The UEFA Champions League 2020-21 Quarter Finals kicked off yesterday night as the repeat of 2017-18 season's final saw Real Madrid take on Liverpool, whereas England's runaway leaders Manchester City hosted German Outfit Borussia Dortmund.
REAL MADRID VS LIVERPOOL :-
With a combined 19 UCL titles to their name(Real Madrid 13, Liverpool 6), this matchup was all about European Royalties. This was the first meeting between these two since the 2017-18 final where Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 3-1 to clinch a 13th UCL crown.
Both teams were struggling for consistency in their domestic leagues. Real are 3 points behind Leaders Atletico and their next league game doesn't get much easier as they face FC Barcelona in the El Clasico.
For Liverpool, their title Defence Completed faded with 6 straight home losses at Anfield. For the Reds, mathematically their title Defence is over and it's just a question when City will confirm their name on the prize.
Real Madrid took the lead in the 27th minute when Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior latched on to a long ball by Toni Kroos and applied a sublime finish on the half volley as he busted pass Nat Phillips and Ozan Kabak to give the host a much deserving lead.
9 minutes later, the Los Blancos added a second one after Liverpool's right back Trent Alexander Arnold, in trying to clear the ball away, headed it straight back to the attacking Marco Asensio who showed great composure to lob it over Alisson, before tapping his effort in the net. Performance like this from Trent may be reason why England manager Gareth Southgate dropped him from the squad.
Liverpool were all over the place in the first half and lacked accuracy in their passing and didn't even manage a shot on target. Their talisman Mohammed Salah pulled a vital away goal back in the 51st after burying his effort from 6 yards out to make it 2-1.
Real Madrid killed the game off in the 65th minute when Vinicius Junior notched up his second goal of the game. His effort went between the legs of Phillips and was too powerful for Alisson to stop it from going in. Madrid will now travel to Anfield,knowing that the tie is still where much in the balance due to that away goal.Full Time Score- Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool.
MANCHESTER CITY VS BORUSSIA DORTMUND :-
This matchup was labelled as one sided, due to City's magnificent run of form and Dortmund's league struggles. However City manager Pep Guardiola didn't get too much ahead of himself and stated that he doesn't look at league table as every match starts as 0-0. Classic Pep.
With Sergio Agüero set to leave Man City at the end of this season, there have been a lot of speculations and rumours linking Dortmund's number 9 Erling Braut Halaand as his successor.
After a few opening strikes from Dortmund, it was City who took the lead in the 19th minute. Former Liverpool men Emre Can misplaced his pass straight to Riyad Mahrez and a counter broke out for City. Few stunning passes soon turned found its way into the back of the net as Mahrez cutted back the ball to allow Kevin De Bruyne to lash it in from close range.
Then there was some Drama. In the 30th minute City won a free kick. As the ball was whipped in, City Midfielder Rodri tried to head the ball in and went down in the box and the Referee Ovidiu Hategan pointed to the spot for a City penalty. However he was then instructed by the VAR offical to have a look for himself. After few replays it was clear that there was no contact on Rodri and the penalty was disallowed.
7 minutes later, Jude Bellingham and Borussia Dortmund were wrongly disallowed a goal when the Englishman won the ball after an howler from City keeper Ederson and rolled the ball in. However just as the ball was supposed to roll in, the referee blew the whistle signalling a foul on the goalkeeper. The replays clearly showed Ederson had messed up their.
In the second half there were few chances for both sides to grab a goal but good goalkeeping kept the score at 1-0 till the 83rd minute. In the 84th minute, Dortmund Captain Marco Reus sprinted through on goal and lashed a finish in the right hand corner to make it 1-1 and grab a vital away goal. City's Champions League Quarter Final Curse looked to have been affecting them again....
... Until Youngster Phil Foden slided the ball into the net from close range in the 90th minute. He had missed a great chance in the 61st, but made amends for his miss and gave City a crucial win.
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