The first day of {Champions League} round of 16 ended: Real Madrid, Aston Villa, and Arsenal will enjoy an advantage for next Wednesday's games. Aston Villa opened the matchday in the afternoon, with a 3-1 away to Club Brugge. The Belgian club will have a difficult, almost impossible mission to come back from two goals against next week at the Villa Park.
For PSV, it is game over: they have lost 1-7, at home in Eindhoven, against Arsenal, the second strongest English club this year, that will be played in London next week with an incredible six goal advantage. It will be almost impossible for the Dutch team to recover from that. In case there was any doubt, it was the first time that a visitor scores 7 goals in a Champions League knockout stage match.
Undoubtedly, the highest-profile match of the night was Real Madrid vs. Atlético de Madrid, which ended with a 2-1 victory for the locals at the Bernabéu, after a hugely tight game with three great goals: Rodrygo and Brahim for Madrid, Julián Álvarez for Atleti. The second leg will be played at the Metropolitano, Atleti's stadium, so everything is still open for next week. As Simeone likes to take day by day, one match after another.
The only draw so far was between Borussia Dortmund and Lille. Borussia misses the chance to get ahead in the knock-out at home, and Lille gets to fight another day after a forgettable season: fifth in Ligue 1, and disgracefully eliminated in the French Cup...
On Wednesday, we will see some more exciting games, including two highlights: Paris Saint-Germain vs Liverpool and Bayern München vs Bayer Leverkusen.
