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Cristiano Ronaldo vs Atletico Madrid - It is probably one of the biggest player-club rivalries in the world of football, especially in UEFA Champions League. The Portuguese forward has knocked the Spanish club out of the competition on numerous occasions in past and with Man Utd drawing against Atletico for Round of 16 in this year's tournament, fans were waiting to see what transpires.
The first leg kicked off at Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday evening and the viewers were left shocked to see the turn of events on the field. While Atletico dominated the match with an early goal, their key aim was to target and bully Cristiano Ronaldo. The players of home side, every now and then, came up with nasty tackles on Man Utd player, leaving him on the ground in dismay.
There were many moments, especially in the first half, when CR7 was fouled. The 37-year-old looked in pain on a few instances and seemed to have been complaining to the referee asking for booking for his opponents. But to add to his misery, the referee instead warned him to stop making such requests to him. There was a visible look of disappointment on Ronaldo's face throughout the 90 minutes.
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Talking about the match, Ronaldo did not have a great outing as Atletico Madrid seemed to have succeeded in stopping him with their aggressive antics. However, Anthony Elanga's 80th-minute goal cancelled out Joao Felix's incredible header as the first leg of Round of 16 ended all square at 1-1.
While there were only 2 goals on the evening, there were quite a few bookings on the day which suggested that it was a heated affair. While Atletico's Jose Giminez, Reinaldo Mandava, Hector Herrera, Marcos Llorente received a caution, there were a few yellow cards for visitors as well with Fred, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Viktor Lindeloff and Alex Telles finding their names in referee's books.
