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Three players making headlines after second leg of Champions League round of 16

The 2019-20 Champions League second leg of the round of 16 kicked off this week and we have got out first set of teams, qualified for the Quarterfinals. The first knockout round of the tournament lived up to the expectations.

Three players making headlines after second leg of Champions League round of 16

Bengaluru, March 13: The 2019-20 Champions League second leg of the round of 16 kicked off this week and we have got out first set of teams, qualified for the Quarterfinals. The first knockout round of the tournament lived up to the expectations where some teams were handed in shock defeat but made their case stronger for the second leg.

The most shocking results came at the Anfield where the defending winners were left stunned by resilence by Atletico Madrid in the extra time despite the home side having a 2-0 lead at one point of time. Simeone's men cruise past the Pl side with a 3-2 win to end the fixture with a 4-2 aggregate.

PSG too managed to come back from a 2-1 deficit of the first leg to defeat visitors Borussia Dortmund 2-0. In the other two games, RB Leipzig stunned an injury-plagued Spurs squad with a 3-0 victory at their home, total aggregating a 4-0 win overall while the first-timers Atalanta continued their dream run in Spain after winning the first tie 4-1. They scored past four again while Valencia managed to score thrice to end the game 4-3 to the visitors' favour.

There have been several extraordinary signs of brilliance during the games but who get the plaudits and which players were a hindrance to their sides over the midweek. We take a look such three players who made the headlines:

Hero: Marcos Llorente

With Atletico 2-0 down and needed at least one goal to proceed to the next round, the substitute of Diego Costa did the impossible task for Simeone, scoring two superb goals leading his side to the next round of fixtures. Surprisingly he was the most effective in the offensive third than anyone else. In the 97th minute, he curled the ball into the bottom right corner after a miss pass from Adrian before scoring the second just 10 min later in a counter-attack started by Morata to make a strike to the same spot.

Villain: Adrian

A game which never looked in favour of Atletico Madrid who despite two-goal down was busy defending in their own half was given a ray of hope by the mistakes of Liverpool's second-choice keeper. Adrian's misplaced pass right into the feet of Joao Felix eventually found Llorente who scored the first goal of the game which completely turned the fortune of the side and after the goal, the home side never looked really comfortable controlling the game, eventually losing the tie 3-2.

Hero: Josip Ilicic

Due to coronavirus scare, the match was played behind closed doors but misfortune to those fans who could not see the outstanding individual display of the Slovenian star. Ilicic netted all four goals for the visitors to guide La Dea to the quarter-finals in their debut season in the most elite club competition in Europe.

The Serie A side went into the break with a deserved lead, as Ilicic won and scored a pair of penalties. But goals from Gamerio pull Valencia level before Ferran Torres handed them a lead. But the Atalanta attacker completed his hat-trick with a fine strike before sealing the victory with a late goal.

Story first published: Friday, March 13, 2020, 21:15 [IST]
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