A great goal from Brahim leads Real Madrid to the Champions League round of 16

Lunin's nine stops made Leipzig very bitter (0-1)

MADRID, 13 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Real Madrid won this Tuesday 0-1 on their visit to RB Leipzig, thanks to a great goal from Brahim Díaz and an outstanding performance by their goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, and thus took the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League , who will experience their return match on March 6 (9:00 p.m.) at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

At this event at the Red Bull Arena, the activity soon began and at the same time controversy appeared. Two minutes later, after a corner kick, Xaver Schlager hooked a left-footed volley from the front that bounced off the grass and headed into goal by Benjamin Sesko, in a poor start by Lunin while Rodrygo Goes' position enabled the finisher.

However, Bosnian referee Irfan Peljto considered that a positional offside by Benjamin Henrichs bothered the merengue goalkeeper, despite not being in his field of vision or in the path of the ball. The action was annulled and the Leipzig players protested little, beyond a shout from their coach Marco Rose on the bench.

They decided to remain brave, attacking with panache against a couple of center backs with little understanding. Sesko sought to tickle the backs of Nacho Fernández and Aurelien Tchouaméni, until a little later he completed another drive from the right with a low shot that Lunin repelled.

Carlo Ancelotti's men responded with a corner before the 10th minute, first with an unsuccessful header from Tchouaméni and then with a low shot from Eduardo Camavinga. But apart from that, the home team hardly suffered at the back during the first half, showed speed on the counterattack and tested the nerves of its rival.

That dynamic was broken by a couple of runs led by Brahim Díaz, substitute for the injured Jude Bellingham, and in the 44th minute he filtered a good pass to Vinícius Jr. so that he could finish off first, off target. Except for that, the Madrid '7' had exhibited very little magic. Of course, after the break, it was Brahim who looked in his hat to make it 0-1.

The former AC Milan player controlled the ball on the right side and avoided David Raum's failure, started his sprint, left Xavi Simons, mocked Schlager's marking, lined up to finish with his left foot and his shot flew in close. of the squad in the local goal.

A genius that livened up the match, but Leipzig ran into Lunin several times and the white team gradually began to smell blood. His opponent was taking risks, so spaces began to appear for Rodrygo or Vinícius to threaten with swift rides.

In one of those shots, when the 71st minute passed, Lunin's rejection of a right-footed shot from Dani Olmo from the top of the area was the prelude to a counterattack by Brahim. The author of the 0-1 run ran and ran, with Rodrygo following in his wake on the right and Vinícius on the left, where he received the pass and stepped into the area in front of Lukas Klostermann.

Vini took advantage of the inertia that the defender had moving backwards, he made a cut with his right hand on an inch of ground and without delay finished with the outside of that right boot; The ball, whose path eluded goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi, crashed into the post stump.

Rose then moved his bench, with a triple substitution that immediately gave encouragement. First Simons executed a volley from outside the area and then, in the 80th minute, Sesko had the tie with a strong right foot almost in the small area; On both occasions Lunin excelled, and in a subsequent corner he also cleared a shot from Amadou Haidara.

The great performance of the Ukrainian goalkeeper was the good news for Ancelotti, while a muscle injury to Brahim was the negative side. From there until the referee's final whistle, the German team continued trying, but lacked the fuel to further bother a Lunin who is more than responding to his ownership.

--RESULT: RB LEIPZIG, 0 - REAL MADRID, 1 (0-0, at halftime).

RB LEIPZIG: Gulacsi; Henrichs (Haidara, min.75), Simakan, Klostermann, Orban, Raum; Schlager (Kampl, min.90), Elm (Elmas, min.75), Simons; Sesko and Openda (Poulsen, min.75).

REAL MADRID: Lunin; Carvajal, Nacho, Tchouameni, Mendy; Camavinga, Kroos, Valverde; Brahim (L.Vázquez, min.84), Rodrygo (Joselu, min.84) and Vinícius.

0-1, min.48: Brahim.

--REFEREE: Irfan Peljto (BOS). He yellow carded Simakan (min.53), Poulsen (min.76) and Sesko (min.85) at RB Leipzig, and Carvajal (min.66) and Vinícius (min.85) at Real Madrid.

--STADIUM: Red Bull Arena, 45,028 spectators.