The Champions League Round of 16 first leg ties are done and dusted with Leicester grabbing a priceless away goal in Spain, and Juventus defeating 10-men Porto.
The Champions League Round of 16 produced a record 34 goals.
Who said football had gotten boring?
Actually, I think that was me.
There was a reason the English Premier League Champions, Leicester City, were 70-1 to escape from the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium with a win. They had lost five Premier League games in a row, conceding 12, failing to score in 10 hours of football, and getting knocked out of the FA Cup by Millwall.
Facing the worst defending champions in Premier League history was Sevilla. Third in La Liga, with only one defeat in eight, including ending Real Madrid’s 40-match unbeaten run.
And in truth, the game went to form with Sevilla battering the Foxes for the first 70-minutes, and if it weren’t for the gallantry of Kasper Schmeichel, Sevilla would have been able to play their U12 side in the return leg and still go through to the last eight.
The Dane saved an early spot kick from Joaquin Correa after the Argentinean had been unceremoniously hacked to the ground by an idiotic tackle from club skipper Wes Morgan. But Sevilla took a one goal lead into half time after a superb header from Pablo Sarabia.
Sevilla threatened to run away with it when Correa made up for his penalty miss to score their second in the 62nd minute, but Danny Drinkwater set up Jamie Vardy to score his first goal in 2017 to give Leicester a glimmer of hope when the pair duel again in the King Power.
Porto Self Destruct Against Juventus
Juventus have five fingers in the next round of the Champions League thanks to a moment of madness from Porto’s full-back Alex Telles. The young Brazilian received two yellow cards in a 74-second spell that propelled Juventus from a defensive unit to a fearsome attacking one.
Substitutes Marko Pjaca and former Barcelona star Dani Alves scored two goals within the space of two minutes as Porto’s legs began to tire. The Italians deserved it after controlling 77% of the football.
The defeat was Porto’s first in seven games. Juventus extend their winning run to eight in all competitions.
Round of 16 Results
Bayer Leverkusen 2 v 4 Atletico Madrid
Man City 5 v 3 Monaco
Porto 0 v 2 Juventus
Sevilla 2 v 1 Leicester
PSG 4 v 0 Barcelona
Benfica 1 v 0 Dortmund
Real Madrid 3 v 1 Napoli
Bayern Munich 5 v 1 Arsenal
Champions League Winners Odds (Courtesy of Bodog)
Bayern Munich – +275
Real Madrid +400
PSG +600
Juventus +600
Atletico +700
Man City +900
Dortmund +1600
Sevilla +2200
Barcelona +4000
Monaco +4000
Napoli +6600
Benfica +8000
Leicester +8000
Arsenal +15000
Porto +25000
Leverkusen +50000
