In this article, we take a look at all the action from the first legs of the Round of 16 of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL).
Club Brugge KV 1-3 Aston Villa FC
A late capitulation from Club Brugge helped Aston Villa secure a 3-1 win at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Tuesday.
The Belgian side had done well initially to come back from an early Villa opener, with Leon Bailey producing a fine volley inside three minutes to put the visitors ahead in a dream start. The hosts hit back nine minutes later with a similarly well-taken goal by Maxim De Cuyper.
The Blauw-Zwart looked comfortable for much of the game but only had themselves to blame for conceding two late goals against a below-par Villa side. The first mistake saw Brandon Mechele slice Morgan Rogers’s cross into his own net (82′). Five minutes later, a lazy challenge from Christos Tzolis fouled Matty Cash inside the box, handing Villa a late penalty, which Marco Asensio converted.
Borussia Dortmund 1-1 LOSC Lille
Borussia Dortmund were held by Lille at home after a thunderous first-half strike from Karim Adeyemi was cancelled out by a Hákon Haraldsson goal in the second half.
Lille started the game on the front foot and tried to take the game to Dortmund in the early stages, but that presented Niko Kovac’s charges with space to exploit in the attacking areas. Following an edgy start, Adeyemi blasted the hosts in front with a thunderous drive on his left boot following a corner.
The hosts kept pushing forward for another breakthrough as the visitors defended deeply and tried to prevent Dortmund from doubling their lead before the break, which the German Bundesliga side briefly thought they had done courtesy of Pascal Groß, only for his close-range effort on the stroke of half-time to be ruled out for offside.
Lille started the second half brightly as well, with BVB sitting back to try and soak up the pressure and pounce on the break, but they were unable to prevent Lille from slicing them open midway through the half as a swift attack saw Haraldsson slide the ball past Gregor Kobel to level the score.
Dortmund tried to regain the initiative as the game opened up in the final 20 minutes but were unable to find the same attacking flow they enjoyed in the first half. The game ended in a draw, leaving the tie delicately poised heading into next Wednesday’s second leg in France.
PSV Eindhoven 1-7 Arsenal FC
Arsenal put their recent scoring problems behind them with an emphatic 7-1 win over PSV on a historic Champions League night in Eindhoven.
The Gunners went into the game facing questions about their firepower, but goals from Jurriën Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, and Mikel Merino put Mikel Arteta’s team three up before the break, with Noa Lang’s penalty on the other end proving to be a mere consolation.
Martin Ødegaard then scored either side of Leandro Trossard’s dinked finish in the second half to put this Round of 16 tie well beyond the Dutch side’s reach, with Riccardo Calafiori making it seven on the night.
With this win, Arsenal have become the first team to score seven goals away from home in a Champions League knockout tie. A quarter-final tie against the winner of the Madrid derby awaits amid renewed hope that the Gunners may end up having a special end to the season.
Real Madrid CF 2-1 Club Atlético de Madrid
Real Madrid’s Brahim Díaz scored the winner ten minutes into the second half as the hosts edged past neighbours Atlético Madrid 2-1 after Julián Álvarez had cancelled out Rodrygo’s opener.
It was a cagey encounter between two bitter rivals who at times looked to be playing within themselves, presumably conserving some energy for what is likely to be a gruelling return leg at the Metropolitano next week.
The hosts enjoyed a perfect start to the game when Rodrygo scored the opener four minutes after kick-off. However, Atlético slowly grew into the game and Álvarez equalised with a stunning strike in the 32nd minute.
Diego Simeone’s side ended the first half as the happier of the two teams and began the second half well, with Rodrigo De Paul wasting a chance to give them the lead in the 53rd minute, which proved to be costly as two minutes later Real Madrid got the winner through Diaz, who worked his magic to find a tiny pocket of space inside a crowded box and slotted a low, angled strike inside Jan Oblak’s far post.
Brahim’s goal gave Los Blancos the edge in a hard-fought clash against Atleti, who dominated proceedings for large stretches of the match and could easily have finished with a better result had they made the most of their chances. However, Simeone appeared comfortable with the scoreline, replacing attacker Antoine Griezmann with centre-back Robin Le Normand and switching to five at the back to make sure Real Madrid didn’t extend their lead.
Feyenoord Rotterdam 0-2 FC Internazionale Milano
Inter Milan secured a comfortable victory away at Feyenoord and go into the second leg with a two-goal advantage.
For all of Feyenoord’s attacking threat in the early period, it was the visitors who delivered the telling blow when Marcus Thuram scored from Nicolò Barella’s long pass in the 38th minute. The Italy international scored the opener from an acrobatic volley from close range.
Five minutes into the restart, Lautaro Martínez netted Inter’s second, lashing the ball into the top-right corner. Feyenoord had a great chance to halve the deficit a few minutes later, but Jakub Moder hit the bar from an Ibrahim Osman cross into the box. At the hour mark, things got even worse for the home side when a penalty was awarded for a foul on Thuram. However, Timon Wellenreuther dived the right way to deny Piotr Zielinski from the spot, keeping his side in the game.
With Inter’s solid defence, overcoming a two-goal lead away from home seems difficult for Feyenoord, but stranger things have happened in football.
SL Benfica 0-1 FC Barcelona
A ten-man Barcelona earned a hard-fought win at the Estádio da Luz in their Round of 16 first leg.
The hosts started brightly and posed all kinds of problems for the Blaugrana. In an attacking move, in-form Benfica forward Vangelis Pavlidis was fouled on the edge of the box by Barça defender Pau Cubarsí in the 22nd minute, which was deemed a red card offence for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. Benfica had a golden opportunity to take the lead just before half-time, but Kerem Aktürkoglu’s shot was saved by Wojciech Szczesny.
Benfica started the second half strongly and kept possession, with left-back Álvaro Carreras causing all sorts of trouble for the Barça defence. But their lack of finishing came back to hurt them when Benfica defender António Silva gave the ball away in a dangerous area and Raphinha obliged at the hour mark, the in-form Brazilian’s powerful low shot going into the bottom corner to give his side the lead. Looking for a late equaliser, Benfica threw everyone forward in the dying minutes, but the Barça defence showed resilience and made crucial blocks and tackles to keep the home team at bay.
Paris Saint-Germain FC 0-1 Liverpool FC
The Reds struck late to take a one-goal lead back to Anfield, leaving PSG to rue their missed chances in a game they dominated from start to finish.
The hosts started the game with energy and intent, creating chances at will. Their forwards Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembélé were an absolute menace on either wing. If not for Allison Becker in goal, Liverpool would have been three goals down in the first half itself. PSG’s first clear chance arrived in the 16th minute, when João Neves blazed his effort over the bar from Dembélé’s cut-back after winger had dribbled past two Liverpool defenders. Kvaratskhelia did find the top-left corner in the 20th minute, but he was marginally offside. Bradley Barcola went down after an Ibrahima Konaté challenge for a potential red card, but VAR cleared it.
The second half was much better from Liverpool’s perspective as they showed some semblance of control. However, they were poor on transitions and lost the ball a couple of times, resulting in more saves for Alisson. Substitutes affected the game for Liverpool as Darwin Núñez showed strength to win Alisson’s long ball and teed up Harvey Elliott, whose low shot got a touch from Gianluigi Donnarumma on its way into the far corner three minutes from time.
FC Bayern Munich 3-0 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Bayern Munich put one foot into the next round with an emphatic win over ten-man Leverkusen.
The German Bundesliga leaders opened the scoring inside ten minutes with striker Harry Kane’s powerful header from a Michael Olise cross. The reigning German topflight champions could have equalised five minutes later, but Jeremie Frimpong couldn’t beat veteran goalie Manuel Neuer from close range. Jamal Musiala could have doubled Bayern’s lead in the 20th minute, but his near-post header hit the bar. Leverkusen were looking sloppy in defence, with the Bavarians thoroughly dominating the proceedings.
Leverkusen keeper Matej Kovár gifted the second goal to the hosts as he fumbled the ball from a Joshua Kimmich cross and Musiala prodded it home in the 54th minute. Things got worse for the visitors when defender Nordi Mukiele was sent off in the 61st minute for a second yellow offence. Kane sealed the victory with a spot kick in the 75th minute after he had been fouled by Edmond Tapsoba in the box. Substitute João Palhinha could have made it four from a Musiala cut-back late on, but his shot hit the crossbar.
While Bayern look set to go through to the next round, Leverkusen have their backs against the wall and need a miracle in the return leg.
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