25% of tickets available for the 2021-22 Champions League round of 16 are already reserved. After the close of Matchday 4 on Wednesday, Ajax and Liverpool joined Bayern Munich and Juventus as the only ones with a safe pass to the knockout round, with two games still to be played in the group stage.
Ajax took advantage of the expulsion of Borussia Dortmund defender Matts Hummels in the 29th minute to score a 1-3 victory in their visit to Germany. With this, the team in which the Mexican Edson Álvarez plays reached four victories in the same number of games, surpassing the start with three that he achieved in the 1995-96 season, when they finished as runners-up.
The stats boost Ajax in a historic season, as they have 12 points and a +12 goal differential, second only to Bayern’s +15. One of the key pieces is the coach, Erik Ten Hag, who led the team to the semi-finals in 2019 when it featured elements like Frenkie De Jong and Matthijs De Ligt. Now, his reference in the attack is the African Sebastien Haller.
The Ivorian forward scored a goal in the victory against Dortmund and with it reached seven in the entire Champions League, being the second scoring leader only surpassed by the eight of Robert Lewandowski (Bayern). In total, these two forwards and Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) are the only ones who have scored in the four games that the first round has led.
Like Ajax, Liverpool tied their pass to the round of 16 with a 2-0 victory at home against Atlético de Madrid, who suffered the expulsion of defender Felipe Augusto from minute 36. However, the door had already been opened for the English team from before, since the goals of the triumph fell to 13 ‘via Diogo Jota and to 21’ with Sadio Mané.
“We created chances, even some of them incredible, that we wonder how we couldn’t get them in, but tonight the performance was almost perfect. The first thing to do was to qualify and on matchday four, how crazy, but the guys did it and they deserved it, “said Liverpool’s German coach, Jurgen Klopp, at the end of the match.
It also means their best participation in the Champions League so far for the Reds, as they had never started with four wins, not even in their most recent titles in 2005 and 2019. One of the most prominent players in the victory against Atlético was their right-back , the English selected Tren Alexander-Arnold, who made two assists.
Other ‘greats’ will have to wait
Also on Wednesday, the matches of Real Madrid, Manchester City and PSG were raised, which will have to wait until the end of November, when matchday 5 is played, to be able to ensure their pass to the round of 16.
In the case of the French, they let this opportunity go at minute 92, when they were tied by a goal from Dominik Szoboszlai to make it 2-2 final in their visit to Red Bull Leipzig. Had they won and in combination with Manchester City’s 4-1 win over Bruges, the team of Lionel Messi, Neymar and company would have already sealed their ticket to the knockout round.
“We were in control, clearly, except at the start of the game. Then we had the opportunity to kill the game. Soccer is also about being effective at key moments, “lamented PSG’s Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino. Even so, PSG and City are leaders of group A with eight and nine points, respectively, far from the four and one that They have Bruges and Leipzig.
Regarding Real Madrid, they maintain their leadership in group D after defeating Shakhtar of Ukraine 2-1 in a match held at the Santiago Bernabéu. There the glory went to the merengue captain, Karim Benzema, since when scoring the first of the match he put his name as the author of the 1,000 goal of the white team in the history of the European Cup / Champions League, although the French striker did not He gave so much importance publicly: “The most important thing is the three points, although sometimes we do not play well.”
On matchday 5, the passes of these three teams to the next round could be defined. Real Madrid will visit the country of Moldova for the first time to face Sheriff Tiraspol, while Manchester City and PSG will face each other in England, marking yet another reunion between Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx