Champions League: Stuttgart can hope – Leverkusen loses late

Double packer Jamie Leweling put VfB Stuttgart in a good starting position before the last Champions League matchday of the league phase with his first European Cup goals. The Bundesliga team won 3-1 (2-0) against the still pointless Slovakian club Slovan Bratislava and jumped into a playoff spot, at least temporarily. Leweling (11th and 36th minutes) and Fabian Rieder (87th) scored for VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team. Idjessi Metsoko (85th) only briefly caused tremors for the Swabians, who received Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the league phase on January 29th. Before the remaining games on Wednesday, Stuttgart are just ten points among the top 24 teams. The playoffs await – and with them further millions in income.

In the national stadium Tehelné pole, VfB clearly dominated against harmless hosts for long stretches of the game. An example of this was eleven guest corners after just 22 minutes. However, the lead resulted from a straight attack through the center, at the end of which Undav unselfishly crossed to Leweling. At 2-0, a ball played high behind the Slovan defense brought Enzo Millot into position, which was initially denied by goalkeeper Dominik Takac. Leweling was somewhat lucky to use the rebound. The offside position that referee Christopher Kavanagh from England claimed to have seen was corrected by the video evidence. As soon as the half-time whistle blew, Leweling missed a flawless hat trick with his head.

Hoeneß surprisingly did without Atakan Karazor in his starting lineup. The regular captain “felt a little something” during the final training session, the coach explained the “small precautionary measure” at Dazn. Instead, Yannik Keitel was allowed to play, who played a good game. Compared to the 4-0 league win against SC Freiburg, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Ermedin Demirovic and Ramon Hendriks and Nick Woltemade, who were not registered for the Champions League, were also rotated out of the starting eleven. Jeff Chabot, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Chris Führich and Undav started as captains. “This is a team that can hurt you. Especially if you are not well organized when it comes to counterattacks,” Hoeneß said before the game about the hosts around ex-Cologne Kevin Wimmer and former Nuremberg player Robert Mak. There was almost no sign of it, VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel had a relaxing evening. The only annoyance: defender Anthony Rouault will be missing after his yellow card against Paris.

Only after the break did Slovan play a little more courageously, but Stuttgart had the best chances. After a counterattack, Undav served Mittelstädt, who was running along, whose low shot was brilliantly parried by Takac with his foot. Shortly afterwards, Undav hit the post with his head. Substitute Demirovic also missed two good opportunities. Metsoko’s goal, which came almost out of nowhere, was a brief moment of shock because Rieder essentially made the decision in return.

1:2 at Atlético – Leverkusen’s direct place in the round of 16 is in danger

Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, did not pass the test of nerves in the cauldron of the Estadio Metropolitano and, despite taking the lead and having a long majority, has to worry about direct entry into the Champions League round of 16. In a heated duel, the German champions Atlético Madrid lost 1:2 (1:0) and now urgently need a home win against Sparta Prague on Wednesday next week in order to have a chance of a place among the top eight teams. In front of 70,000 spectators, Julian Alvarez (52nd/90th) scored the goals for Madrid, Piero Hincapie (45th + 1) scored for Leverkusen. Alonso, who has to do without the long-term injuries Jeanuel Belocian (torn cruciate ligament), Amine Adli (broken fibula) and Martin Terrier (Achilles tendon), made five changes to his team after the 3-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Matej Kovar made his fourth appearance in the current competition after games at Stade Brest, RB Salzburg and Inter Milan.

Somewhat surprisingly, Patrik Schick initially stayed on the bench. The Czech has scored 12 goals in his last eight Bundesliga games, but he also needed a short break. Victor Boniface, who was injured for more than two months, was back in the squad for the first time. Bayer’s head coach, who was a player for Atlético’s city rivals Real Madrid for five years and knows coach Diego Simeone’s style of play very well, relied on defensive stability with a lot of ball possession and also good moves on the offensive. Nathan Tella, Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka failed because of goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Tella even scored to make it 1-0, but the crosser Alejandro Grimaldo was offside. After a video check in the 25th minute, Atlético’s midfielder received a red card for a nasty foul by Pablo Barrios on Leverkusen’s Nordi Mukiele in the increasingly rough game against an unpleasant opponent. In injury time of the first half, Hincapie took advantage of a perfect cross from Mukiele to make it 1-0.

In the heated game, the hosts did not give up despite being outnumbered and, after a counterattack by Antoine Griezmann, scored an equalizer through Alvarez, who could no longer be stopped by Leverkusen’s defense chief Jonathan Tah and pushed the ball past Kovar into the goal. The Italian referee Davide Massa had his hands full in the Metropolitano cauldron and diligently handed out yellow cards. Goalscorer Hincapie also said goodbye early with a yellow-red card. In the end, Alvarez scored in the 90th minute to give the hosts the win.

Barça winning goal in minute 90+6: Hansi Flick wins nine-goal spectacle at Benfica

But the most spectacular game was in Lisbon between Benfica and FC Barcelona. Former national coach Hansi Flick’s team achieved a phenomenal 5:4 (1:3) win after a long deficit and took a huge step towards the round of 16. Benfica dominated the guests for a long time with a hat-trick from Vangelis Pavlidis (2nd minute/22nd/30th/foul penalty) and an own goal from Ronald Araújo (68th). Two penalty kicks from Robert Lewandowski (13th/78th), Raphinha (64th/90th+6) and Eric Garcia (87th) gave Flick a flattering victory.

Even ahead of Barça, Liverpool FC continues to storm through the premier class without losing any points and won their seventh win in their seventh game with a 2-1 (1-0) win against OSC Lille. Former Bundesliga coach Adi Hütter’s AS Monaco can still hope for a direct place in the round of 16 after the 1-0 (1-0) win against Aston Villa. FC Brugge and Juventus Turin also remain in the race after the 0-0 draw, as does PSV Eindhoven with a 3-2 (3-0) win at Red Star Belgrade.