Which means we’re done here. Thanks for your company; peace out.
Here’s Jonathan Liew’s match report:
For your ears.
Leipzig did have a lot of chances tonight, but at no point did I really fancy them to score. Brahim Diaz, on the other hand, had thoughts on how it should be done.
Jude Bellingham who...? 👀
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 13, 2024
A moment of magic from Brahim Diaz gives Real Madrid the lead! 🤩#UCL pic.twitter.com/e60sDQ4go8
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Elsewhere, City have won 3-1 in Copenhagen. Amazing what you can do when you do’t have Andre Onana in net.
Full time: Leipzig 0-1 Real Madrid
A brilliant goal wins it, but Leipzig caused Madrid problems tonight so will feel they’re in the tie.
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90+4 min Camavinga down the left, and he crosses to the front post … where Joselu, pulling away, turns around the near post.
90+3 min Camavinga breaks at inside-left and finds Vinicius, whose shot is deflected behind. Madrid are seeing this out pretty comfortably.
90+2 min It does feel like Madrid are a striker short if they’re going to be a power team. If they’re going to be a possession team, they’re a passer short.
90+1 min We’ll have four added minutes.
90 min Change for Leipzig, Schlager going off and Kampl coming on.
88 min Leipzig have a chance in the Bernabeu, because Madrid are vulnerable at the back, but they need more composure in their finishing.
86 min In comms, they think Sesko has shwon why he’s rated but I’m not sure; there’s an imprecision and eagerness about him on which I’m not mad. Obviously his physical gifts make him a threat, but he doesn’t, I think, have the finesse in his finishing that, say, Rasmus Hojlund does.
84 min Leipzig haven’t wilted, Haidara making space for a shot from the edge, Lunin saving, then Vinicius blocks the corner from too close and is booked.
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83 min Poor old Diaz, replacing the injured Bellingham he scores a worldie then gets injured himself, and he won’t be seen for a while I’m afraid. Joselu and Lucas Vasquez replace him and Rodrygo.
82 min Diaz escapes two men, is fouled, keeps going, and seems to have twanged a hammy so signals for the game to work. That not being how it works., Haidara seizes possession and slides in Sesko, whose low shot is beaten away by Lunin. Kroos does not enjoy this, bouncing with rage arguing with Haidara, who laughs at him.
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81 min Nice from Simons, lifting the ball over Kroos, controlling on thigh, and lashing a shot that Lunin grabs. He looks a player.
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78 min Simakan charges forward and finds Simons, who spreads for Raum, overlapping … and he punches a fine, low diagonal ball across the face of goal … that no one thinks to attack. He is less than gruntled.
78 min As per:
76 min Openda was really quiet tonight, and immediately Poulsen redresses the balance, clattering Camavinga and perhaps scratching him with his moustache in the process.
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76 min Ch ch changes: Elmas, Haidara and Poulsen on, Henrichs, Openda and Olmo off.
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75 min Leipzig are a big, physical team, but they lack a bit of guile and deftness – it’s Simons or no one.
73 min City lead 2-1 in Copenhagen.
71 min Madrid have not looked like potential winners, but they’ve tie yet to improve but excuse me while I interrupt myself! Olmo thuds a low shot Gulasci sees late and prangs clear, then Diaz brgins the ball forward and times his pass to Vinicius; he teases Klostermann, swaying and feinting before skipping by on the outside, flicking a low early toe-poke across Gulasci, Romario-style … and against the post, the rebound not quite falling for Diaz.
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70 min Carvajal goes in the back of Simons, and if does that again he’ll be off. I’d not be surprised to se Lucas Vasquez replace him.
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69 min Vinicius megs Olmo with a pass. Shaaaaaame!
68 min Camavinga drives forward and finds Rodrygo, pulling right, but his cross is behind Vinicius and wins a corner.
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66 min Carvajal hauls down Simon and is finally booked.
64 min MADRID SHOULD SCORE AGAIN! Valverde wins it high and finds Rodrigo, who wallops into Diaz who touches off gloriously for Vinicius. But as Diaz runs across his path, his ball for Rodrigo is a little weak, and the shot is saved.
62 min Now then! Olmo, out on the left, curves a terrific pass with the outside of his right foot into the space between Sesko and Lunin … but the keeper dashes out to clear. Leipzig, though sustain the attack, but when Olmo pops upon the other side, he wildly thrashes, and his shot flies wide of the near post.
61 min Tchouameni watches a ball over the top right on to his laces, hooking over his own head to clear. I really like the way he defends, with calmness, aggression and intelligence.
60 min Klostermann finds Simon who spread for Raum, Lunin diving out to punch away the eventuating cross.
58 min Leipzig have caused Madrid grief, it’s true, but there’s never really been the sense that they’ve got telling quality in attack. Athleticism and organisation can get you a lot of the way there, especially when elevated by the flair of Simon, but Sesko hasn’t risen to the occasion.
56 min Leipzig stick to it, Olmo battling to the lie before cutting back … but Kross anticipates and clears. He’s not had one of his better games tonight, but imagine being a young midfielder in this team, looking behind you, and seeing him. You’d take it.
54 min That goal is a lesson in the art of modern Madrid: look meh, find a moment. And here they come again, Carvajal sliding a cunning reverse pass down the side of the box for Valverde, who can’t pick out a man with his cut-back.
53 min Simakan is booked for shoving Carvajal.
51 min Here come Leipzig again, Olmo playing a clever reverse-pass down the side of the box … and Henrichs shooting low, Lunin saving asd Sesko unable to get hold of the rebound.
WHAT A GOAL! Leipzig 0-1 Real Madrid (Diaz 48)
Diaz gets on the ball out on the right, jinks away from Henrichs, away from Raum and across Klostermann before coaxing a sensational curling finish into the far side-netting, halfway up! Who needs Bellingham when you’ve got Brahim?!
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48 min For perhaps the first time tonight, Vinicius gets around the outside of Simakan, but his cross is beyond Camavinga.
47 min And the ball in is a goodun, Sesko again unable to do the necessary when it arrives at him and introduce requisite brow to ball.
46 min Carvajal concedes a corner, to be taken by Raum – his tatts of the avant-garde variety.
46 min We go again…
Half-time email: “Sure, it was true that good refs weren’t noticed back when,” says Justin Madson. “Refs never asked for this level of scrutiny, it was brought upon them. Since there is (was?) an emphasis on learning how to manipulate and influence referees with the 'dark arts being openly taught to players, the players and managers themselves put the referees in the forefront. Incredible how they’ve managed to convince everyone that their actions and manipulation are not the problem.”
I agree – moaning players and managers refusing to take responsibility for their own failings is what got us VAR, which compromises the best feeling known to mankind, your team scoring a goal.
And here’s an “introduction to” playlist.
Half-time entertainment: my actual wife and I interviewed actual Black Sherif – for my money, the most interesting singer in the world today.
HALF-TIME: Leipzig 0-0 Real Madrid
That was a fun half, Leipzig pressing with aggressing and Madrid passing with invention. Join me for the second half in 10.
45+1 min Nice from Madrid now, Diaz showing soft feet to hold and roll in Vinicius, who shoots wide.
45 min Xavi Simons has a lovely imagination, and he flips a ball over the top towards the front post, where Olmo narrowly misses sweeping it goalwards.
44 min Vinicius runs at Klostermann who stands up well, managing to refrain from diving in before seeing his man away.
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42 min Raum intercepts Carvajal’s pass, leans on him, and sends Sesko storming towards the box … only for Tchouameni to slide in with a well-timed challenge. The resultant corner comes to nowt.
41 min Copenhagen have equalised against Manchester City. I bet Sheikh Mansour is well terrified.
39 min “Carvajal is emblematic of Real Madrid,” writes Joe Pearson. “They always have someone who plays dirty and arrogantly, think Pepe and Sergio Ramos. And they always seem to get away with it. That was at least a yellow, maybe a blue.”
I can’t be doing with these blue cards, at all. We need officials out of the game, not in it – it used to be said the ref had had a good game if you’d not noticed him – we need it flowing not stopping and starting; and fewer subjective decisions. Football is simple, we need to keep it that way.
37 min A 0-0 home first leg used to be a fair result. But the scrapping of away goals means that’s less the case now – though im sure Leipzig would accept it.
35 min Once Madrid have Rudiger and Eder Militao back, they’ll look a lot more solid than they do tonight. Any team that wants to be City will need to defend the box well, and if Madrid can do that, they’ve the attackers to victimise any defence.
33 min Oh man! Sesko robs Mendy high, Henrichs collects possession … and slaps his cross beyond the back post.
30 min Camavinga is getting on the ball a bit more often now, looking to burst into pockets. He looks like the kind of youngster who just needs to play and play and play.
28 min Leipzig are finding it much easier to get on the ball in the Madrid box than vice versa and hang about, Carvajal slides in, boots Simons up in the air, and somehow avoids any kind of punishment. Naturally, Marco Rose finds this hilarious.
26 min Vini megs Henrichs, runs into him and isn’t offered a free-kick, so Kroos gives Simons the benefit os his wisdom and experience, via the time-honoured medium of the reducer.
25 min “It’s been a while since I’ve watched Real Madrid,” brags Kári Tulinius, “so I was surprised to see Tchouaméni lining up in central defence. It seems psychologically quite different to play as the last line of defence, rather than as the penultimate bulwark. Mind you, it worked out for Matthäus, Desailly and Mascherano.”
And Sammer. People used to think Robson would finish there as well, but he didn’t. But yeah, different positions, though the reduced running presumably appeals.
24 min Leipzig counter with Raum, his low cross coming in and Tchouameni doing just enough to knock it away from onrushing attackers.
23 min Camavinga wins the ball in midfield and finds Vinicius. He drives for the line and cuts back, Rodrygo arriving to have his shot blocked. Madrid are controlling this now, without looking especially dangerous.
22 min Madrid work Rodrygo a shooting opportunity just outside the box, which is blocked at source, then they start moving the ball again … only to lose the ball again. Their imprecision is allowing Leipzig lots of attacking scope.
20 min Here come Leipzig again, Sesko galumphing forward with the ball and finding Olmo, who slides a return in behind … on to which he stomps. lummoxing a shot that’s deflected wide. The resultant corner comes to nothing.
19 min Anyone remember the hammerheads from Return to Oz? Dani Olmo reminds me of one of those, but the football rudely interrupts this pop cultural sojourn, Kroos racing on to a cleared ball, leathering a shot that thuds into Lunin’s midfirff.
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17 min I wonder if the pattern of this game has been set, Madrid probing and Leipzig hustling to counter. And the latter defeats the former, Simons beating Carvajal who fouls him.
15 min Olmo worries Camavinga and thinks he’s won a corner, but the ref overrules the lino, then Simons jinks to tee-up Henrichs, whose low shot is easily saved.
13 min Madrid are enjoying a little more possession now, picking nice angles between the Leipzig lines. But they’ve not yet got Vinicius running one on one at Simakan – or anyone else for that matter. They’re waiting for a moment of quality rather than dictating.
11 min Hilary from Neighbours Kevin de Bruyne has given City the lead in Copenhagen.
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9 min Lovely from Leipzig sounds like an entrant on Blind Date but is in fact an observation on a football match. Simakan slides infield, Olmo releases Sesko … and Ludin smothers his low shot! That was a decent opportunity – he snatches at it a little, the finish low-tariff and ill-considered, straight at the keeper. But Leipzig have the measure of Madrid’s defence.
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9 min Madrid win a corner down the right and Kross delivers it well, Tchouameni’s header floating wide but kicked off the line. So the cross comes back, this time Camavinga turning a shot goalwards that Gulasci saves. This is building nicely.
8 min Thinking more about Bellingham, who are the other midfielders who are comparable? They’ve got to be all-rounders, so I’m thinking Matthaus, Keane, Ince and Souness, Bellingham having the more skill the others control.
7 min Bit of possession from Madrid, Rodrygo wriggling a bit of space outside the box, right of centre, drilling a shot that Gulasci saves easily enough.
6 min Leipzig have started really well, pressing high – Madrid’s are missing various defenders, so are struggling to build from the back.
4 min WHAT A CHANCE FOR LEIPZIG! Simon plays a one-two off Sesko, who can’t bundle through, so when the ball comes back to the little schemer, he wedges a pass over the top and Sesko has time to let it drop! But instead he makes like Daniel Larusso, and Lunin saves easily.
2 min Carvajal and Tchouameni get into trouble, then when the corner they concede arrives at Henrichs on the edge, he shoots, the ball rears up and Sesko heads home … but the flag goes up for offside, a man stood behind the keeper impeding him.
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1 min Madrid sit off Leipzig’s defenders, looking to shut off passing angles, and conversely when the ball goes to Lunin, Olmo lanks right up into his grille immediately.
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1 min And away we go!
It’s been a while, but … play the music. Then get Ghetts, Smallgod, Goldie and Scorpion Kings each to remix it.
…and here they come!
Our teams are tunnelled…
Kroos has, of course, had an amazing career – he did very well that Louis van Gaal decided Ander Herrera was better – but the perfection of this might be my favourite thing of his.
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Vinicius was brilliant at the weekend, dribbling past Yan Couto more than any La Liga player has ever been dribbled around and consoling him at full-time like when Ronnie O’Sullivan did Ding Junhui, his adversary traumatised by his brilliance.
Vinicius consoles Yann Couto after the game pic.twitter.com/s2Gus2qpZ1
— Real Madrid Info ³⁵ (@RMadridInfo) February 10, 2024
Madrid, meanwhile, will looks to pass it around Leipzig in midfield, with Rodrgyo running in behind and Vinicius looking to get on the ball running towards goal.
So where is the game? Leipzig will fancy their two strikers, Openda and Sesko – who’ve scored in four and three straight games respectively – to cause Tchouameni trouble, and I daresay Nacho is also more comfortable playing 2v1 not 2v2. So I reckon Simakan and Raum will be getting high and wide, with Simons looking to slip passes down the sides.
Bellingham will be out for two weeks. I imagine Madrid will be fine, and he’ll be well off for the break.
Kevin de Bruyne has some kind of wedge haircut. I’ve not seen one of those since Hilary in Neighbours.
And I say that as a compliment. I remember hearing an interview with him when he was picked for England and was asked about being around whoever. He said yeah, but I’m pretty good myself – a line that reminded me of Wayne Rooney, who realised at 14 that he was the best player at Everton.
I wonder, though, if Bellingham will now spend the entirety of his career in La Liga. Sadly, it seems like in terms of quality, the Premier League is going away from the rest, and given the kind of character he is, surely he’ll want a bit of home-country adulation at some point.
I can’t lie, I was looking forward to watching Bellingham tonight. He might be the closest thing I’ve seen to Bryan Robson since Bryan Robson, and I can’t think of praise higher than that.
I’m enjoying Rio Ferdinand’s I’m listening and thinking dead hard interview face – though it’s a way to go to compare to that of Mike Goldberg, former UFC play-by-play commentator.
Afternoon uncontrollable mirth:
Also tonight…
In an ominous show of strength, Madrid battered the Costs del Man City 4-0 at the weekend. But Jude Bellingham hurt himself in the process, so his spot goes to Brahim Diaz.
Leipzig make one change to the team that drew 2-2 at Augsburg, Kampl dropping out and Simakan coming in. That’ll either mean an extra centre-back or Henrichs in midfield.
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Tonight's teams
Leipzig: (4-2-2-2): Gulasci; Simakan, Klostermann, Orban, Raum; Schlager, Henrichs; Olmo, Simons; Sesko, Openda. Subs: Blaswich, Zingerle, Lenz, Bitshiabu, Elmas, Haidara, Poulsen, Seiwald, Baumgartner, Lukeba, Jatta, Kampl.
Real Madrid (4-4-2): Lunin; Carvajal, Nacho, Tchouameni, Mendy; Valverde, Kroos, Camavinga, Diaz; Rodrygo, Vinicius. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Gonzalez, Modric, Joselu, Lucas Vasquaz, Ceballos, Fran Garcia, Arda Güler, Mario Martín, Paz, Alvaro Carillo, Ramón.
Preamble
Football teaches us all sorts of things – capital cities and pettiness, say, or advanced geopolitics and basic shilling. Or that when it comes to the European Cup and Champions League, you can’t ever rule out Real Madrid.
But can they turn la decimocuarta into la decimoquinta – add fluency in foreign to the list – to salve the pain of what happened last season? And by what happened last season, I mean the Madre de Dios of all semi-final beatings, Manchester City administering a going-over for the age.
Madrid, of course, did what Madrid do: they signed Judfredo di Stefellingham, the club that can’t help knowing how good is perfect for a player who can’t help knowing how good he is, and the pair have taken to each other exactly as we’d assumed they would.
Nor is that it. Rodrygo and Vinicius are improving, Camavinga is growing, Kroos and Modric are more effective now not deployed together; there is the sense that something is building.
If it seems unlikely a side with all that going on loses over two legs to the fifth-best team in Germany, that’s because it is. But football also teaches us that football isn’t like that, and an outfit boasting Dani Olmo, Xavi Simons, Loïs Openda and Benjamin Sesko can give aggro to anyone. So pour yourself a nice cold Gazprom, kick back, and enjoy what should be a decent evening’s soccer.
Kick-off: 9pm local, 8pm GMT
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