Champions League Round of 16 - 2018/19: 5 things that nobody expected to happen
The Round of 16 in this season’s UEFA Champions League is now over, and while everyone is waiting with bated breath for tomorrow’s quarter-final draw, it’s worth remembering just how insane the last two weeks’ worth of games in the competition have been.
This season’s Round of 16 has been as dramatic as any Champions League in recent memory, with a ton of results and incidents that nobody could’ve seen coming, particularly in the second legs. You could argue in fact that half of the ties didn’t go the way most people figured they would.
Here are 5 things that nobody expected to happen in the Round of 16.
#1 Manchester United beating Paris St. Germain – especially after the first leg
When the draw for the Round of 16 was made in mid-December, nobody really gave Manchester United a shot at beating French giants Paris Saint-Germain. After all, United were still managed by Jose Mourinho and in the midst of some horrible form at that time – losing their final group game to Valencia – while PSG had flown through the group stage despite an opening loss to Liverpool.
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The appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had definitely righted the ship at United somewhat, but when the Red Devils were beaten 0-2 at Old Trafford by their French opponents, it felt like the tie was all but over. United would need at least 3 goals at the Parc des Princes to get through now, something that seemed basically impossible.
And yet somehow, they did it. A disastrous defensive mistake from Thilo Kehrer and a rare error from Gianluigi Buffon allowed Romelu Lukaku to put United into a 1-2 lead, canceling out Juan Bernat’s equalizer, but with minutes remaining the Red Devils still needed a third goal to get through the tie on the away goals rule.
Deep into added time, they found it. Diogo Dalot’s speculative shot appeared to strike the arm of PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe, and after a VAR check, the referee awarded a penalty – which Marcus Rashford coolly banged home. United had completed a comeback almost on the level of their legendary 1999 final win over Bayern Munich, and the football world was stunned by one of the biggest upsets in recent Champions League memory.