Champions League Round of 16: Porto 0-2 Juventus / Bayer Leverkusen 2-4 Atletico Madrid
Juventus and Atletico are the only two teams that won their away game to start the knockout phase of the UCL and with both teams with a significant advantage. Unless a miracle we will see the Italians and Spanish into the last 8.
Coach Atletico Madrid, Simeone comments:
“It has been an exciting game, thrilling for the people who watched it on TV. We take with us a good result. “They got on top because they saw an unexpected goal and its normal. The result is fair, it could have been larger if we had been more precise but their keeper is very good despite the result and how the scoreboard ended.”
Coach Juventus, Allegri is satisfied with the win:
“We struggled in the first five minutes but that was it. After that we took charge and bossed proceedings, even when it was still 11 v 11.
Even when you’re playing against a team with ten men a lot of the time you don’t have that man advantage when you attack. Porto battened down the hatches but we used the wide areas intelligently.
The lads were on the ball tonight and everyone played their part – that’s vital as we go into the business end of the season still chasing three targets. There’s plenty of room for improvement but what we must never lose is our desire, enthusiasm and confidence.
We’re not an easy side to play against in space. We’ve got skillful, pacy players who can cause havoc for the opposition. Our passing could be a bit more free-flowing. We shift the ball around pretty well but we could do it even better. We don’t look to play it forward enough.“We could even have had a third but it’s still an excellent result to take into the return leg.”
