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With a close 2-1 Champions League last 16 first-leg victory on Tuesday, Real Madrid slipped to within a small margin of city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Rodrygo Goes’ opener gave Atletico the lead, but Julian Alvarez equalized for Atletico with a brahim Diaz strike, making it 15 consecutive victories for the record-holder Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe were kept quiet by Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who lost in the 2014 and 2016 finals to bitter rivals.

READ ALSO: PSV Eindhoven wins Champions League Last-16 First Leg 7-1.

In the final stages of the second leg derby game at home next week, the Rojiblancos appeared to accept their one-goal disadvantage.

In place of the suspended Jude Bellingham, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti chose Morocco international Diaz to play midfield and left-back Fede Valverde.

The Italian’s side showed more commitment and attitude than they did against Real Betis on Saturday, and the Italian’s men delivered.

After four minutes, Rodrygo pounced by sliding inside Javi Galan to retrieve Valverde’s teasing pass before slinging his left foot past Jan Oblak and into the far post.

The Brazilian winger, who has 25 goals in 61 appearances for Madrid, has consistently excelled on the European stage with his fifth strike of the tournament.

When Galan appeared to hold Rodrygo back in the area, he was denied a penalty, but Rodrygo’s appeals were ignored.

When his fellow-traitor Vinicius surged into the box to score Madrid’s second goal, Jose Gimenez skillfully blocked his shot.

When Samuel Lino put pressure on Atletico, Valverde whipped away Giuliano Simeone’s whipped ball from under his own crossbar.

Alvarez hit a brilliant solo goal into the top corner after dancing away from Eduardo Camavinga in the left corner and curling his shot past Thibaut Courtois.

The former Manchester City striker has scored 10 goals in 14 games this season, which demonstrates why Atletico made him their second-most expensive signing of all-time last summer.

Atletico remained in control for an extended period of time, with Madrid having to struggle to turn the ball back to their rivals.

When Diaz restored Los Blancos’ lead in the 55th minute, it was even more surprising.

Before bursting into the crowd to celebrate, the midfielder quickly left Gimenez on the ground and made room for a tidy low finish.

As Atletico searched for a response and manager Ancelotti introduced 39-year-old midfielder Luka Modric in search of more control, Griezmann fired wide and Gimenez over.

In the final 30 minutes of the match, when Madrid might have won a third, the Croatian delivered exactly that.

Vinicius was waiting for a tap-in when Mbappe’s cut-back from the right was performed, and Oblak saved from Modric in the process.

The Gunners won the Champions League last-16 game 7-1 over a ruthless PSV Eindhoven thanks to the talented teenage duo Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri on Tuesday.

The struggling Dutch champions, who were condemned to their worst-ever defeat in European football, were playing at a different level than the Premiership side.

READ ALSO: Aston Villa defeats Club Brugge 3-1 to keep their lead in the Champions League game.

Arsenal was initially in charge. A narrow offside prevented Declan Rice’s powerful shot into the PSV net in 11 minutes, but it provided a taste of what was to come.

After a quarter of an hour, PSV should have taken the lead, but Ismael Saibari somehow managed to hit the ball from close range with the goalkeeper already down.

Two minutes later, Arsenal paid the hosts’ blatant behavior. Due to the size of Rice’s space in the PSV box, Jurrien Timber’s flying Dutchman, Jurrien Timber, who had a chance to cross the far post, thanked him for his effort.

Following more generous Dutch defense, the Premiership side soon doubled their lead.

The 18-year-old English defender squaring off to fellow teenager Nwaneri, who smashed the cross into the top corner, found himself in acres of space in a dangerous area.

After just over half an hour of play, PSV’s hambolic defense turned into embarrassment.

The defense wasted four chances to get a quick clearance before making a mistaken pass to makeshift striker Mikel Merino, who rolled past Walter Benitez.

Just before half time, PSV won a penalty after Thomas Partey carelessly wrapped his arms around Luuk de Jong’s head, giving the shellshocked fans in the Philips Stadion a glimmer of hope.

Noa Lang, a Dutch international winger, did not make a mistake by smashing the ball into the top corner to give David Raya no chance.

After a first 45 minutes of breathless play, the Dutch champions were 3-1 up at half-time.

After a clumsy challenge on Richard Ledezma, Lewis-Skelly was substituted, presumably fortunate to avoid a second yellow card.

– Record defeat

However, Arsenal’s home fans’ only hope was quickly lost as the match’s opening three minutes saw Arsenal score twice.

Nwaneri squared a cross that Benitez could only palm into Martin Odegaard’s path, striking a stunningly down the right.

By this point, Arsenal was having no choice but to play. Leandro Trossard, a Belgium international striker, was found with ease as Riccardo Calafiori eased past the left-hand side of the PSV defense with 49 minutes left.

As PSV capitulated, Odegaard ran unchallenged at the defense before volleying a shot that Benitez parried sluggishly into his own net.

In a 6-0 defeat to Saint-Etienne in the 1980 UEFA Cup, Calafiori added to the misery with a seventh goal in 86 minutes, breaking the previous record for PSV goals conceded in Europe.

The 1987 European Cup winners’ fans departed the stadium well before the final whistle on a sad evening.

Aston Villa won the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday 3-1 away at Club Brugge in Belgium thanks to two late goals, including a Marco Asensio penalty.

Leon Bailey’s early opener was canceled by a Maxim De Cuyper strike for the hosts, but the scores remained level going into the closing stages.

At the Jan Breydelstadion, Villa had a better match than their Premier League rivals, but Brandon Mechele’s 82nd-minute own goal gave them a new lead.

Ahmed Musa Represents The Super Eagles in the World Cup Qualifiers.

In the 88th minute, Asensio scored his fifth goal in four games to put the 1982 European Cup winners in a strong position to advance to the quarter-finals, scoring first as a substitute.

A mouthwatering quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain or Liverpool will be the reward if Unai Emery’s team can succeed at Villa Park on Wednesday.

After finishing eighth in the league phase, Villa qualified for this stage, but they lost 1-0 in Bruges in early November.

After Tyrone Mings obtusely picked the ball up in his own area, Hans Vanaken scored the winning penalty.

Mings, an England centre-back, will be pleased to have assisted in the third-minute goal, which gave Villa the lead in the same penalty box.

With a controlled first-time finish past goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, he met a free-kick into the Brugge area and was awarded a goal.

Club Brugge have shown this season that they can compete at this level, most recently defeating Atalanta, who won the Europa League last year, 5-2 on aggregate in the play-off round last month.

Rashford is ineffective.

Soon, the hosts reached level. Greek international Christos Tzolis returned the ball to De Cuyper, who had just left to send a first-time shot past Emiliano Martinez and into the far corner.

The hosts almost won. The ball broke inside the area thanks to Martinez’s crucial save to deny Chemsdine Talbi.

Unai Emery, the manager of Villa, attempted a powerful strike from close range early in the second half, but just before the hour a quadruple substitution made a quick change.

In his first Champions League game since receiving a 4-3 defeat against Manchester United in Copenhagen in November 2023, Rashford was quiet on the left wing and made the comeback.

Asensio, another winter signing for Villa, started on the bench despite his excellent recent form.

Mignolet saved the on-loan PSG player after he received an assist from fellow substitute Jacob Ramsey, who almost struck on 68 minutes.

The 1978 European Cup winner, Club Brugge, also had the chance to take the lead. Captain Vanaken misfired a great chance for the Greek winger when he headed narrowly wide from a Tzolis cross.

The unfortunate Mechele turned a Morgan Rogers cross into his own net to give Brugge the opportunity to lose by two goals.

The mayor of Milan announced on Tuesday that he hoped to sell the iconic old ground to the Serie A clubs before the summer, boosting Inter Milan and AC Milan’s bid to build a new stadium on the site of the San Siro.

Giuseppe Sala stated on RTL 102.5 that he wanted to hear from the two clubs a formal feasibility study and an offer to buy them, which he would then forward to Milan’s city council.

By the start of the summer holidays, Sala stated, “the goal is to sell the stadium and the surrounding area.”

Inter and Milan, the Giants of European football, have long wished to build a modern neighborhood in place of the city’s current San Siro, and they recently resurrended a joint project that was turned down in 2023 after slogging its way through the bureaucratic and political corridors.

The project’s original feasibility study, which was originally estimated at 1.3 billion euros, will only be partially modified to include the city’s San Siro, where it would be used for green space as well as a variety of sports and entertainment venues.

A new stadium, which was originally planned to have a capacity of 60, 000 but has since been increased to over 70, 000, would be constructed in the area to the west of the current stadium, which is occupied by car parking and a nearby park.

The main difference is that Inter and Milan would purchase the land instead of rent it, and work will not begin until the upcoming Winter Olympics, for which the current San Siro will host the opening ceremony.

The clubs will renovate the old stadium, which will remain in place until 2030, according to Sala, adding that it will take a few years before the new stadium is ready.

– Political unease

A building protection order preventing the demolition of the second tier of the current stadium will automatically take effect if the San Siro and surrounding land are sold soon, which is important for the clubs and Sala.

However, Milan city councillors of all political parties have expressed unease as a result of Sala’s attempt to force the project through in order to avoid becoming the mayor who made two of the biggest football clubs in the world leave the city.

In 2023, AC Milan purchased 40 million euros worth of land in the nearby town of San Donato Milanese while Inter looked at sites in Rozzano and Assago, both of which were located in the city’s south.

It would cost Sala’s center-left administration money to relocate the clubs, leaving Italy’s economic center with a sizable unused stadium on its outskirts, which would no longer pay the seven million euros in annual rent and would need to be repurposed or destroyed.

Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday was described as “classic” and that the game was not considered to be high risk by French police.

For the first time since the chaos surrounding the 2022 Champions League match between the club and Real Madrid at the Stade de France, Liverpool have returned to the French capital following the last 16 first leg tie at PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium.

According to a police source in Paris, the match’s security would be a “classic arrangement for a Champions League match.”

“The situation has changed from three years ago.” The source said that a lot has changed since then because it’s held at the Parc des Princes rather than the Stade de France.

He continued, “This is not a high risk situation.”

The game will feature approximately 2, 000 Liverpool fans.

After being escorted into bottlenecks by police as they approached the stadium, the Champions League final three years ago was delayed by more than 30 minutes as fans fought for their lives.

The stadium perimeter was then attacked by police who then shot tear gas at thousands of fans who were encased behind metal fences.

UEFA, the governing body of European football, initially attempted to blame supporters for their tardiness, but a French Senate investigation revealed that poorly executed security measures were to blame for the mayhem.

Many Liverpool supporters are restraining from watching the game on Wednesday.

For many people, according to Liverpool fan website The Anfield Wrap’s John Gibbons, “It’s too soon,” he told AFP.