UEFA Champions League 2024/25: Round of 16 First Leg Recap

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 in their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Tuesday. 

Brugge 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. However, the hosts hit back nine minutes later with a similarly well-taken goal by Maxim De Cuyper. 

Brugge continued to have the better of the chances as the goals bookended the game, and will also be disappointed to not see the game out earlier.

The Belgian club looked comfortable for much of the game but only had themselves to blame for conceding two late goals against a below-par Aston Villa side. The first mistake saw Brandon Mechele slice Morgan Rogers’ 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. Spanish winger Marco Asensio scored from the spot to double Villa’s lead on the night.

Borussia Dortmund 1-1 LOSC Lille

Borussia Dortmund were held by Lille in the home leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie 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 Kova?’s charges with space to exploit in the attacking areas.Following an edgy start to the game, 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 doubling their lead before the break, which the Bundesliga side briefly thought they had done, only for a Pascal Groß effort from close range on the stroke of half-time to be ruled out for offside.

Lille again started the second half brightly as Dortmund sat back to try and soak up that pressure and pounce on the break, but were unable to prevent Lille slicing them open midway through the half with a swift attack that saw Hákon Haraldsson slide the ball past Gregor Kobel to level. 

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 as the game headed towards 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 Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino put Mikel Arteta’s team three up before the break while Noa Lang’s penalty proved to be a mere consolation. 

Martin Odegaard 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 with Riccardo Calafiori making it seven on the night. 

In doing so, Arsenal became 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 can enjoy a special end to this season.

Tougher tests lie ahead, however, Arsenal boast the Premier League’s best defence and with six different players finding the back of the net in this game, perhaps they can find the answers at the other end of the pitch between them. As things stand, their European dream is still alive.

Real Madrid CF 2-1 Club Atlético de Madrid

Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz scored the winner ten minutes into the second-half as the hosts edged past neighbours Atlético Madrid 2-1 in a scrappy first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday 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 grueling return leg at the Metropolitano Stadium next week.

The hosts enjoyed a perfect start to the game when Rodrygo scored the opener four minutes after kickoff, 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 sides and began the second half well with Rodrigo de Paul wasting a chance to give them the lead in the 53rd minute, a costly miss as two minutes later Real Madrid got the winner in the 55th through Brahim 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 Real Madrid the edge in a hard-fought clash against Atléti, who dominated proceedings for large stretches of the match and could easily have finished with a better result if they had 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’s lead was no greater ahead of next week’s mouth-watering second leg encounter.