The Champions League Round of 16 matches immediately dominated headlines across the world after the game.
The allure of football was once again on full display.
There were dramatic reversals comparable to a rollercoaster, one-sided massacres comparable to a horrific tragedy, and a small team defeating a Premier League powerhouse twice.
Paris Saint-Germain traveled to Camp Nou with a 4-0 lead to challenge Barcelona, only to be defeated 6-4. The formidable attacking power of their "world's strongest trident" was truly devastating in this match.
On the other side, Arsenal hosted Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga giants, at home. In their last encounter, they suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat, so everyone thought Arsenal would reclaim their honor at home.
But the result was completely unexpected. In the second leg, Arsenal suffered another defeat, losing 1-5. After two matches, they were thrashed 10 times by Bayern Munich. This was no longer a problem with the defense, but a sign that the team was in serious trouble.
Monaco, a small team, played steadily and once again defeated Premier League giants Manchester City at home, thus advancing smoothly to the next round. They seem determined to continue their dark horse run.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo's Champions League goal drought unexpectedly became a trending topic on various social media platforms.
Cristiano Ronaldo!
A top striker who won the Ballon d'Or and Golden Boot last season, a top scorer who scored in almost every competition, has suddenly stopped scoring.
This is indeed big news for the football world.
So far, Real Madrid has scored a lot of goals, but Ronaldo has only scored two, while on the other side, their arch-rivals Barcelona have scored 11, putting them in a commanding lead.
This has made the football world extremely lively, with fans of South Korea mocking Ronaldo online, saying that this year is probably his worst year yet, as he is nowhere to be seen in top competitions like the Champions League.
Some people even joked that their phones were too small to see Cristiano Ronaldo's full name, and that he wasn't even in the top ten of the Champions League top scorers list!
This is truly the rarest occurrence in several seasons.
Cristiano Ronaldo's fans, of course, wouldn't let the clowns get away with it, and they all went down to the field to start arguing with them, which kept the topic receiving a lot of attention.
It was expected that Real Madrid would win, but it was amazing that Ronaldo didn't score.
That day, during his lunch break, Lei Ming received a congratulatory phone call from Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Lei, congratulations on making it into the quarterfinals. To be honest, the competition was much more exciting than I expected. You were really great."
"Haha, really? I think so too. But speaking of which, Chris, have you been on a goal drought lately? How come you only have two goals? The other team has 11. Is there something wrong with your tactics? I really don't want to see them happy."
Even Lei Ming was surprised to see that Ronaldo was so far behind Yoshi in terms of goals.
After all, Ronaldo's ability is beyond doubt. He is always the strongest player. Over the years since his debut, he has been known as the center forward with the highest goal-scoring efficiency. However, even with such a player, he has only scored two goals after the Champions League Round of 16. This is really a bit unreasonable.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing Lei Ming's words, Ronaldo simply chuckled and said, "Heh, a goal drought? That doesn't exist for me at all. I've just been having some bad luck lately. Our tactics are flawless. Just you wait and see, I will catch up with them. It's only eleven goals, it's that simple."
"Wow~ Awesome! I can't wait for this to happen, it'll be so cool!"
Hearing Luo's domineering tone, Lei Ming couldn't help but gasp.
But at the same time, all I can offer is my somewhat uncertain blessing to President Luo.
After all, this is the Champions League, not a regular domestic league. Even if Real Madrid makes it to the final, there are only five games left. They need to score an average of two and a half goals per game to have any hope of surpassing their opponent, but that would require the opponent not to score in the remaining games, which is indeed very unrealistic.
Perhaps spurred by Cristiano Ronaldo's loss of the Ballon d'Or last season, Yoshin is in phenomenal form this year. He is currently not only the top scorer in the Champions League but also in La Liga, with his teammate Suarez in second place. Ronaldo is only third in La Liga. Under these circumstances, surpassing him is practically a dream come true.
You might doubt what others say, but Ronaldo's words are beyond question because he has the authority to say such domineering things.
After finishing the Round of 16, Monaco had 20 days to prepare for their next Champions League match, which gave the team a chance to breathe. Two days later, in an away game against Caen, who were ranked 16th in the league, even though Jardim fielded a semi-substitute lineup, they still won the game 0-3 without much effort and continued to lead the league.
In this round of matches, Nice, who were second, fell two points behind Monaco after drawing with Marseille, bringing the gap between the two teams to three points.
With eight rounds remaining, if Monaco can secure six more wins, they will clinch the league title two rounds early, making Jardim extremely focused on every upcoming match.
Meanwhile, news of their next Champions League opponent also came back: they would soon face another strong Bundesliga team, Borussia Dortmund.
Over the past two seasons, Borussia Dortmund has been performing better and better under the leadership of their new head coach Tuchel, achieving good results in both the Bundesliga and European competitions. This season, they have even reached the quarterfinals, just like Monaco.
It must be said that Tuchel is indeed a very capable coach.
Two seasons ago, Borussia Dortmund didn't even qualify for the Europa League, but two years later, they have made a three-level jump and advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals.
Tuchel thus gained widespread fame in the coaching world.
However, it is said that his situation in the Bundesliga is not very good at the moment, because of his personality, his relationship with the club seems to be not good.
Interestingly, Monaco and Borussia Dortmund have long been known as European "black shops" because they profit from managing players.
This encounter between the two teams has been jokingly referred to by fans as a showdown between two of Europe's biggest black market clubs.
Their matches are also very worth watching for many top European clubs, as they might be able to spot players they like and need during the games.
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