Aveek Chaudhuri, February 25, 2021

Ferland Mendy. The left-back. The scorer of the only goal of the Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Atalanta, giving Los Blanco a 1-0 win in the 86' minute. Despite a low quality performance, Zinedine Zidane's men were somehow able to come away with a 1-0 win at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, home of Atalanta, thanks to the brilliant Ferland Mendy. The left-back was the star man for Madrid on the night as he continuously made runs, crosses, and of course his beautiful curler of a goal to lead Madrid past the 10-man Atalanta side in the first leg of the round of 16 tie.

The statistics looked favorably for Madrid as they dominated in possession and shots. Zidane's side had 69% of the possession compared to Atalanta's mere 31%. As a result, Madrid were able to get off 19 shots although they only got a poor 4 on target. Atalata simply couldn't produce near Thibaut Courtois's goal, having only 2 shots all game with none on target. Of course, this dominance was partly due to Atalanta losing a man early on in Remo Freuler in the 17' minute after Freuler was given a straight red for a tackle on Mendy.

Real Madrid's win makes them the only team from La Liga to win their first leg this season in the Champions League. Although it was a very unconvincing win, Madrid will definitely feel good going into the second leg with the 1-0 lead along with the fact that they were away. Zidane was also missing a lot of key players including Benzema and of course, Sergio Ramos. Thus, they will feel good with a win with players like Nacho being able to step up and perform when needed. It remains to be seen how Gian Piero Gasperini will be able to fight back and potentially get Atalanta into the quarter-finals like last season. Gasperini was infuriated with the referees and the decision of Freuler's red card not to mention injury concerns with Duván Zapata. Hopefully next time, both teams can put on a bit of a more entertaining performance but for now, Madrid has the advantage.