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Apoorv Dwivedi
Two matches were played and resulted in a similar fate, both the hosts lost by a margin of a single goal by the underdogs. The reason? Football. The only possible outcome in football is that everything is possible. Here are the highlights of all the action which ensued last night:
Match 1 Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United (1-0) (Aggregate 2-1)
Manchester United was fresh from its premier league victory over Tottenham this weekend. The fans had pinned their hopes on Cristiano Ronaldo who scored a hat-trick in that game. Atletico Madrid’s defense had other plans.
The 41st minute of the game saw a beautiful cross by Antoine Griezmann and Renan Lodi headed it into the goal post. With 1-0 up, Atletico parked the bus and played on the defensive. Manager Simeone fielded an unconventional 3-1-4-2 formation.
Manchester United made 5 aggressive substitutions but luck was on Jan Oblak’s side as Dalot missed a critical shot by a few inches.
This will be the first season since 2009-10 that Ronaldo will go without a club title to his name. Manager Ralf Ragnick has his task cut out, the team shall strive for a top 4 finish in the premier league and secure a spot in next season’s Champions League.
This is also the second consecutive season when both Ronaldo and Messi are knocked out of Round of 16.
This is the first time in the last 6 meetings that Atletico Madrid knocked out a team featuring Cristiano Ronaldo.
Benfica vs Ajax (1-0) (Aggregate 3-2)
Amsterdam witnessed one of the biggest upsets in this year’s UCL. Ajax was defeated by the Portuguese club Benfica. Ajax was undefeated in the group stage and fought a 2-2 draw in the first leg.
If the game were to be decided on possession. Ajax would have won comfortably as it held the ball for 69 Percent of the game time. But the defense of Jan Vertonghen and Otamendi was too good for Sebastian Haller and co.
Darwin Núñez struck in the 77th minute of the match on the counter and it proved more than enough for them to beat the Dutch giants.
With Villarreal vs Juventus hanging in balance, one can never rule out the possibility of the unlikely win from the last season’s Europa League Champions.