UEFA Champions League Return

The UEFA Champions League finally made its awaited return in the start of February with the first legs of the first knockout round (round of 16), taking place in multiple known locations across Europe.

What is the UEFA Champions League?

The UEFA Champions League is a football tournament that includes 32 clubs from Europe’s top leagues. The top spots of the best leagues get guaranteed access while the clubs from leagues with less reputation have to go through qualification rounds against each other to get in. This tournament is one of the most reputable in the world. Being known as “The Millionaire League”, the UEFA Champions offers great amounts of money to the clubs involved due to television revenue and the overall reputation of the competition. All football players want to be part of greatness that is the Champions League.

Barcelona 1-4 Paris Saint-Germain

PSG traveled to Barcelona accomplishing a very convincing victory and putting one foot in the quarter-final place. Kylian Mbappé played a brilliant match scoring a hat-trick. Perhaps we will see a “La Remontada” again from this Barcelona side, but considering the current state of the team, it is highly unlikely.

Leipzig 0-2 Liverpool

A comforting victory for Liverpool as their recent domestic form has been quite dubious to say the least. On the other hand, maybe an underwhelming performance from last year semifinalists’ as they now find themselves with a mountain to climb for the second leg.

Sevilla 2-3 Dortmund

A thrilling match including another hat-trick this time scored by Erling Håaland who said to be inspired by the performance Mbappé had put in the day before. A game with all to play for the second leg.

Porto 2-1 Juventus

A very surprising game with the underdogs Porto, catching the Italian champions off guard twice in the start of both halves. The late goal by Juventus brings life to the side of Torino as they look to bounce back with a much needed win in the home leg. The high press from the home side surprised Juventus who were punished for their mistakes in the build up from the back.

Atlético Madrid 0-1 Chelsea

A quite underwhelming match for the neutrals as the game was very dull throughout. Olivier Giroud’s bicycle kick was definitely the highlight of the game giving Chelsea a good lead to take into the second leg. The French international always has the ability to pull off a wonder goal like this from out of nowhere.

Lazio 1-4 Bayern Munich

A very comfortable victory for the holders of the competition who look to be at full strength to challenge again. Lazio could do nothing to stop this European powerhouse and it seems that there is very little the Italian side can do to stop them heading through to the quarter-finals.

Atalanta 0-1 Real Madrid

A very tough game for Real who seemed to be very close to a 0-0 draw. A very good shift put in by Ferland Mendy who scored the winner as well as forcing Atalanta to go down to 10-men early in the game. With all to play for in the second leg, the side from Bergamo will do everything in their power the reach the next round, as they did last year.

Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-2 Manchester City

Manchester City have been in incredible form lately, at the time of writing this, they’re on a 21-game winning streak and there seems to be no stopping them. ‘Gladbach were no match for the Cityzens who with an inspiring performance from João Cancelo were able to get a comfortable margin to work with in the home leg.

All of the second legs will be played in the weeks to come and soon we’ll get to know the matches for the quarter finals. I’ll drop my prediction here; I believe that Manchester City will win their first Champions League trophy in their history. To follow these games, here in Portugal they are transmitted in “Eleven Sports” which is a sports subscription channel, so if you wish to watch these games, you’ll know how to.

Work Cited:

UEFA.com. (n.d.). UEFA champions League. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://pt.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/

Wilson, J. (2021, February 16). Mbappé's brilliance, Psg's collective effort put Messi, Barça On Ucl brink. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.si.com/soccer/2021/02/16/barcelona-psg-mbappe-messi-champions-league-pochettino

Haaland double hands Borussia DORTMUND comfortable First-leg win at Sevilla. (2021, February 17). Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=590721

Bagchi, S. (2021, February 23). Graceful Olivier Giroud outfoxes cynical ATLETICO with UNFORGETTABLE Acrobatic touch of class. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/02/23/atletico-madrid-vs-chelsea-champions-league-live-score-latest/

Kirkland, A. (2021, February 24). Mendy saves Real Madrid from embarrassing draw at 10-man Atalanta with late winner In 8/10 SHOWING. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-madrid/story/4323641/mendy-saves-real-madrid-from-embarrassing-draw-at-10-man-atalanta-with-late-winner-in-8-10-showing