Leg 2 juventus vs atletico madrid

IMAGE: Real Madrid's players celebrate after Ferland Mendy, centre, scored their second goal against Getafe on Tuesday. Photograph: Sergio Perez/Reuters Real Madrid's French duo Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy struck in the second half as the Spanish champions overcame an injury crisis to beat Getafe 2-0 at home on Tuesday and close the gap to La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid to five points. Benzema leapt to connect with a curling cross from Vinicius Jr. and head Real in front on the hour mark, giving the hosts a deserved lead after dominating the first half against an unambitious Getafe side who had only one shot on goal all game. IMAGE: Ferland Mendy scores the second goal for Real Madrid. Photograph: Sergio Perez/Reuters The victory took Zinedine Zidane's side into second in the standings and left them five points below Atletico, who drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Monday to end an eight-game winning streak but have two games in hand. Juventus hold ... » Learn More about PIX: Real Madrid see off Getafe; Juventus hold Inter

VALLADOLID: Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro made amends for missing two free headers by finally nodding in the only goal as his side earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory away to Real Valladolid on Saturday to move within three points of La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid. The Brazilian had missed the target in either half but seized the moment with his third headed opportunity, glancing in a Toni Kroos free kick to give his heavily depleted side the lead in the 65th minute of a cagey game. The champions were without top scorer Karim Benzema and an additional eight players due to injury but did just enough to notch a fourth consecutive victory and take full advantage of Atletico’s 2-0 defeat at home by Levante earlier on Saturday. Real remain in second but moved on to 52 points after 24 games, with Atletico leading the standings on 55 with a game in hand. Barcelona, who play at home to Cadiz on Sunday, are third on 46 points. Valladolid, meanwhile, are 19th. “You have to ... » Learn More about La Liga: Real Madrid close gap on Atletico after 2-0 win over Valladolid

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Juventus got back to winning ways by beating bottom club Crotone 3-0 in Serie A. Ronaldo could even have had a hat trick in the first half. Weston Mckennie sealed the result after the break. Juventus moved up to third on the table, eight points behind Serie A leader Inter Milan, having played a match less. It was Crotone’s fifth successive defeat and left it eight points from safety. Juventus was looking for a big win after a disappointing week. The Bianconeri lost at Porto 2-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday, days after losing at Napoli 1-0 in Serie A. Ronaldo hadn’t scored for Juventus since the start of the month. He came close on a couple of occasions before breaking the deadlock in the 38th minute when he headed in an Alex Sandro cross. Ronaldo doubled his tally in first-half stoppage time with another impressive header, this time from an Aaron Ramsey cross. The 36-year-old Ronaldo ... » Learn More about Cristiano Ronaldo scores brace in Juventus victory over Crotone

Images from Sunday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1. IMAGE: Toni Kroos celebrates with teammates after scoring Real Madrid's second goal in the La Liga match against Valencia, at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, in Madrid, on Sunday. Photograph: Sergio Perez/Reuters Real Madrid's Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos were on target in the first half as the hosts easily beat listless Valencia 2-0 on Sunday to make it three wins in a row in La Liga. Benzema got Zinedine Zidane's side off to a strong start in the 12th minute when he collected a pass from Kroos on the edge of the area and had enough time and space to pick his spot and fire into the far bottom corner. Kroos, who missed Tuesday's 2-0 home win over Getafe through suspension, doubled their lead shortly before halftime, finishing off a flowing move by driving a first-time shot low into the net from the edge of the area. The victory took Real back into second place on 49 points, five behind leaders Atletico Madrid ... » Learn More about PICS: Easy for Real Madrid; Roma go above Juventus

IMAGE: The game, which was due to be held at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, was moved because of Spain's ban on arrivals from Britain, with the exception of passengers who are residents or citizens of Spain or Andorra. Photograph: Nicolas Axelrod/Getty Images Atletico Madrid will play Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in Bucharest due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in Spain that prevent the English side from entering the country, UEFA said on Wednesday. The match will kick off at the National Arena in the Romanian capital at the scheduled time of 2000 GMT on February 23. The game, which was due to be held at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, was moved because of Spain's ban on arrivals from Britain, with the exception of passengers who are residents or citizens of Spain or Andorra. The travel ban was extended on Tuesday until March 2. "UEFA is able to officially confirm that the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg match between Club ... » Learn More about Atletico v Chelsea Champions League game moved to Bucharest

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help Juventus fight back to win 2-1 at Inter Milan in the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal. Ronaldo netted a penalty and took advantage of a horrendous defensive error on Tuesday to give his side the advantage ahead of the second leg. Lautaro Martinez had given Inter an early lead. Napoli hosts Atalanta in the other semifinal on Wednesday, with the return legs scheduled for next week. The final is on May 19. Inter was without key forward Romelu Lukaku for the first leg. He was suspended for accumulated cards following his spat with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in last week's quarterfinal win over AC Milan. Inter had beaten Juventus 2-0 two weeks ago in Serie A and coach Antonio Conte was looking to maintain supremacy over his former club. That seemed to be going to plan when Martinez slotted Nicol Barella’s cross under Gianluigi Buffon in the ninth minute. But Juventus was awarded a penalty when Ashley Young appeared to haul back Juan ... » Learn More about Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice as Juventus beat Inter in Cup semis

Real Madrid struggled to break down 10-man Atalanta before Ferland Mendy netted an 86th-minute winner to give the Spanish giant a 1-0 win in the first leg of the round of 16. Madrid entered the game as the big favorite despite a slew of injuries, and Atalanta’s chances diminished further when midfielder Remo Freuler was sent off in the 17th minute after being adjudged to have denied a scoring opportunity. “The match was ruined,” Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said. “I don’t know what the result would have been, we might have still lost, but it would have been a much different and better match.” Madrid -- which was missing players including forward Karim Benzema, midfielder Eden Hazard and captain Sergio Ramos -- still found it difficult to test Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini until the end of the first half, when he pulled off a great reaction save to keep out Casemiro's header from Toni Kroos’ free kick. Just as it looked as if Atalanta would hold on for a draw, ... » Learn More about Champions League: Real Madrid ride on Mendy late strike to down Atalanta

IMAGES from Champions League matches played on Tuesday. IMAGE: Chelsea's Olivier Giroud scores against Atletico in acrobatic fashion in their Champions League round of 16 first leg match Arena Nationala in Bucharest. Photograph: Octav Ganea/Inquam Photos via Reuters A spectacular Olivier Giroud overhead kick gave Chelsea a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League last-16 first leg in Bucharest. The French striker broke the deadlock in the 68th minute with an outrageous bicycle kick which was flagged offside but eventually given following a lengthy VAR review as the ball had come off Atletico's Mario Hermoso before Giroud hit it. Joao Felix had attempted an overhead effort earlier in the second half but missed the target in one of few chances for Atletico, who were forced to play their home leg over 3,000 kilometres from Madrid due to Spanish restrictions on arrivals from Britain to control the spread of COVID-19 infections. Chelsea looked more ... » Learn More about UCL PIX: Chelsea take slender lead; Bayern thrash Lazio

A summary of Saturday's action in La Liga, Ligue I and Bundesliga. IMAGE: Lionel Messi celebrates scoring Barcelona's second goal in the La Liga match against Alaves, at the Camp Nou, Barcelona, on Saturday. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters Lionel Messi scored with two scorching strikes as Barcelona hammered Alaves 5-1 on Saturday in La Liga to warm up for their upcoming Champions League clash with Paris St Germain in style. Portuguese forward Francisco Trincao put Barca in front after a cut-back from 18-year-old debutant midfielder Ilaix Moriba and Messi thought he had doubled the lead later on when knocking in on the rebound but the goal was ruled out for a marginal offside against Antoine Griezmann. Messi then took matters in to his own hands from outside the area and thumped the ball off the far post with such venom that it landed just inside the opposite post. Alaves's Luis Rioja pounced on a mistake by Ilaix to reduce the deficit in the second half but Barca came ... » Learn More about PIX: Barcelona rout Alaves to fire warning shot to PSG

Next Two goals by the dynamic Lionel Messi helped La Liga leaders Barcelona maintain their flying start to the season with a 5-1 destruction of Athletic Bilbao. In England, Manchester United charged three points clear of second-placed Manchester City with a thrilling 4-3 win at Reading while their neighbours were held 1-1 by Everton. Spain L eaders Barcelona created a new record for the best start to a La Liga season, thrashing Athletic Bilbao 5-1 to notch 40 points from 14 games. Barca, under new coach Tito Vilanova, have won 13 matches and drawn one which beats the previous best by Real Madrid in 1961-62 of 13 wins and a defeat. Lionel Messi scored twice to move within one goal of former Germany and Bayern Munich striker Gerd Mueller's record of 85 goals in a calendar year. Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas and Adriano netted the others. Second-placed Atletico Madrid slipped six points behind Barca after losing 2-0 to Real Madrid in the ... » Learn More about Soccer Roundup: Record for Barca, United go clear