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UCL Rewind: Atletico Madrid tops Juventus, Man City rallies past Schalke

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s quest to deliver Juventus an elusive UEFA Champions League title took a major hit against a familiar foe.

Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez scored goals to give Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win over Juventus in the first leg of their UCL Round of 16 showdown.

Alvaro Morata thought he found the goal that broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 70th minute as he nodded home a perfect Filipe Luis cross. The goal was overturned thanks to a VAR call. Unfortunately for Juventus, the decision didn’t spark the players to find a goal of their own.

Atletico Madrid scored just eight minutes later when Gimenez slotted home a failed clear from Juventus. Diego Godin’s goal came in the 83rd minute as Juventus once again failed to deal with a set piece. Godin squeezed the ball home on a tight angle and doubled the hosts lead.

Schalke 2, Manchester City 3

Schalke’s two penalties and a Nicolas Otamendi red card were not enough to help the German club pull the upset in Gelsenkirchen. Manchester City used a pair of late goal from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling to take a 3-2 lead back to Manchester for the second leg of their Round of 16 series.

Schalke’s “build from the back” gameplan proved costly in the 19th minute. David Silva did well to win the ball on a soft Ralf Fahrmann pass before sliding it to Sergio Aguero who tapped the ball into the empty net.

Schalke was the beneficiary of individual mistakes as well being rewarded two penalties in the final seven minutes of the first half which were both converted by Nabil Bentaleb.

Leroy Sane drew the sides level despite being down to 10 men in the 85th-minute pinging a free kick into the top right corner of the Schalke goal. Raheem Sterling joined in on the action in the 90th-minute shrugging off Steven Skrzybski before putting Manchester City in front and giving the Cityzens a 3-2 advantage heading into the second leg.

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