Atlético Madrid–Manchester United
Manchester United, which is getting better and better, visited the rather underperforming Atlético Madrid this year on the last day of the first act of the BL eighth final. The two sides courted each other well, with home teamman Diego Simeone saying the English team had not played a bad match with Ralf Rangnick yet, while Fred from the red devils thought Atlético would play football anyway, no matter how much he won a match.
The first situation came in front of the home team, José Maria Giménez could have fired up close from Ángel Correa’s center, but Victor Lindelöf threw himself into it.
However, Joao Félix made a spectacular save.
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The Athlete, United, was able to record a distant, bouncing shot from Bruno Fernandes.
Although the guests had much more balls, the Madriders were more dangerous, clearly Renan Lodi was the most active. Then on the other side in the 37th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo also checked in with a distant but inaccurate stroke. There was still a home situation left for the last minute of the half, Lodi turned to the middle again, where Marco Llorente arrived, but headed for the bar.
Atlético also started the second half with more energy, Rangnick’s team had a good ten minutes to settle. The match became more and more hectic, the referee Ovidiu Hategan had to draw his yellow card in a row (he only showed eight times in the second half). However, Joao Félix made a spectacular save. In the 78th minute, Manchester United got a huge chance with a 20-meter free kick, but Ronaldo shot well above.
The coach of Rangnick had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. Bruno Fernandes came in to finish the match.
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The 19-year-old Swedish striker also paid off against Leeds United over the weekend after that thrown in the head by one of the opponent’s fans.
Simeone’s draw almost sat, but Antonie Griezmann, who replaced him, rolled to the bar in the 87th minute from the corner of the five. In the end, even Oblak put on a defense and no more goals were scored, meaning nothing had been decided before the Manchester rematch.
Benfica–Ajax
Ajax dominated the group stage in an unprecedented way and was therefore considered a chance for a duel, although after that Benfica could not be described as having advanced (and pronounced) Barcelona from its own quartet.
The Dutch band, which took the lead in the 18th minute, was not idle for long. Nussair Mazraui got the ball on the right side and then curved into the middle, where Dusan Tadics was able to inside the left from about 11 meters, not disturbed by anyone.
Eight minutes later, BL-scorer Sébastien Haller also scored, though (not yet) where he wanted to go.
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The turmoil after the corner was taken advantage of by exajaxist Jan Vertonghen, who shot sharply into the middle and hit Haller, and from there the ball bounced into his own goal, equalizing Benfica.
The attacker did not hesitate to clear the chip: three minutes later he passed Vertonghens in a left-handed pass, and although his first attempt was still defended by Odysseus Vlahodimos, no one could stop Haller at the bouncer, who was successful in his seventh BL game in a row and has already He holds 11 goals in the current call.
He could have doubled the lead and the number of goals in his hair, but he couldn’t get a shot out of the goal post.
Benfica were given a gift! The ref dubiously awarded them a penalty once, and Jurrien Timber clears the ball.
However, Goncalo Ramos made a spectacular save. Remko Pasveer was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper.
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The remaining time brought a little cocking as well as a Vlahodimos feat, so the final score of 2–2 remained.
Results, Champions League, Round of 16, Match 1:
Atlético Madrid (Spanish) –Manchester United (English) 1–1 (1–0)
Goals: Joao Félix (7th) and Elanga (80th)
Benfica (Portuguese) –Ajax (Dutch) 2–2 (1–2)
Goals: Haller (26th, own goal), Yaremchuk (72nd) and Tadics (18th), Haller (29th)
(Cover image: Anthony Elanga equalizes against Atlético Madrid. Photo: AFP.)
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