The 2022-23 Champions League season returns after the World Cup break to two giant matchups between some of the best teams in the world.
With group play wrapping up in November, today marked the start of Round 16, as the 1st leg lead off with a bang. Two goliath matchups, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich facing off in Paris, while AC Milan and Tottenham Hotspur went at it in Milan.
While the final score of 1-0 does not reflect how dominant Bayern was in this matchup, PSG had a much more solid second half as soon as Kylian Mbappe hit the field. PSG just narrowly tied the game in the waning minutes of the match off of an Mbappe goal, but after reviewing the play, it was deemed that Mbappe was just slightly offside, resulting in no goal. What a heartbreaker for Paris. PSG fans and players can go into the 2nd leg of this matchup feeling much better after they picked up their pace of play in the second half of the match.
A Kingsley Coman goal in the 53rd minute was the difference maker in this one.
AC Milan struck early in their matchup against Tottenham. In just the 7th minute of the match, midfielder Brahim Diaz's header put Milan up 1-0, which would go on to be the final score of the game. The rest of the first half was quite a snooze fest from both sides, until play picked up about midway through the second half. Milan had the chance to make it a 3-0 game, but substitutes Charles De Ketalere and Malick Thiaw both sent the ball wide on two scoring chances. The best news for Tottenham after this match is that they were fortunate enough to head back to England having only suffered a one-goal defeat.
Upcoming Round 16 schedule:
Wednesday, February 15 - 1st leg
Dortmund vs. Chelsea
Club Brugge vs. S.L. Benfica
Tuesday, February 21st - 1st leg
Frankfurt vs. S.S.C. Napoli
Liverpool vs. Real Madrid
Wednesday, February 22nd - 1st leg
Inter Milan vs. FC Porto
RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City
Tuesday, March 7th - 2nd leg
Chelsea vs. Dortmund
S.L. Benfica vs. Club Brugge
Wednesday, March 8th - 2nd leg
FC Bayern vs. PSG
Tottenham vs. AC Milan
Tuesday, March 14th - 2nd leg
FC Porto vs. Inter Milan
Manchester City vs. RB Leipzig
Wednesday, March 15th
S.S.C. Napoli vs. Frankfurt
Real Madrid vs. Liverpool
You can catch all Champions League games on Paramount+, select games on CBS Sports (United States)
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