2019-04-01 World Soccer

he first knockout stage of this

season’s Champions League

produced a series of stunning

comebacks, a succession of VAR

controversies, the exit of holders

Real Madrid and confirmation that

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo remain the world’s

two outstanding players.

Real Madrid, champions in four of the past

five seasons, were ousted by Ajax, who staged a

remarkable second-leg comeback to triumph 4-1

in Madrid and win 5-3 on aggregate.

VAR, in use for the first time in the competition,

had come to Madrid’s aid in the first leg in Amsterdam

when Nicolas Tagliafico’s goal from an Ajax corner

was ruled out for a marginal offside. A late Marco

Asensio goal gave the defending champions a 2-1

lead to take back to Spain, where Ajax showed no

inhibitions, storming into a two-goal lead within 18

minutes through Hakim Ziyech and David Neres.

Dusan Tadic, the creator of both opening goals,

added a brilliant third himself, with the goal confirmed

by VAR after a lengthy delay despite complaints the

ball had gone out of play in the build-up. Asensio

pulled a goal back for Madrid but Lasse Schone’s

looping free-kick completed Madrid’s humiliation.

Madrid’s former star Ronaldo single-handedly

dragged Juventus back into their tie with Atletico

Madrid, scoring a hat-trick to overturn a 2-0 first-

leg deficit. Atletico coach Diego Simeone’s crotch-

grabbing celebrations had hogged the headlines in

the first leg, when defenders Jose Gimenez and Diego

Godin scored late goals. But Simeone had no answer

to Juve coach Max Allegri’s tactics in Turin, where an

early Juventus goal was harshly ruled out by VAR for

a challenge on Atletico keeper Jan Oblak. Ronaldo

rose to head in a Federico Bernadeshi cross for the

first goal and produced another fine header for the

second before completing his hat-trick with a penalty.

“It was always going to be a special night,” said

Ronaldo. “This is the mentality of champions. We

enjoyed a magical night.”

Simeone said: “We made many mistakes, but I

mean me, not the players. Tactically they were better.”

The most dramatic comeback came in Paris where

a controversial injury-time penalty was converted by

Marcus Rashford to give Manchester United victory

over Paris Saint-Germain on away goals. UEFA

issued an unexpected, but welcome, defence of the

VAR decision to award the late spot-kick for a

handball by Presnel Kimpembe.

PSG had gone into the tie in a strong position

having won 2-0 at Old Trafford despite missing the

injured Neymar and Edinson Cavani. United were

missing several key players in the return and handed

important roles to Fred, Scott McTominay and

Andreas Perreira, who shone alongside Romelu

Lukaku, scorer of two first-half goals.

The three other English teams all won comfortably

against German opposition, ensuring four English

the Bundesliga with 197 goals
as Bayern Munich thrash Wolfsburg
6-0 to top the table for the first
time since September.
GREECE: AEK draw 0-0 at home
to Panathinaikos in the Athens
derby and move into third place,
behind PAOK and Olympiakos.
HOLLAND: Luuk De Jong gets his
21st league goal of the campaign
as PSV pull eight points clear at the
top of the table with a 2-0 victory
over bottom side NAC Breda.
SOUTH AFRICA: Mamelodi
Sundowns go through to the
knockout stage of the CAF
Champions League by beating

Nigeria’s Lobi Stars 3-0.

Sunday March 10

ENGLAND: Arsenal win 2-0 at

home to Manchester United.

FRANCE: Mario Balotelli gets the

only goal of the game as Marseille

beat his former side Nice 1-0.

ITALY: Foggia fans detonate an

explosive device outside a factory

belonging to the club sponsors and

set fire to the car of striker Pietro

Iemmello after Saturday’s derby

loss to Lecce saw the team slide

into the Serie B relegation zone.

SPAIN: Wissam Ben Yedder grabs

a 13-minute hat-trick in the second

half as Sevilla cruise to a 5-2 win

against Real Sociedad.

Monday March 11

HOLLAND: Former national coach

Louis Van Gaal announces his

retirement from football aged 67.

SPAIN: Nine months after standing

down as Real Madrid coach,

Zinedine Zidane returns to the

post after Santiago Solari is sacked.

Tuesday March 12

GERMANY: Bruno Labbadia says

he will stand down as coach of

Wolfsburg at the end of the season.

MEXICO: Santos Laguna and Tigres

both beat US opposition – New

York Red Bulls and Houston

Dynamo respectively – to reach

the semi-finals of the CONCACAF

Champions League.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: West

Ham United midfielder Declan Rice

is named young player of the year

in the FAI International Awards –

despite switching his allegiance to

England last month.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: A

record-equalling eighth hat-trick

in the competition for Cristiano

Ronaldo sees Juventus overturn a

2-0 first-leg deficit to beat Atletico

Madrid 3-2 and qualify for the

Messi and Ronaldo

confirm star quality

Knockout stage provides comebacks and controversies

Superb...Cristiano

Ronaldo heads

home his second

goal against

Atletico Madrid

T

“This is the mentality of champions.

We enjoyed a magical night”

Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo

Champions League

GAVIN HAMILTON