Second Leg of The Round of 16 Champions League
By Kevin Flores
After a three-week break, it’s time to see who advances to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Games got underway with Bayern hosting Lazio in Munich looking to overturn the 1-0 deficit they suffered in the first leg. Bayern struck first before halftime as Kane scored the first goal of the night. Minutes later Muller scored once more for Bayern. Kane would earn his brace by scoring the final goal of the game to complete Bayern’s comeback and advance 3-1 to the quarterfinals on aggregate. PSG played away to Real Sociaded and it would take them 15 minutes for Mbappe to score. PSG would comfortably win 1-2 sending Real Sociedad home with a respectful Campaign in the Champions League. RB Leipzig traveled to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid. The first half ended 0-0, at 60 minutes Vinicius Junior scored to make it 1-0, but three minutes later Leipzig scored from a header from Orban to make it 1-1. Leipzig played valiantly but would lose 2-1 on aggregate. Defending Champions Manchester City received FC Copenhagen in a tie where the winner had already been decided in the first leg. City won 3-1 and advanced to the quarter-finals. Arsenal hosted FC Porto in the Emirates Stadium aiming to overturn the 1-0 deficit they lost in Porto. Porto started better and forced Arsenal’s keeper; David Raya, to make two incredible saves. Arsenal would shoot back with a few chances of their own and at the 41st minute Leandro Trossard equalized the tie to make it 1-1. Arsenal would throw everything they have against Porto to try to win the tie and not to force extra time. But Porto’s defense will hold the Gunner’s attack and force extra time. Both sides were close to a late winner but neither side was able to overcome the other’s defense, and thus a Champions League knockout match would go to a penalty shootout for the first time since 2016. David Raya would be the hero of the night as he saved two penalties, and all of Arsenal’s takers scored and won 4-2 on penalties.
Barcelona and Napoli gave us an entertaining game in which Barca struck twice in rapid succession in the early minutes through goals by Fermin Lopez and by Joao Cancelo to make it 2-0. 13 minutes later Napoli responded quickly with a goal by Amir Rrahmani. As the Second half played, both sides had good chances to score; but Barcelona would seal the deal at the 83th minute by a Robert Lewandowski goal to win 3-1. Borussia Dortmund played PSV in Germany and would get an early goal at 3 minutes by Jadon Sancho and despite PSV hitting Dortmund’s goal 7 times they wouldn’t be able to break their defense and in the final minutes Marco Reus scored the final goal; winning 2-0 and sealing Dortmund’s ticket to the quarter-finals. And the last game Atletico Madrid vs Inter Milan was the best game of this Round of 16 games. Inter played away in a hostile arena but would attack first by Federico Dimarco at 33 minutes, 1 minute later Antoine Griezmann scored the equalizer for Atletico. The second half would have both sides hitting back at each other; and when Inter thought they would advance to the last 8, Memphis Depay ensured extra time by scoring in the 87th minute. Extra time would see both sides trying to find a winner from somewhere but not coming to fruition, and Penalties would have to resolve this contest. Both keepers would make saves, but Atletico Keeper Jan Oblak saved twice in a row. When it came to the last penalty Inter had to convert to keep their chances of survival alive. Lautaro Martinez had the responsibility to convert it but the nerves ate him alive as he sent his penalty over the crossbar resulting in the qualification of Atletico Madrid to the last eight.
