Champions League quarter-final first leg round-up

Two English clubs did their homework in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, but champions Liverpool suffered the expected away defeat at Real Madrid. In addition, PSG created a good starting position for the second leg with a 3-2 win in Munich.

Manchester City’s last minute winner against Dortmund

The Citizens did not have their best day against Borussia Dortmund and the game was on the brink for a long time. BVB was able to keep the game largely open and, despite City’s 62% possession of the ball, kept Manchester City away from their own goal for long stretches of the game. After a goal by Kevin De Bruyne it went 1-0 into the break, but Dortmund was able to equalize at an ideal time – after 84 minutes – through Marco Reus. In the somewhat more intense final pressure phase, the Citizens nevertheless secured the victory: Phil Foden scored 2-1 in the last minute of the game, but Dortmund has a good starting position for a possible sensation in the second leg thanks to the away goal. Overlyzer’s live trends show that Dortmund was on a par with the favorite over long stretches of the game.

Vinícius Junior rolls over Liverpool

Real Madrid gave Liverpool FC no chance in the first leg and celebrated a convincing 3-1 win. Practically only the Spaniards played in the first half and built up a lot of pressure, which is why Vinícius Júnior and Marco Asensio were able to provide a comfortable lead up to the 36th minute. Liverpool came off the break well and Mo Salah scored the important away goal for his team. Only 14 minutes later, Real Madrid had overcome the pressure phase of the Zidane eleven and promptly responded with the 3-1 from Vinícius Júnior’s second goal. A not particularly intense period of pressure from Liverpool towards the end of the game didn’t lead to the second goal for the Reds.

Chelsea does homework with no shine

The Blues from Stamford Bridge traveled to Porto with an embarrassing 5-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion in their luggage. Thomas Tuchel’s team needed rehabilitation and the public simply expected an away win against Porto. The fact that the away game in Portugal would not be a highlight in terms of technical football was expected due to the physical approach of the opponent. Even if Porto were able to build up good pressure against the Blues, Chelsea took advantage of a drowsy phase from the home team to make it 1-0 through Mason Mount. Porto were also the better team overall in the second half, collecting a total of 12 shots in total, but shortly before the end – again in a phase in which the pressure from Porto was decreasing – Ben Chilwell made the decision 2-0. The promotion to the semi-finals is now imminent for Chelsea.

PSG confirms title ambitions

In an exceptionally offensive game, Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich 3-2 away. Bayern shot twelve times on and 19 times off the target and still only got two goals from Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Thomas Müller. A look at the graph of Bayern in the graphic below (blue line) shows the extreme superiority over PSG. But the French presented themselves efficiently and scored three goals with just five shots on goal. All three goals came at ideal times: Mbappé scored his 1-0 after just three minutes, the 2-0 by Marquinhos fell in one of the biggest pressure phases for Bayern and the decisive 3-2 by Mbappé fell just eight minutes after the Bavarians could score the equalizer. Especially in a phase when it was thought that the Germans could turn the game around after all…