In this article, we take a look at all the action from the first legs of the Playoff Round of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL).
PSG seized control of their Champions League knockout playoff tie against Brest on Tuesday, with Ousmane Dembélé scoring twice in his side’s 3-0 away win.
The Parisians broke the deadlock after 21 minutes, with Vitinha converting a penalty after Pierre Lees-Melou was ruled to have handled the ball in front of his goal. Brest had chances to level the proceedings as Abdallah Sima headed against the post and an Achraf Hakimi mistake went unpunished before PSG doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, as Dembélé cut inside from the right flank and beat Brest goalkeeper Marco Bizot at his near post with a low strike, scoring in his eighth consecutive game.
Midway through the second half, Dembélé secured his brace and potentially PSG’s place in the last 16 as he latched onto a loose ball in the box before drilling home.
The result leaves Brest with a mountain to climb ahead of the return leg at the Parc des Princes.
Jude Bellingham’s stoppage-time winner saw Real Madrid come from behind for a second time in the game to beat Man City 3-2 in the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie.
The game started at a frantic pace, with both keepers getting tested early on. Real Madrid were the better of the two sides and missed some gilt-edged chances before Erling Haaland gave City the lead thanks to an inspired bit of play by Joško Gvardiol.
The Norwegian striker must have thought he’d won the game for his side from the penalty spot late on with his second of the night, having restored the lead after Kylian Mbappé had levelled at the hour mark with a mishit volley, but the Cityzens collapsed in the final moments. Brahim Díaz netted with a first-time shot on the rebound against his former club before Bellingham had the final say, latching onto the ball with Ederson beaten after Vinícius Júnior had robbed Rico Lewis and lofted the ball over his compatriot.
On the balance of play, Los Blancos will feel they created more than enough chances to win the leg, but the manner of the result was tough on Pep Guardiola’s side and leaves them with much to do against the reigning UCL champions when they meet at the Santiago Bernabéu next week for a place in the last 16.
Samuel Mbangula came off the bench to score with eight minutes left on the clock as Juventus edged PSV 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie. The two sides had met each other in their league phase earlier in the season, with the Italians coming out as 3-1 winners.
It was once again Thiago Motta’s side who began brightly as Federico Gatti’s cross created a pinball inside the box before Weston McKennie’s thunderous strike from the edge of the box gave the hosts the opener in the 34th minute.
The visitors, however, found a way back into the game as Ivan Perišic, who turned 36 this month, fired a low drive to beat Michele Di Gregorio at his near post to make it 1-1 ten minutes into the second half. However, Mbangula’s strike handed the lead to Juve late on, with the tie now set for an exciting climax in the Netherlands to decide who will progress to the last 16.
Serhou Guirassy matched Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski as he inspired Borussia Dortmund to a 3-0 win over Sporting.
The reigning Portuguese topflight champions were the more aggressive of the two sides at the start and hit the woodwork, with Maximiliano Araújo’s powerful drive bouncing off the crossbar. They came close to taking the lead in the 35th minute but saw their effort palmed wide by Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel, with BVB failing to register a single shot on target in the first half.
That changed in the 55th minute when Karim Adeyemi’s low drive was blocked by Rui Silva. Guinea international Guirassy, however, gave the keeper no chance, wrong-footing him with a looping header from a Julian Brandt cross. Dortmund kept up the pressure and doubled their lead eight minutes later as Guirassy whipped in a cross and Pascal Groß volleyed in from close range. By the time Adeyemi added a third in the 82nd minute, Sporting had seemingly thrown in the towel, unable to break past the Dortmund defence. Dortmund are all but through to the last 16 with this healthy three-goal lead.
Also read: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Sponsors
A controversial stoppage-time penalty gave Club Brugge the victory in the first leg against Italian side Atalanta.
The Belgian side got to the early lead in the 15th minute when an Atalanta pass was intercepted by Chemsdine Talbi on the right flank, who then drove forward before squaring it for forward Ferran Jutglà, who took a touch before firing it home. There weren’t many clear chances from the Bergamaschi, but they drew level before half-time when Mario Pašalic jumped the highest to head home from an inviting Davide Zappacosta cross.
The second half saw both teams trying to find a winner, with Atalanta having the better chances to score, but they were denied twice by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. First, Mignolet made a diving save near post when Zappacosta headed down the ball after the hour-mark, before denying Charles Ge Ketelaere from the edge of the box. The game seemed to be edging towards a draw, but in stoppage-time a controversial penalty call gave the hosts the victory. The on-field referee awarded the spot-kick to Club Brugge for a foul by Atalanta defender Isak Hien, who was adjudged to have raised a hand into the face of opposition forward Gustaf Nilsson, who made no mistake from the spot and gave his side a 2-1 lead.
Daizen Maeda’s late strike ensured Celtic remained in this tie after going down 2-0 before the hour mark to Bayern Munich at Celtic Park.
The hosts thought they had taken the lead inside 30 seconds from the start when Nicolas Kühn poked home the ball, but he was rightly adjudged offside. After the early scare, the Bavarians took control of the game, creating chance after chance as Michael Olise wreaked havoc. He, Harry Kane, and Leroy Sané fluffed glorious opportunities to give Bayern the lead, though their persistence paid off when Olise rifled a left-footed strike into the net at the stroke of half-time.
Five minutes into the restart, Kane volleyed in from a Joshua Kimmich corner kick to double his side’s advantage. The 2-0 lead looked unassailable for the Bhoys, but as Bayern took their foot off the pedal they found encouragement to drive forward. In the 79th minute, Maeda halved the deficit when he poked home from close range. A lengthy VAR check ensued, but the goal was ultimately awarded to Celtic. The home side tried to attack more after this, but Bayern managed to hold onto their slender lead.
A solitary goal in the early stages of the game gave the hosts a one-goal advantage ahead of the second-leg at San Siro.
Feyenoord made the dream start in the third minute when Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan failed to save Igor Paixão’s long-range shot near his post. Even though the conditions were unfavourable and the surface was wet as heavy rain poured down, Maignan would feel he should have saved that.
Paixão was a constant threat for the Italians as he ran down the left flank and troubled Kyle Walker with his pace and dribbling. He had another superb moment in the 37th minute when his powerful strike rattled the Milan crossbar.
At the other end, Rafael Leão had a couple of good chances before the break, the first of which was blocked by Feyenoord defender Thomas Beelen, while the second, a counter-attacking move where he ran down on goal, was stopped by Givairo Read’s perfectly-timed tackle.
It was an end-to-end affair with both teams finding chances. Paixão was involved once again, starting the move, but substitute Julián Carranza pulled wide from close range. Tijjani Reijnders had a fabulous opportunity to equalise for the Rossoneri in the 70th minute, but his volley sailed over the crossbar.
Feyenoord held on to the one-goal lead with some stoic defending and will go into the second leg with a lot of confidence.
Benfica beat ten-man Monaco courtesy of a Vangelis Pavlidis goal.
In a tightly-contested game at the Stade Louis II, both sides had a fair few chances in the first half. In the eighth minute, Pavlidis was in the thick of action with a counterattacking move, linking up with midfielder Fredrik Aursnes, but his return pass was cleared by Monaco defender Thilo Kehrer. A minute later, Aleksandr Golovin’s powerful strike on goal forced a save from Benfica shot-stopper Anatoly Trubin. Monaco kept the majority of the possession but couldn’t really create big chances.
Three minutes after the break, Pavlidis received a through ball from Tomás Araújo and shrugged off Monaco defender Mohammed Salisu before chipping the ball over Radoslaw Majecki to break the deadlock.
Things got worse for the Monégasque club in the 52nd minute when midfielder Al-Musrati picked up his second yellow card of the match. Later, Pavlidis could have doubled the lead, but his shot was saved by Majecki, who kept Monaco in the tie.
An injury to veteran Ángel Di María was a bit of a dampener for the Portuguese side, but with this win they have taken a quite a step towards qualification to the Round of 16.
Chaotic start to the season McLaren's Lando Norris kicked off the Formula One 2025 in…
Multi-year deal signed The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has signed a new four-year…
New deal ahead of F1 2025 season Austrian Formula One team Red Bull Racing have…
Alpine teams up with STEM on Track project French Formula One team Alpine has announced…
10-year extension announced English football club Aston Villa has announced a new partnership extension with…
Multi-year renewal signed as Domenicali set to continue as F1 boss Formula One and Liberty…