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The first leg of the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) kicked off Tuesday night with the biggest fixture of the night surely being the Madrid derby. Atletico Madrid travelled to the Santiago Bernabeu to take on city rivals Real Madrid. As expected, the match was a very closely contested affair and ended with a scoreline of 2-1 in Real Madrid’s favour. Brahim Diaz who was named in the starting line-up due to the absence of Jude Bellingham was on the scoresheet along with Rodrygo. Julian Alvarez ended up scoring Atletico Madrid’s only goal of the night.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the press after the game and heaped praises on his team and especially the two goal-scorers. He said, “The team ran and worked hard. Two players made the difference. Rodrygo and Brahim were the best. They worked hard and contributed a lot.” Rodrygo scored the opener within the first four minutes of the game with a beautiful curling effort with his left foot past Jan Oblak. Brahim Diaz then scored the winner on the 55th minute when the scoreline was 1-1.
UCL Round of 16 tie between Madrid teams is far from over
Real Madrid were handed a boost just before this fixture as Fede Valverde was deemed fit to play and in fact started the game in the right-back position against Atletico Madrid. He even wore the captain’s armband for this derby. After Real Madrid had a solid start to the match with Rodrygo’s early goal, Julian Alvarez put Atletico on level terms in the 32nd minute with a stunning curler. However in the end Simeone’s side could not get the result that they were looking for.
Even after this result, the fixture is far from over for both these sides. The return leg will take place in a week’s time at the Wanda Metropolitano. Atletico Madrid will look to capitalize on the home-crowd support that they have and will look to turn the game in their favour.
