Chelsea stumble heavily ahead of Liverpool clash – while Man City has a reverse of fortunes

February 27, 2020
Joanna Durkan

Man City completed a turnaround at the Bernabeu while Chelsea took a major blow in a Champions League week littered with red cards, suspensions and injuries.

Liverpool kicked off the round of 16 with a 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid last week, in an outing which was not entirely representative of the Reds’ performance.

Nevertheless, it leaves Jurgen Klopp‘s side with a job to do in the second leg on March 11 – and while overturning the deficit is more than possible, Chelsea faces more of an uphill battle.

Frank Lampard’s men, who will go head to head with Liverpool in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Tuesday, were swept aside as Bayern Munich hit three unanswered goals in the second half at Stamford Bridge.

The 3-0 win for the current Bundesliga leaders all but secures their place in the quarter-finals, with Serge Gnabry netting a brace and Robert Lewandowski adding the finishing touches, with the latter now set to be sidelined for four weeks with a knee injury.

And Chelsea‘s nightmare evening was compounded when Marcos Alonso was sent off for needlessly challenging Lewandowski off the ball, with Jorginho joining him on the sidelines for the next leg after picking up a yellow card for dissent to take him over the threshold.

Lampard described the night as “a harsh lesson,” where the Blues’ wait for their first appearance in the final eight of the Champions League since 2013/14 looks certain to continue.

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In Naples, two of the Reds’ recent rivals in the competition faced off with Dries Mertens netting the opener for Napoli before Antoine Griezmann secured an invaluable away goal for Barcelona to leave the tie sat at 1-1.

It was the first-ever competitive meeting between the two clubs and is a match-up Arturo Vidal won’t forget having been given his marching orders late on after picking up two yellow cards in a matter of seconds – he will now join Sergio Busquets in missing the game at the Nou Camp.

And what was tipped as the fixture of the round, Man City’s visit to Real Madrid took a while to kick into gear.

Isco had fired Real Madrid into the lead against the run of play before Man City struck twice in the space of five minutes late in the second, with Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne completing the turnaround.

The round of ill-discipline continued, however, as Sergio Ramos was the third player to see red this week, his 26th dismissal at Real, to cap off a less than impressive outing.

An injury to Aymeric Laporte will leave a shadow on the evening for Pep Guardiola, on what was only the fourth game back for the central defender after a long-term knee injury.

Lyon, meanwhile, threw up the surprise of the first leg having secured a 1-0 win over Juventus on home soil, with Lucas Tousart’s strike giving the Ligue 1 side the advantage.

The Champions League will return on March 10/11 and 17/18 for the last 16 deciders, where the Reds’ tie is not the only one in the balance.