Real Madrid advances from first place, Leipzig will accompany them to the eighth round

Real Madrid fought Leipzig for the first place from a distance, before the last round they had one point more. Los Blancos reliably swept away Celtic with five goals and secured a better position for the eighth round. Leipzig were not to be disgraced, beating Shakhtar by four goals and advancing from second place.

The match at the Santiago Bernabéu started very roughly. Real Madrid didn’t want to leave anything to chance and immediately went on the attack. In the fifth minute, referee Stéphanie Frappart pointed to the penalty spot for the first time after the hand of Celtic’s Moritz Jenze.

Today’s captain Luka Modric stepped up to the penalty spot, sent goalkeeper Joe Hart to his left and cleared the ball to the far post.

In the 19th minute, Modric sent a beautiful cross behind the defence to Asensio, who was still preparing the ball in front of an empty net for Vinícius. The latter missed in the slip, but play still continued, Rodryg’s shot hit Matthew O’Riley’s hand, Frappart was initially unresponsive, but after consulting VAR she ordered a penalty.

This time it was Rodrygo who took the penalty and worked it himself. This time he sent the ball the other way from Modric, Hart also dived the other way, making it a 2-0 lead.

Then Celtic came to their senses. In the 35th minute, Ferland Mendy was not in time and slipped and hit an attacking player in the visitors’ penalty area, Frappart did not hesitate and pointed to the white dot again. Josip Juranovic took the execution, but the world’s best goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, stood against him in goal and it showed. The Belgian long-man waited and converted Juranovic’s penalty.

Los Blancos didn’t just want to finish the second half. In the 51st minute, a beautiful half-volley from Carvajal’s centre was placed into the net by a superb Marco Asensio. In the 61st minute, Valverde’s shot found Vinícius, who made it 4-0.

In the 71st minute, Lucas Vázquez crossed to Valverde in front of the net, who scored the home team’s fifth goal with a beautiful shot. In the last ten minutes, Jota reduced the score to 1: 5 for the visitors with a beautiful shot from a direct kick. No more goals were scored and Real took a comfortable victory.

Shakhtar – Leipzig

In the second match it was a direct battle for promotion. Shakhtar had to win, Leipzig only needed a draw. And even the German team didn’t want to leave anything to chance. In the 8th minute, Timo Werner had a great chance, but broke his teeth on Trubin.

Werner had another chance in the 10th minute, but once again he shot just wide of the target. However, Christopher Nkunku got on the end of it and sent Leipzig into the lead. In the 50th minute, Mohamed Simakan’s header found Andre Silva, who scored from close range to make it 2-0.

In the 63rd minute, the game was virtually decided when Dominik Szoboszlai made it 3-0. When Dani Olmo scored the fourth goal in the 68th minute, it was already looking like a debacle. However, no more goals were scored and Leipzig won 4:0.

Source: UEFA, Champions League