Wins for City, Madrid in UCL Quarter Finals First Leg

A sluggish start from Jurgen Klopp’s men helped Madrid to a brilliant start with Vinicius Junior capitalising to convert Toni Kroos’ exquisite long-range pass to give the host a deserved 27th-minute lead.

Liverpool’s night got even worse when England Right Back, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s poor header gifted Los Blancos a second, Marcos Asensio lifting the ball over Liverpool goalkeeper, Allison Becker and into the back of the net 11 minutes before half time.

Klopp reacted just before half-time, hauling off Naby Keita and bringing on Thiago Alcantara, and they started the second half in much better fashion. It soon paid off and they were rewarded with a precious away goal through Mohamed Salah in the 51st minute.

However, Real who were having a brilliant game responded with a goal of their own as Vincius (65) struck his second of the night to restore Real’s two-goal advantage and leave Liverpool with plenty of work to do ahead of next week’s second leg at Anfield.

In the other encounter of the night, a late Phil Foden goal handed City a 2-1 advantage after Marco Reus had equalized for Dortmund.

Dortmund bravely pressed City at every opportunity in a high-quality game. Jude Bellingham had a goal controversially ruled out for a soft foul on Ederson after the goalkeeper had dallied on a back-pass, while Erling Haaland was denied by Ederson after showing immense strength to get through one-on-one in the second half.

Kevin De Bruyne, City captain on the night had put them ahead in the first half, before Dortmund thought they had snatched a draw through Reus with 6 minutes left on the clock. However, Foden and City had other ideas.

Although the away goal scored by Dortmund may prove crucial in determining who makes it through to the last-4, the 2-1 victory will surely give Pep Guardiola’s men more confidence going into the second leg next week. Pep has never taken City beyond the quarter finals before, this may just be their year.  

Chelsea are in action against FC Porto tomorrow while Bayern Munich take on PSG in what is a repeat of last year’s finals. Follow he games live on SuperSports

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