Leipzig-Real Madrid: Brahim Diaz's masterpiece, Sesko missed everything... the tops and the flops

TOPS

Urgently placed back in the Madrid hinge to compensate for the absences of Militao, Alaba and Rudiger, all injured, Aurélien Tchouaméni once again provided. This is the third time that he has helped out in the axis, and the third time that he has achieved a boss performance. For a player for whom this is not his preferred position, it seems as if he has played there all his life. Ancelotti said that you especially needed “the head” to play centrally, fortunately for him in addition to that, Tchouaméni has the feet, and the aggressiveness. Like when he comes out in a very authoritarian way at the feet of the RBL attackers. Imperial in the air, on the ground, he is an all-terrain vehicle that is more commonly called: soldier. Tonight, he proved it again.

20 goals in all competitions, Jude Bellingham's record with Real is dizzying as he is so great, and puts pressure on his replacement. Well, not for Brahim Diaz, started to compensate for the Englishman's injury. The only scorer of the evening, he allowed the Madrilenians to take a serious option on qualification, and with style. Heckled from all sides, and one, and two, and three defenders dribbled, and a sumptuous strike came to clean the left corner. Bellingham’s “alternate” assumed his rank, and even took ownership of his celebration.

With the injury to Thibault Courtois, his understudy Lunin found himself barred from the Merengue cage following the transfer of Kepa. A few months and balls later, the Ukrainian gets his due back. For his first direct elimination match in C1, he pulled out all the stops. Faced with German enthusiasm, the goalkeeper multiplied his parades, disgusting Benjamin Sesko and company. During the entire match, he succeeded in everything he had to do, before being called upon several times at the end of the matches. Olmo, Simon, and especially Sesko, Lunin stopped the attempts one by one, and when he seemed in danger, he reassured with his exits, at the feet of a man called Sesko... First in the Champions League final phase successful, and most importantly, a clean sheet assured.

FLOPS

Carvajal is a smart guy, and Simakan doesn't seem to have been informed. However, the Frenchman played a pretty good game. But this small turning point will disrupt the rest of his meeting, and not only that... In the Madrid area, the experienced Carvajal provokes his opponent who has the misfortune to respond. As a result, Simakan received a yellow card, preventing him from defending as he would have liked in front of Vinicius. But above all, synonymous with suspension for the return match, the former Strasbourg player is punished for his naivety.

There was no shortage of opportunities. Despite this, Benjamin Sesko did not shine. From the second minute, he thought he started his evening, scoring a goal with a header, refused for an offside position before the action. After that, the nets didn't shake anymore, and it wasn't for lack of trying. He harvested no less than 7 occasions, ahead of a colossal Lunin. Whether in the first half when he misses his lob, or in the second when he misses two one-on-ones against a Lunin who is decidedly too strong for him. The Slovenian was so often close to scoring, unfortunately for his teammates, he failed in his mission.