Tag: UCL

  • UCL Last-16 Draw: Atletico Madrid To Play Man Utd As PSG Draw Real Madrid

    UCL Last-16 Draw: Atletico Madrid To Play Man Utd As PSG Draw Real Madrid

    The organizers of the UEFA Champions League, one of the most prestigious football competitions in the World, have released an updated last-16 draw for the tournament after the initial draw was voided following a “technical problem.”

    “Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League round of 16,” a chastened UEFA announced.

    The re-draw took place three hours later, and Liverpool now face Serie A champions Inter Milan, Chelsea drew Ligue 1 winners Lille – having done so in the first draw as well – while Manchester City will take on Sporting Lisbon.

    Real Madrid will feel the most unfairly treated by the “technical error” as they were drawn against Portuguese Benfica in the morning but are now set to face a strengthened Messi’s PSG instead.

    See below the revised last 18 draw

    Last 16 match-ups in the UEFA Champions League following Monday’s revised draw:

    Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)

    Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)

    Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)

    Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)

    Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)

    Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)

    Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)

    Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)

    First legs to be played on February 15-16 and February 22-23 and the second legs on March 8-9 and March 15-16

  • Man City Beats PSG to reach first UCL final

    Man City Beats PSG to reach first UCL final

    Manchester City reached the Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history as Riyad Mahrez’s double saw off Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on Tuesday to seal a 4-1 aggregate win.

    Mahrez’s goal also decided the first leg and the Algerian, who grew up in the Parisian suburbs, haunted his home town team again with two clinical finishes early in each half.

    The final in Istanbul on May 29 against Real Madrid or Chelsea is the culmination of City’s rise since an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 transformed the club’s fortunes.

    Meanwhile, four years on from making Neymar and Kylian Mbappe the world’s two most expensive players, PSG’s wait for a first Champions League title goes on.

    Mbappe could only watch on from the stands due to a calf injury as, just like in last week’s first leg, his side imploded after an excellent first-half performance.

    The visitors were left to rue huge missed chances by Marquinhos and Angel Di Maria in between Mahrez’s strikes before Di Maria lashed out at Fernandinho to leave PSG down to 10 men for the final 20 minutes.

    City will set the seal on a fifth Premier League title in the past 10 years in the coming days as they remain on course for a treble, having already lifted the League Cup.

    But it has taken until their 10th consecutive season in the Champions League for Sheikh Mansour’s investment to be rewarded by playing in the biggest game in club football.

    City boss Pep Guardiola has won the Champions League twice before as a coach during his time at Barcelona.

    However, the Catalan has also endured a decade of anguish in Europe’s premier club competition since.

    Four times Guardiola has fallen at the semi-final stage with Barca and Bayern Munich since last lifting the trophy in 2011 on top of three quarter-final exits with City in the past three seasons.

    In many of those ties, the fine details and controversial decisions went against Guardiola’s men despite dominating the match.

    This time it was a role reversal as City had to withstand a barrage from PSG before the break.

    The French champions thought they had an early penalty to get back in the tie when Oleksandr Zinchenko was penalised for handball.

    However, Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers rightly reversed his initial decision on seeing a replay of the ball bouncing off the Ukrainian’s shoulder.

    Zinchenko was heavily involved again when the opening goal arrived at the other end.

    He raced onto City goalkeeper Ederson’s thunderous long pass into the PSG area. Zinchenko’s cut-back found Kevin De Bruyne and after the Belgian’s shot was blocked, Mahrez pounced to slot home on his weaker right foot.

    The tie was still far from over as PSG penned City back and should have been at least level on the night before half-time.

    Marquinhos has made a habit of scoring big Champions League goals and the Brazilian was inches away from another when his looping header came back off the crossbar.

    Ederson then nearly undid his good work as Di Maria intercepted his hurried throw to Bernardo Silva and flashed a shot inches wide with the Brazilian ‘keeper stranded outside his goal.

  • UCL Quarter final draw: Real Madrid vs Liverpool,  Bayern Munich Vs PSG

    UCL Quarter final draw: Real Madrid vs Liverpool, Bayern Munich Vs PSG

    The draw for the UEFA Champions League Quarter final has been revealed. 

    Holders Bayern Munich will face last year’s beaten finalists Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of this season’s Champions League, while Friday’s draw for the last eight also threw up a clash between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

    The draw also pitted Premier League leaders Manchester City against Borussia Dortmund, with Chelsea set to play Porto in the other tie.

    Bayern defeated PSG 1-0 behind closed doors in Lisbon last August to win their sixth European Cup and remain the team to beat in Europe, having won 18 and drawn one of their 19 games in the Champions League since the beginning of last season.

    The first leg is set to be played in Germany on April 6 or 7, with the return in Paris a week later.

    Meanwhile, the meeting of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Real is another re-run of a recent final, with the Spaniards beating the Reds 3-1 in Kiev in 2018 to win the last of their record 13 titles to date.

  • UCL: Romelu Lukaku boosts Inter Milan hopes

    UCL: Romelu Lukaku boosts Inter Milan hopes

    Romelu Lukaku kept Inter Milan’s hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16 alive, with qualification from a Group B that includes stuttering Real Madrid going to the final matchday.

    Lukaku struck twice in the second half to steer Inter to a 3-2 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Tuesday to set up a thrilling finale.

    Alassane Plea had cancelled out Matteo Darmian’s 17th-minute opener in first-half stoppage time but Lukaku fired home to restore Inter’s 2-1 lead in the 64th minute and then tapped in his second goal nine minutes later to make it 3-1.

    Plea cut the deficit in the 76th before but had an 84th-minute effort ruled out for offside by VAR, meaning Inter – on five points – could still progress with a win over Shakhtar Donetsk.

    Gladbach are top with eight points from five games, one ahead of Shakhtar and Real Madrid after the Ukrainians – who went second by virtue of their head-to-head record – beat the visiting Spaniards 2-0.

    Bruno Dentinho finished off a Shakhtar counter-attack in the 57th minute, pouncing as Raphael Varane dithered, and then Manor Solomon was allowed to drive from halfway before striking a late second (82) as the Ukrainians completed a stunning double over the European heavyweights.

    All four teams will battle to reach the last 16 on Wednesday December 9.

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    Romelu Lukaku named Europa League player of the season

  • Barcelona troll Juventus, Ronaldo after UCL win

    Barcelona troll Juventus, Ronaldo after UCL win

    Barcelona trolled Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus on Twitter following the Spanish side’s 2-0 win over the Italian champions on Wednesday.

    The Catalans took down Juve at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, moving atop their Champion League group with two wins from as many games.

    Barca benefitted from a first-half goal from Ousmane Dembele, whose shot deflected up and over Wojciech Szczesny for the game’s opener.

    They added a second in the 91st minute with a Lionel Messi spot-kick, with Juventus having seen Merih Demiral sent off moments earlier for a second yellow.

    Originally billed as a clash of two of the greatest of all time in Messi and Ronaldo, Juventus were without their talismanic striker once again on Wednesday.

    The Portuguese star has been absent after testing positive for the coronavirus during the international break, and he did not produce a negative test in time to take part in Wednesday’s Champions League clash.

    In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Ronaldo said he was “feeling good and healthy” but the Juventus star then commented questioning the accuracy of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests that ruled him out for the Barca match.

    “PCR IS BULLSH*T”, he wrote, before eventually deleting the comment.

    Without Ronaldo, Juventus were unable to produce a goal, although Alvaro Morata did see a trio of finishes ruled out due to offside calls.

    And Barcelona took to social media to troll their opponents after the match, saying: We are glad you were able to see the GOAT on your pitch, @juventusfcen!”

    Having defeated both Juventus and Ferencvaros, Barca currently sit atop the group, with Juventus just behind on three points. Goal