federico Valverde that he took in his stride before rampaging inside the box past two defenders and curling a brilliant left-foot strike into the far corner.
Despite Real’s early dominance, the visitors managed to level the playing field by slowing the pace of the game and started to create chances through Samuel Lino and Giuliano Simeone, a constant menace running up and down the channels.
Atlético found the equaliser after Álvarez wrestled past Eduardo Camavinga on the left byline before cutting inside the box to give himself a better angle and unleashing a strike that curled past Thibaut Courtois and went in off the far post.
The visitors took control of possession and were comfortable passing the ball around amid loud booing from the sold-out Bernabeu crowd who did not hide their frustration.
Atleti began the second half well with Rodrigo de Paul wasting a chance to give them the lead in the 53rd minute, a costly miss as two minutes later Brahim worked his magic to put Real back in front with a goal out of nothing.
Surrounded by three opponents, the Morocco international worked some space with quick feet and left Atletico centre-back José María Giménez on the ground before slotting the ball inside the far corner, giving Oblak no chance.
Simeone appeared comfortable with the scoreline, replacing attacker Antoine Griezmann with centre-back Robin Le Normand and switching to five at the back to make sure Real’s lead was no greater ahead of next week’s mouth-watering second leg.
“If it was difficult today, imagine how difficult it will be on Wednesday,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the win. “But we have a small advantage, and we’ll try to go through. It will be difficult, not much will change.”
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Player Ratings: Real Madrid 2-1 Atletico de Madrid; Champions League
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Big night for Fede, Brahim—not so much for Camavinga.
Thibaut Courtois—6: Did not had much to do to prevent Julian Alvarez’s strike. Otherwise a routine night—the Belgian was not really tested.
Federico Valverde—8: One of his best performances for Real Madrid. Found the brilliant pass for Rodrygo’s goal and was an iron-man in defence.
Raul Asencio—6: Neither spectacular nor underwhelming. Did not see him try many long balls from the deep.
Antonio Rudiger—6: Solid game from the Gemran but anticipation could have been better as Atletico stitched more than one quality sequence from his side of the pitch.
Ferland Mendy—6.5: Assisted Brahim’s goal and was much better on the ball in the 2nd half.
Brahim Diaz—8: Repaid Carlo’s faith in him to start in this game with a brilliant goal that sent Real Madrid 2-1 up in the game. He was a real threat for Atletico in the second half.
Aurelien Tchouameni—6.5: Solid performance from the French midfielder but at times, could have switched the ball with more urgency.
Eduardo Camavinga—4: Very poor performance. Multiple risky intervention in defense. No vision in passing, game awareness was not at the level at all which this fixture required.
Rodrygo Goes—7: Opened Madrid’s scoring with a brilliant early goal but could not influence the game much from there on.
Kylian Mbappe—4: Very poor—was a shadow for the player who scored a hat-trick vs. City.
Vinicius Jr—5.5: Quiet in the first half but was highly involved in the sequence of Brahim’s goal. Missed a sitter in stoppage time.
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The Champions League last 16 kicked off tonight, with four huge first legs taking place across the continent.
Scorers: Rodrygo 4′, Díaz 55′; Alvarez 32′
Real Madrid beat Atlético de Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu, in a game that saw three goals more than worthy of the occasion.
Real took the lead inside just four minutes with a truly stunning goal from Rodrygo. Fede Valverde found the Brazilian down the right behind Javi Galán. The Brazilian then cut in on his left and curled a screamer past Jan Oblak.
Valverde was in action at the other end when Atlético had their first true attack on the home goal, making a brilliant clearance to deny a certain Julián Alvarez goal from Giuliano Simeone’s cross.
Alvarez got his goal shortly after, and rather than a tap in, he hit a goal somehow even better than Rodrygo’s. The Argentine received the ball out wide on the left, cut inside Eduardo Camavinga and struck brilliantly in the far corner past the despairing reaches of Thibaut Courtois.
After a sluggish start to the second half, Real regained the lead through Brahim Díaz, and it was another fine goal. Dancing around Atléti defenders with some wonderful footwork, the Moroccan international curled a lovely, low strike around Oblak to send the home fans wild, and justify his place in the lineup.
Real had chances to get a third, but could not find the finishing touch, perfectly setting up next week’s second leg.
Scorers: Lang (pen) 43′; Timber 18′, Nwaneri 21′, Merino 31′, Ødegaard 47′, 73′, Trossard 49′, Calafiori 85′
Arsenal demolished PSV Eindhoven 7-1 at the Philips Stadium in one of the most comprehensive knockout games in European history.
They started the brighter, and thought they had a penalty inside 10 minutes when Martin Ødegaard went down under pressure. However, the contact was slight and accidental, and it was waved away.
PSV really should have taken the lead in the 16th minute through Ismael Saibari. Ivan Perišić went down the left, and put a low ball across the box that David Raya could only parry into the path of the Moroccan midfielder who somehow did not score, hitting the bar.
The Gunners made them pay right away, Jurrien Timber brilliantly heading home Declan Rice’s excellent cross at the back post.
It was 2-0 just two minutes later. Myles Lewis Skelly fashioned a gap on the left, and put a ball into the box that fellow youngster Ethan Nwaneri met with a strike that was past Walter Benítez before he knew it.
Just after the half hour, Arsenal seemingly ended the game and tie with their third, Mikel Merino justifying his selection in the lineup with a cool finish after PSV made a mess of clearing the ball. There was a lengthy VAR check, but the goal eventually stood.
The Dutch giants received a lifeline from Thomas Partey, who hauled down Luuk de Jong inside the box. Noa Lang stepped up to emphatically stick the ball past Raya for a crucial goal.
De Jong almost got a goal of his own just before the break, but Arsenal did well to deal with Tyrell Malacia’s low cross.
Right away at the start of the second half, Arsenal ran riot with two goals to, again, end the tie. Martin Ødegaard was the first to hit the back of the net, tapping home after Benítez could only parry Nwaneri’s fizzing cross.
99 seconds later, Leandro Trossard played a lovely one-two with Riccardo Calafiori before finishing with a beautiful chip over the PSV keeper.
Ødegaard made it six as PSV fans headed for the exits in their thousands, walking through a pedestrian midfield and seeing his strike palmed into the net by Benítez.
Calafiori put the cherry on top of a stunning night with a seventh five minutes from time, finishing like a striker after Ødegaard slipped him in.
More to follow…
Scorers: Adeyemi 22′; Haraldsson 68′
Lille will fancy their chances of a first-ever Champions League quarter final berth after fighting back to draw 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park.
After an even start to the game, Dortmund took the lead from one of their go-to guys in Europe this season, Karim Adeyemi. Lille failed to deal with a corner, and the young German drilled a low left-footed strike into the corner of the net.
Lille dominated possession for much of the opening hour, but could not fashion any clear cut chances, having six shots but none on target, as the hosts held onto their slender lead.
They made their first on target count, equalising in the 68th minute. Jonathan David was the provider, threading the ball through for Hákon Arnar Haraldsson to neatly finish past Gregor Kobel.
That’s how it finished, with it all to play for ahead of next week’s second leg in France.
Scorers: De Cuyper 12′; Bailey 3′, Mechele (og) 82′, Asensio 87′ (pen)
Aston Villa can start thinking of a quarter final date with either Liverpool or PSG after a late smash-and-grab 3-1 victory away to Club Brugge, who played a big role in their own demise.
Villa took the lead inside just three minutes of their first Champions League knockout game in over 40 years through Leon Bailey.
Youri Tielemans floated a long-range free kick into the box which Tyrone Mings headed the ball downwards to the middle of the box, where Leon Bailey met it with a brilliant left-footed finish past Simon Mignolet.
Villa looked like they could get a second, but Brugge stunned them with an equaliser in a frenetic start to the game. Christos Tzolis got the ball wide on the left, and cushioned it back to Maxim De Cuyper, whose low finish went past Emi Martínez and into the corner of the net.
The game continued until the half at a rapid pace, with both sides looking to attack whenever they were on the ball. Martínez was the only keeper called into real action, though, with the Argentine making a fine save to deny Chemsdine Talbi.
The second half started slower, with both sides perhaps realising how damaging a first leg loss would be.
Unai Emery made four substitutes just after the hour, and three of them were involved in a big chance shortly after. Jacob Ramsey found Marco Asensio on the edge of the box. His shot was stopped by Mignolet, and Matty Cash blasted over when he just had to keep the ball down.
Moments later, Tyrone Mings redeemed himself for the penalty fiasco at the same ground in the league phase with one of the best goal-saving blocks you’ll ever see.
Tzolis, again, did well down the left, and whipped a great ball in for his captain Hans Vanaken to head goalwards. Somehow, a sliding Mings got the slightest touch on it, though, to deny the Belgians.
The Brugge winger then made a mess of a massive opportunity of his own, leaning back and firing high over the bar when in on Martínez.
Villa capitalised, and regained their lead with just eight minutes left. Morgan Rogers was released down the right and put an early ball in for Ollie Watkins. Brandon Mechele intercepted it, but only to put it past Mignolet and into the Brugge net for a cruel own goal.
They then went and made it 3-1, with Tzolis taking down Cash after being too casual inside the box. Asensio stepped up to slot home for his fifth goal already for the Villains, and put his side within touching distance of the last eight.
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