Champions League 2020: Day 1 Last-16 Match Reviews

The first part of the last-16 2020 Champions League matches provides us with some bittersweet results. Two top clubs from Europe and certainly ones with the most trophies have been eliminated.

Manchester City cruised to victory against Real Madrid, while Lyon surprisingly eliminated Juventus, one of the biggest contenders to the 2020 Champions League crown.

Lyon may have lost the game against Juventus 2-1 but are advancing due to an away goal after 2-2 on aggregate.

Les Gones took the lead as their start striker Memphis Depay scored from the spot after a long injury spell. But the Turin side didn’t falter and kept attacking, equalizing themselves from the penalty. A rather controversial handball by Depay was ruled and Cristiano Ronaldo was merciless, leaving more excitement to come in the second half.

Ronaldo did score once again after a spectacular strike from long distance leaving goalkeeper Anthony Lopes defeated. But it was all the Italian side had strength for leaving the Champions League title out of Vecchia Signora’s reach once again.

In the second match of the evening, Manchester City dispatched Real Madrid with relative ease by 2-1, 4-2 on aggregate.

The story of the evening revolved around Real defender Raphael Varane. His two mistakes led directly to City scoring both of their goals. The Citizens took the lead early in the 9th minute after Raheem Sterling scored. But Los Blancos quickly brought the game on level terms when Karim Benzema scored an equalizer.

However, the second Varane mistake sealed the deal for Manchester City when Gabriel Jesus showed maturity and composure to put his team back in the lead.

Real’s defense was perfect after the restart but this time they were missing their captain Sergio Ramos. They only shot the ball on target four times, opposed to 20 shots that the Citizens took.