MADRID: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti still has doubts about how to set up his defense for the return match against Leipzig in the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.
Madrid will enter the game at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium defending a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Germany three weeks ago.
Ancelotti didn’t say whether he will improvise again with midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni playing as a central defender or would promote Nacho Fernández to the position.
Tchouaméni has been one of the players who has pitched in defensively because of injuries to the team’s regular defenders.
“I’ve thought about it but I don’t want to give away any hints, I still have some doubts,” Ancelotti said Tuesday. “We played with Tchouaméni and (Antonio) Rüdiger because Nacho hadn’t practiced, he had a small ailment. Now he is available and has the same opportunity to start as the others.”
Madrid chose not to add any central defenders in the winter transfer window, with Ancelotti saying that the players he had were enough despite the many injuries affecting the club.
Nacho is a defender but isn’t a usual starter for Ancelotti. The coach also had to use right back Dani Carvajal as a central defender.
Madrid defender Éder Militão has been out since the season opener because of a serious knee injury and David Alaba tore his ACL in December. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also has been out since before the season started with a knee ligament injury.
Leipzig’s attack is led by Loïs Openda, a Belgium international who has scored 21 goals — including four in the Champions League — this season.
Madrid are coming off a 2-2 draw at Valencia in the Spanish league. They have a seven-point lead over Girona in the competition.
“Tomorrow we have to show the best version of ourselves,” Ancelotti said. “The tie is not over yet. Talking about the season today is complicated. So far we have done very well but we still have a long way to go.”
Madrid have advanced past the round of 16 the last three seasons, reaching at least the semifinals every time and winning the title in 2022.
Ancelotti has doubts on defense for Real Madrid’s return game against Leipzig in Champions League
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Ancelotti has doubts on defense for Real Madrid’s return game against Leipzig in Champions League
- Tchouaméni has been one of the players who has pitched in defensively because of injuries to the team’s regular defenders
- “I’ve thought about it but I don’t want to give away any hints, I still have some doubts,” Ancelotti said Tuesday
Liverpool without Salah beats Inter in Champions League. Barcelona and Bayern win
- Karl became the youngest player to score in three consecutive Champions League games
- Headers by Jules Koundé three minutes apart gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt
After leaving Mohamed Salah in England, Liverpool got a much-needed boost with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Barcelona and Bayern Munich celebrated comeback wins and Chelsea lost.
With Salah out of the squad following his public criticism of the club last week, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up instead to score the 88th-minute penalty which earned a 1-0 win over one of the competition’s best-performing teams.
It was all the more valuable for coming after a run of one win in six games in all competitions for Arne Slot’s under-pressure team, which moved up to eighth.
Liverpool’s players thought they had taken the lead with Ibrahima Konate’s header in the 31st minute but, after a video review that lasted more than four minutes, it was ruled out for handball as Virgil van Dijk had earlier nodded the ball on to the arm of Hugo Ekitike.
Having taken away a goal from Liverpool, VAR came to the visitors’ aid when it spotted that Alessandro Bastoni had tugged Florian Wirtz’s shirt in the area, with the midfielder flailing to the ground. Szoboszlai converted the penalty.
Bayern’s new star shines
Bayern’s 17-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl produced an audacious bit of skill to continue his high-scoring start to life in the Champions League in a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon earlier Tuesday.
Karl scored his third goal in four career Champions League games, controlling a pass from Konrad Laimer in mid-air before volleying a shot from a tight angle over two onrushing defenders and past the goalkeeper.
It was part of a 12-minute, three-goal turnaround for Bayern after Joshua Kimmich’s own-goal handed Sporting the lead after João Simões put Bayern under pressure on the counter.
Serge Gnabry leveled for Bayern when he was left unmarked at a corner in the 65th, before Karl scored Bayern’s second in the 69th and defender Jonathan Tah made it 3-1 in the 77th.
Widely viewed as German soccer’s best young talent this season, Karl became Bayern’s youngest-ever Champions League scorer in October on his first start in the competitions.
Late on, Alphonso Davies came off the bench for the Canadian left back’s first game since March after a serious knee injury.
Chelsea loses
Chelsea was beaten in the Champions League for the first time in nearly three months as Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere set up the equalizer and scored an 83rd-minute winner as Atalanta came from behind to win 2-1.
Chelsea, which went ahead through Joao Pedro, dropped out of the top eight automatic qualifying spots with its second loss.
It was a fourth win for Atalanta, which climbed to third and is the highest-placed Italian team.
Gianluca Scamacca made it 1-1 by heading home a cross from De Ketelaere, who then drove in a shot that Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
Koundé drives Barcelona comeback
Headers by Jules Koundé three minutes apart gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Marcus Rashford assisted in the first goal in the 50th and Lamine Yamal in the second in the 53rd.
The visitors had taken the lead with a goal by Ansgar Knauff in a 21st-minute breakaway at the renovated Camp Nou stadium, which still can’t hold full capacity.
Son watches Spurs win
Son Heung-min said a belated goodbye to Tottenham as his former club moved up to ninth after beating Slavia Prague 3-0 on an own goal and two penalties in a game overshadowed by a dispute over moving a rainbow flag showing support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Julián Alvarez scored for the ninth time in his last nine league-phase appearances to lead Atletico Madrid to a 3-2 come-from-behind win at PSV Eindhoven.
Marseille held on for a 3-2 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, whose players and fans twice celebrated what they thought were goals to level the score late on, only for both to be ruled out for narrow offsides on video review.
Folarin Balogun bundled the ball over the line from close range to give Monaco a 1-0 win over Galatasaray.
Olympiakos broke through a determined Kairat Almaty defense to take a 1-0 win in Kazakhstan and boost its hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages. Gelson Martins scored for the Greek side in the 73rd.
