News Archive

Champions League, quarter finals, first leg

Wolfsburg 2 - Real Madrid 0

How things can change in four days! Last Saturday Real Madrid appeared to have got their season back on track after a victory against Barcelona in the Nou Camp, but on Wednesday night they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Wolfsburg which put their continuation in the Champions League in jeopardy! Things could have been different had referee Gianluca Rocchi not ruled out an early strike by Ronaldo for a borderline offside, and then waved away an appeal for a penalty on Bale. However with just over a quarter of an hour gone he did give a penalty to the locals after Schürrle fell under a challenge from Casemiro, and Ricardo Rodríguez stepped up to convert the spot kick. It was the first goal that Keylor Navas had let in this season in the competition, but the second came only seven minutes later, Arnold, turning a shot past the keeper after Draxler and Henrique combined to set him up. Benzema tested Benaglio a couple of times in reply before limping off with an injury, and Kroos, Bale and Ronaldo all went close as Madrid came out desperately looking for an away goal. In the end though Schürrle and Henrique could have added to the scoreline, and Zidane’s team now need a small miracle next Tuesday in the Bernabeu stadium, otherwise they can wave goodbye to any silverware this season. (06.04.16)

Barcelona 2 - Atlético Madrid 1

Defending champions Barcelona came from a goal down to beat Atlético Madrid 2-1 in this fratricidal quarter final first leg, leaving everything to be decided next Wednesday in the Calderón stadium. The locals needed to bounce back from their defeat against Real Madrid at the weekend, and Messi and Neymar went close early on. However Griezmann fired a shot just wide at the other end, and midway through the first half Fernando Torres latched on to a Koke through ball to fire a shot under the legs of Ter Stegen. Soon afterwards the keeper had to be at his best to save from Griezmann, but with ten minutes to go to the break Torres got himself sent off after picking up a second booking for a foul on Busquets. With the away goal in the bag, Simeone pulled everyone back to defend, and it was one-way traffic after that. Messi fired an overhead kick just past the post, and Neymar curled a shot against the crossbar, and Oblak made some good stops from Neymar and Messi. Some twenty minutes into the second half though Luis Suárez (who was lucky not be sent off a few minutes earlier) deflected a wayward Jordi Alba shot into the net to equalize, and a few minutes later the Uruguayan striker headed his second of the night from a Dani Alves centre. Atleti defended their patch after that though, and they will fancy their chances to knock the Catalans out next week, as they did at this stage of the competition two seasons ago. (05.04.16)