Ronaldo Out In Champions League’s Return

A wild day in the Champions League saw one of the world’s most prominent clubs advance to the quarterfinals and one of soccer’s biggest stars eliminated, all as the second leg of the round of 16 resumed for the first time since the coronavirus shutdown in March.

Here are the Top 3 things you need to know from Friday’s Champions League action.

1. City survives and advances

Manchester City reached their third straight quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid, handing Madrid manager and soccer legend Zinedine Zidane a career first along the way:

Goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus provided the offense to help push the club into the next round.

The goal from Sterling was his 100th with Manchester City.

2. Raphaël Varane struggles

While Manchester City is celebrating a victory, Real Madrid is left wondering what could have been.

Specifically, Raphaël Varane. Both City goals were due to costly defensive errors by the Madrid defender.

After the game, he took sole responsibility for the loss.

For Real Madrid, the exit continues a trend of faltering in the round of 16 without Cristiano Ronaldo, falling short of the quarters for the second consecutive season since his departure to Juventus.

3. Speaking of Ronaldo…

For the first time in a decade, the superstar will fail to make it past the round of 16 and into the Champions League quarterfinals.

Juventus might have fallen short, but not for a lack of effort by Ronaldo, as CR7 scored twice:

The elimination is a bitter end to what was otherwise a special campaign for Ronaldo, with his two-goal performance bringing his season tally to 36, breaking the previous single-season record for Juventus.

Now, he and his old club are going home on the same day.

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