Home sides start on a high on day 1 of 2020/21 UCL quarterfinals
The quarter-final stage of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League kicked off on Tuesday night and the first night of action saw all the home sides come out victoriously.
Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3:1 at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano in a game they dominated based on chances created.
They also limited Jurgen Klopp’s men to just 1 shot on target amid fears that they would be very open in the absence of Sergio Ramos and Rafael Varane. However, it didn’t matter eventually, as Vinicius was on hand to deliver deadly blows to Liverpool.
Regardless, Zinedine Zidane and his men know that there is still all to play for when they visit Anfield, although the venue has become a hunting ground for visiting teams, albeit domestically.
Therefore, the Los Blancos will be wary of the threat the Reds pose to any team of any caliber on their home turf.
Tuesday’s games showed that the form guide of teams at the domestic level shouldn’t be used to assess them wholly ahead of European fixtures.
Borussia Dortmund have been disappointing in the Bundesliga thus far whilst Manchester City have been running riot in the Premier League.
However, the Citizens had to wait till the closing stages of the game to come out victoriously and survive a scare on the night, all thanks to Phil Foden. His goal ensured that the Citizens travel to Signal Iduna Park with an advantage.
Dortmund came ready for the Citizens as the possession stats were very close on the night, 58% to the home side and 42% to the away side. The Citizens had just two more shots on target on the night than their rivals with 5 to 2.
We were expecting the German side to receive some thrashing but this was not the case and the Citizens who have always failed to deliver in the UCL will now go to Germany with a very slim advantage.
The Germans are still in a very good position to qualify based on the performance on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, PSG will face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena while Chelsea and Porto will compete against each other in the first of the two legs, which will all take place at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in Spain due to the pandemic.
Can the home sides continue the winning streak? Although Porto and Chelsea will take place at a neutral venue, the Portuguese outfit have been tagged as the home side for Wednesday night’s fixture.
Can they upset the Blues who are favorites according to bookmakers? We shall see!
