We are heading towards the last night of knockout play-offs. Last night, there were some upsets, specially in the Italian side. Both teams, Ac Milan and Atalanta, had relatively good results to turn the ties around back at home. Indeed, AC Milan started really well scoring a goal in the first minute of the match. Then, they try to get the second goal but they were not able.
At 51 minutes, Theo Hernandez claimed a penalty but the referee rightly noticed that he dived in the box. Enough to get a yellow card, that was the second one and, accordingly , was sent off. The match changed then, Feyenoord started to believe they can make next round and scored an equalizer. Milan attempts to score a winner that took them to the extra time were hardly effective and Feyenoord ended up qualifying for the next round.
Later on, Atalanta found a hard reality in the first half. Brugge scored 3 goals before they managed to make the first in the second half. Not enough to put the Belgians under pressure. Second Italian team eliminated last night.
Bayern struggled to certify their spot in the next round. They only managed to score at 94 minutes when the match looked like it was going to the extra time.
An interesting match between Benfica and Monaco, ended up with the Portuguese qualifying for the next round after the match finished with a 3-3 draw. Thanks to their win in Monaco, Benfica could go through.
Let's move on to tonight's matches. First, and foremost, Real Madrid receives Man United (9:00 PM CET). We are back to Bernabeu's nights, when the local team transform itself and is able to turn around any result. This time, they need to defend their win last week at Manchester. It would be surprising that the Citizens could upset the Merengues, though with such amount of stars playing tonight, it is difficult to forecast the result.
The other match that stackers should pay attention is PSV vs Juventus (9:00 PM CET). Could be another upset night for the Italians? Juventus is leading the tie (2-1) and, for the record, they have always qualified when they won their first match with that result.
Lastly, two matches seem already decided: PSG vs Brest (9:00 PM CET) and Borussia vs Sporting (6:45 PM CET). Both matches ended 3-0 the previous week and would be amazing that any of the losers (Brest or Sporting) could turn things around.
Tomorrow I will be posting the final standings and the winners of the pool.
Good luck to everyone and enjoy the night!