Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game.
AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate.
Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively.
Photo: Reuters
“In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward Santiago Gimenez, who scored one of the competition’s fastest goals against his former team, Feyenoord, in the first minute.
Hernandez was sent off for a dive in the 51st when Milan was dominating after Gimenez’s opener had leveled the tie. Feyenoord had won the first leg of the playoff 1-0 last week.
However, Milan’s defense looked anything but assured after referee Szymon Marciniak showed Hernandez another yellow card for his dive. The France defender had earned his first before the break for lashing out at a Feyenoord player after a foul on teammate Joao Felix.
Photo: AFP
Hugo Bueno crossed for Julian Carranza to head Feyenoord level on the night in the 73rd, enough to put the Dutch team into the next phase.
“We’re very disappointed. We started well and scored straight away. It seemed like Feyenoord couldn’t hurt us,” Gimenez said of the game’s pivotal moment. “Today it happened to Theo, but it can happen to anyone, this is soccer. We have the utmost respect for Theo. We will give him all our support.”
Feyenoord’s Givairo Read was shown a red card following another melee after the final whistle.
Photo: AFP
Feyenoord would play either Inter or Arsenal in the round of 16.
Alphonso Davies scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time for Bayern to reach the last 16 with a 1-1 draw against Celtic.
Davies, a substitute, bundled the ball over the line after Leon Goretzka’s effort was kept out, saving Bayern the ordeal of extra time after German player Nicolas Kuhn had scored against his former club to draw Celtic level on aggregate.
Davies’ goal gave Bayern a 3-2 win over two legs.
Next for the Bavarian powerhouse is either Bundesliga rival Bayer Leverkusen or Atletico Madrid.
Club Brugge eliminated Atalanta with a 3-1 win in Bergamo, Italy, for a 5-2 win on aggregate. The 19-year-old forward Chemsdine Talbi scored twice as the visitors gave Gian Piero Gasperini’s team a lesson in efficiency.
Atalanta had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors, and tried 89 attacks compared with 16 from Brugge.
Halftime substitute Ademola Lookman scored seconds after the restart to unleash hopes of a miracle — Atalanta needed three more goals to level the tie — but Simon Mignolet saved Lookman’s penalty in the 61st as those hopes gradually faded.
Benfica reached the last 16 with a 3-3 draw against Monaco in Lisbon, giving the Portuguese team a 4-3 win on aggregate.
The last 16 draw takes place tomorrow.
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