A courageous performance was not enough for RB Leipzig to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League against a ripped-off Real Madrid. A 1:1 (0:0) draw on Wednesday evening was enough for the royals led by their chief strategist Toni Kroos to progress to the round of the top eight teams. Real had won the first leg in Saxony 1-0.
Leipzig were better and more courageous for long stretches, but Vinicius Junior (65th minute) put the hosts ahead with their first great chance. Shortly afterwards, RB captain Willi Orban (68) equalized with a header. But that was as good as it got for the Bundesliga club.
After their success in the first leg, Real did no more than they had to. Led by Kroos, the Whites controlled the ball most of the time, but did not make much of an effort to get into the dangerous areas. Instead, Leipzig were the better team, they just couldn't convert their superiority into the goals they desperately needed.
The Saxons did try to play for the necessary opening goal early on. However, they did not launch an unconditional attack at first. Benjamin Sesko (10') failed to score in front of Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, but had previously been offside. Lois Openda had a better chance shortly afterwards (16'), but his shot from an acute angle went just wide after good preparatory work from Dani Olmo.
