The Champion’s League is THE competition to win among Europe’s elite football clubs. Winning it means you are a true force to be reckoned with and brings extreme prestige to the club. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we witnessed some very exciting first leg fixtures in the round of 16 of this year’s competition.
The first game I watched was between PSG (France) and FC Barcelona (Spain). With Barca being heavy favorites to win the game and arguably the whole competition, PSG went in with nothing to lose in their home stadium. The world was shocked at the final outcome. The Parisian side went on to stun the 2014 treble winners with an embarrassing scoreline of 4-0 with stunning strikes from outside the box from Angel Di Maria, a nice near-post finish from Edinson Cavani, and a well placed weak-footed strike from newcomer Julian Draxler. PSG had a new teenage signing playing in the heart of defense who basically took Lionel Messi and Neymar, and shoved them in his pocket. He was everywhere they were and they did not keep the ball long at all around him. PSG played with great intensity throughout the entire match and deserved this win. They travel to the Nou Camp, Barca’s home stadium with a 4-0 aggregate score in their favor. Will the Parisians complete their upset, or will the Catalan giants come up with the comeback of the year?
Arsenal and Bayern Munich also played this week. Throughout the past couple years, these two teams have gone head to head so many times with the German team knocking out the English side every stinking time. This time, Bayern went up 1-0 from a fantastic shot from outside the box from Arjen Robben, but it did not last long for Alexis Sanchez equalized from a follow up from a missed penalty against Manuel Neuer, the best goalie in the world at the moment. Bayern, playing at home, with their fans cheering were able to put 4 more goals in the second half against Arsenal and walk away with a 5-1 aggregate score to take to the Emirates where the leg will be decided almost 99 percent in the German’s favor. The Gunners have yet to find their top form in the Champion’s league and this looks to be another disappointing exit for Arsene Wenger’s men.
Real Madrid, and Napoli (Italy) played an exciting game at the Spanish capital on Wednesday. Former Madrid player Jose Callejon returned to the club he used to play for the other team this time. In the 8th minute, Napoli striker, Insigne produced a clever shot to catch the Madrid goalkeeper out of position to put the Naples side up 1-0. Madrid however, were not to be stunned in their home ground with 80,000 fans watching. Maintaining possession of the ball and pressing hard when they did not have it was how Madrid controlled the rest of the game. Exquisite passing and good runs meant the chances were piling up for Madrid, all they had to do was finish. Karim Benzema did just that by heading home an absolute beauty from a cross from Dani Carvajal in the 18th minute. Later in the second half, thanks to some fancy footwork from Cristiano Ronaldo, who was able to beat his man and pass to Toni Kroos who passed the ball, not shot, into the back of the net from just outside the box, put Madrid up 2-1. Just minutes later, the ball bounced up outside the box from a deflection and Casemiro did not hesitate in smashing the volley and ripping the ball past the goalkeeper, an absolute howitzer of a shot. The stadium and myself erupted with continuous screaming and yelling. Madrid now hold a comfortable 2 goal advantage over Napoli and should not have a difficult time in my opinion closing out the leg in Italy in a matter of weeks.
Thanks for reading! Make sure you catch the second half of these games in a couple weeks. Also next Tuesday and Wednesday the other half of the 16s will play at 2:45pm Eastern Time.
Mohamed