When we prepared for the game, we prepared to face the best Messi possible. I think that part of our game today was A+. The part of possession was a B. We can be much better, and we want to be much better. But our guys were a team, we suffered together. We dealt with a lot of good plays, and that's important going forward.
The hosts were unable to find the breakthrough despite having nine attempts in the first half, but they needed just five minutes after the restart to get themselves ahead. A move started by Fabinho from deep saw the ball break for Diaby, whose clever pull back into the box was met by Al Shanqiti, who was on hand to fire the ball into the net.
We had a lack of creation, but we already knew it would be a different game to Newcastle [United]. Looking at the 90 minutes, we had our chances, but the fluidity offensively wasn't there. There is a lack of connections at the moment. We needed more imagination to create chances. We struggled in the first half trying to steal the ball. They put a lot of men in the midfield. We tried, but the quality was not there.
It was not until the 47th minute that NYCFC hit the front at the Bank of America Stadium on Friday, as Fernandez capped off a fine solo run with a composed finish, after Brandt Bronico had squandered a great chance for Charlotte. Alonso Martinez doubled NYCFC's lead five minutes after half-time, seemingly teeing up Pascal Jansen's team for a smooth ride into the next round. Yet Idan Toklomati's 81st-minute strike dragged Charlotte back into the contest.
Expected goals (xG) is a metric used to determine how likely a player is to score a chance and to calculate how many goals a team is expected to score in a match. The metric was invented in 2012 by Opta's Sam Green and has become commonplace across football analytics. In xG, every shot a player has is given a score between zero and one.
Under Manager Eddie Howe, Newcastle's strongest attribute is its tough, aggressive defense. This approach has allowed the Magpies to seal games and change their narrative in recent years, while also fostering a hostile relationship with many Premier League teams, including Liverpool. Without Darwin Nunez's heroic off-the-bench performance two years ago, Liverpool's vulnerability at St. James' Park would be even clearer.
Borussia Dortmund let a two-goal advantage slip late on as they drew 3-3 against St. Pauli in their Bundesliga curtain-raiser on Saturday. Dortmund had Filippo Mane sent off five minutes from time, with goals from Danel Sinani and Eric Smith seeing St. Pauli completing the turnaround at Millerntor-Stadion. Niko Kovac's side took the lead in the 34th minute through Serhou Guirassy's header, though the striker missed a penalty five minutes later to double Dortmund's advantage.
