Real Madrid paved their way to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League after having to endure 210 minutes of gruelling play and a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out against Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16.
The Merengues enjoyed a 2-1 advantage over their cross-city rivals from the first leg, but this advantage was quick to evaporate as the Colchoneros scored in the very first minute of the second leg through Conor Gallagher.
No more goals were scored in the rest of the 89 minutes of regulation time or in the 30 minutes of extra time in this game. Ultimately, the tie was decided through a penalty shoot-out, in which Los Blancos prevailed to continue defending their UCL title.
Luka Modric and Aurelien Tchouameni accompanied Jude Bellingham in the midfield of Carlo Ancelotti’s side, as the Englishman returned to play after having missed the first leg due to suspension.
However, his colleagues in the midfield were both subbed out of the game in the 65th minute, as Lucas Vazquez and Eduardo Camavinga came on to take their positions.
The French midfielder had not really been enjoying a good run of form, and had quite a poor performance in the first leg of the tie, as Julian Alvarez had beaten him and went on to score a goal at the Santiago Bernabeu.
As a result, he had gotten only 11 minutes in the La Liga game against Rayo Vallecano which was sandwiched between these two legs, and was thus unable to make any notable contribution for Real Madrid in that game either.
However, he remained on the pitch in the second leg against Atletico Madrid for 55 minutes, 25 in regulation time and 30 in extra time, and made some meaningful contributions to keep his team in contention till the very end.
As Sofascore statistics show, most of these contributions came in the defence, as he made 2 clearances, 6 tackles, and blocked 2 shots. Furthermore, he won 6 of the 8 ground duels he was engaged in and also won the only 1 aerial duel that he had to contest.
Meanwhile, he also helped his team retain control of the ball, as he completed 30 of his 31 attempted passes, thus recording a 97% passing success rate. All 3 of his attempted long balls on the night were successful.
Thus, this was a significantly improved performance from the Frenchman over some of his recent outings for Real Madrid. Hopefully, he will be able to further improve his form going forward, and once again play a key role to help his team end the season on a successful note.
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