All Round of 16 Teams in the Champions League Have Been Decided! Real Madrid Wins Both Matches, Atalanta Stages a Stunning Comeback, Juventus Wins but Still Eliminated

On February 26th Beijing time, the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 featured four more matches. Atalanta defeated Dortmund 4-1, overturning the aggregate score to 4-3 and advancing. Real Madrid beat Benfica 2-1 for a 3-1 aggregate win. Juventus, playing with 10 men, won 3-2 against Galatasaray but was eliminated 5-7 on aggregate. PSG drew 2-2 with Monaco but advanced 5-4 overall. Therefore, Atalanta, Real Madrid, Galatasaray, and PSG have all qualified for the Round of 16, completing the full lineup!

Atalanta faced Dortmund. In the first leg, Dortmund secured a clean 2-0 shutout at home against Atalanta. The second leg took place at Atalanta’s home ground, where Atalanta played aggressively, relentlessly attacking Dortmund and scoring multiple goals. On the other hand, Dortmund’s player Gjilasi missed several chances, and with Benesebani conceding a penalty in stoppage time, Atalanta’s spot-kick proved decisive, sealing a 4-1 victory and a 4-3 aggregate win. It must be said that Dortmund tends to falter at critical moments!

Real Madrid played Benfica. In the first leg, Real Madrid secured a practical 1-0 win over Benfica amid a controversy involving discrimination. In the second leg at home, the match was fiercely contested with both sides attacking. Benfica initially took the lead as the visitors. However, Real Madrid quickly responded two minutes later with Valverde’s brilliant assist setting up Camavinga to equalize. Later, Guiller scored but was ruled offside, denying Madrid a chance to extend their lead. In the second half, Benfica’s finishing was poor, failing to break through Madrid’s strong defense. Meanwhile, Valverde provided another assist in the 80th minute for Vinicius to score the decisive goal. Real Madrid won 2-1 on the night and advanced 3-1 on aggregate to the Round of 16!

Juventus faced Galatasaray. Juventus had a disastrous first leg, conceding five goals and suffering a heavy 2-5 defeat, putting them on the brink of elimination. In the second leg at home, Juventus showed great fighting spirit. Even with Kelly sent off, they astonishingly took a 3-0 lead to level the aggregate score. However, in extra time, Juventus collapsed and conceded two more goals. Although they won 3-2 on the night, they were heartbreakingly eliminated 5-7 on aggregate.

PSG played Monaco. As the defending champions, PSG faced domestic rival Monaco in the playoffs. In the first leg away, PSG pulled off a remarkable comeback, overturning a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2. In the second leg at home, despite conceding first, PSG scored twice within six minutes to take a 2-1 lead. Monaco found the net during stoppage time to make it 2-2, resulting in a draw. PSG advanced 5-4 on aggregate to the Round of 16!

With that, the full Round of 16 lineup is set, including eight teams directly qualified and eight from the playoffs. The English Premier League had a major breakthrough with six teams qualifying. Serie A suffered badly, with only Atalanta remaining, while Juventus and Inter Milan were shockingly knocked out by weaker opponents!

Written by / Sports Novel