UEFA Champions League Round of 16 - Review + Quarter Finals - Preview!
The much-awaited completion of the Round of 16 (RO16) of the UEFA Champions League post-coronavirus pandemic was completed this weekend. And the performances we saw of all the teams we are used to seeing all these years cannot even be compared to how our expectations thought they would go down. For example, Lyon, a French club, drawn to play against the mighty, Ronaldo-lead, Juventus, end up beating the mighty on the away goals rule.
Juventus vs Olympique Lyonnais
The game started at a sour note from Juve's perspective when Lyon were gifted a penalty at the 12th minute. Memphis Depay made no mistake converting from the penalty spot and got Lyon leading 1-0 on the day and 2-0 on aggregate. The spectators, who were watching from home, were then shown a Cristiano Ronaldo show, where he first scored a penalty just before half-time, and got a brilliant goal from outside the box, to make it 2-1 on the day. Alas, Juventus needed another goal to qualify for the Quarter Finals, but failed to find one, losing 2-2 on aggregate due to the away goals rule. The result left the Juventus board no option, but to sack their coach, Maurizio Sarri. This resulted in Andrea Pirlo, club legend to receive orders of being his successor.
Manchester City vs Real Madrid
Real Madrid were 2-1 down before the match and they lost 2-1 during the match. Real Madrid's defence gifting City both their goals, and not even different defenders making mistakes; Raphael Varane, a World Cup winner, making two errors leading to both goals. Real were never in control and City controlled all their attempts. It was a great game to watch as City never gave their opposition a chance. Sterling and Jesus scored for City and Benzema scored for Real, in a game whose aggregate score ended at 4-2.
FC Barcelona vs SS Napoli
A game where most people, me included, expected Barcelona to put up another disappointing, inconsistent performance. But not much can the opposition do when the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) decides to show up with his A-game. Barcelona started on the front foot from the first minute and scored at the 10th minute by a Clement Lenglet header. Messi, then, added one more goal, and it could have been two, if the first had not been disallowed by VAR. Suarez made it three and Lorenzo Insigne scored a penalty for the visitors in the last minute of added time to make it 3-1 before half-time. The game ends 4-2 on aggregate.
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