Real Madrid miss top eight and will meet Man City or Celtic

Real Madrid Miss Top

Real Madrid miss top eight and will meet Man City or Celtic

Despite easily defeating Brest. Real Madrid missed out on finishing in the top eight and now has to play in the. Champions League play-offs and a matchup. With either Manchester City or Celtic.

Jude Bellingham’s goal and a double from Rodrygo gave the defending champions the victory. They needed to win in France to guarantee a spot in the round of 16.

However, Carlo Ancelotti’s team needs to play an extra two-leg. Tie in order to defend their title due to outcomes elsewhere.

Brest’s first Champions League campaign also enters the knockout stages.

Madrid seized charge in Guingamp after a sluggish start, and Rodrygo’s brilliant goal after 27 minutes gave them the lead.

After cutting inside a defender with his right foot, the Brazilian. Who now has ten goals in as many games. Swung back onto his left foot and hit a low effort off the far post.

A Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review revealed that Ludovic Ajorque’s shot. Which had been deflected off Aurelin Tchouameni, was narrowly offside, giving Madrid a serious scare.

Rather, after 57 minutes. Rodrygo added a third by turning in the rebound from a Marco Bizot save. And Bellingham made it 2-0 after finishing from Lucas Vazquez’s cutback.

No matter their outcome. Madrid could not mathematically make it to the top eight after victories for Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, and Aston Villa.

Rather, the European champions end in eleventh place and will play. In the playoffs against either Manchester City or Celtic, with a draw scheduled for Friday.

After finishing 18th, Brest will play either Paris St-Germain or Benfica, their Ligue 1 rivals, in the following round.

Madrid was penalized for their poor start.

Madrid has been doing quite well lately; they have won five straight games and scored 20 goals.

However, their lackluster start to the Champions League campaign—they lost three of their first six games—has. Eventually prevented them from advancing automatically to the round of 16.

Rodrygo is suddenly scoring whenever he wants, but only after spending two and a half months without a goal. Its renowned offense in particular has regained its rhythm too late.

The teething issues that were so noticeable earlier this season, like the devastating loss at Liverpool,

Have still cost Madrid in the end, even though. Mbappe now appears to have adjusted to his Real role as a central number nine.

Madrid will now have to play two more playoff games to protect the trophy they consider to be their inheritance. The fact that they must travel this route at all will be a sore spot for Europe’s most successful team, even though they are quite likely to advance to the round of 16 and beyond.

In contrast, Brest will be overjoyed to have advanced to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time.

The French team got off to a fast start by winning all four of their league stage games, but four back-half losses have prevented them from finishing in the top eight.

They are the first rookies to lose to Real Madrid and Barcelona in the same Champions League season since Leeds in 2000–01, so Eric Roy’s team did have a difficult draw.