We’ve seen four Round of 16 matches, games packed with excitement and goals, historic victories and disappointing defeats, stunning strikes and unforgivable mistakes. Beyond the spectacle put on by the teams, the players also gave us some interesting tidbits regarding their football boots: some debuted new models, whilst others opted for boots from previous generations. In today’s post, we’re going to take a look at the most interesting details from these Champions League round of 16 matches.
Juventus – Porto
It was a huge disappointment for the “Vecchia Signora”, who, despite winning the match 3–2 against Porto, saw their Champions League dream fade away far too soon. Despite Chiesa’s fine performance, the Bianconeri failed to reach the quarter-finals and, between a few key errors and a perfectly orchestrated match by the Portuguese side, were knocked out prematurely from Europe’s premier competition.
But let’s turn to the really interesting aspect of this match: the football boots we saw on the pitch at the Juventus Stadium. It would be impossible to begin without mentioning the boots of Portuguese star CR7, who debuted the new Mercurial Dream Speed 4 for the first time in an official competition. Although they didn’t bring him much luck, the boots worn by the number 7 were spectacular, especially paired with Juventus’ white socks.
Two fairly similar cases were those of Cuadrado and Alex Sandro. Both full-backs have been using completely blacked-out boots for some time to hide the brand, but if we look closely we can make out a pair of adidas Copa 20.1 on the Colombian’s feet and a pair of Mercurial Vapor 12 on the Brazilian’s.
Another very interesting case was that of Marega, the Porto striker, whom we saw playing in a pair of Nike Mercurial By You, boots completely customised by himself.
-31%
€289.99
€199.99
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€199.99
€104.99
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€249.99
€134.99
Dortmund – Sevilla
A match that promised goals and more than delivered. The clash between Germany and Spain ended in a draw, with both sides’ strikers scoring twice: the Norwegian giant Haaland for one side and En-Nesyri for the other.
As well as the spectacle on the pitch, we also spotted a few interesting details regarding the players’ boots. Whilst Ronaldo didn’t have much luck debuting the new MDS boots, Haaland experienced the exact opposite, as he used these new boots to score his twentieth Champions League goal after just 14 matches – an absolutely impressive record.
The case of his teammate Marco Reus was also quite interesting; as usual, he wore a pair of laceless Puma Futures, although this time he decided to go back a generation. Whilst in the first leg we had seen him wearing the Future Z, on this occasion he opted for a pair of Puma Future 6.1s from the Rise Pack.
PSG – Barcelona
Messi and his teammates were knocked out by the French side, an early exit in which the Parisians, and Mbappé in particular, shone.
There weren’t many notable developments in this match, apart from Keylor Navas switching his gloves from adidas to Sells, and Mbappé’s boots, as he too joins the list of players chosen to wear the new MDS.
Leipzig – Liverpool
Although Liverpool are going through a difficult spell in the Premier League, Klopp’s side managed to progress past the German side.
There were quite a few interesting details in this match, particularly regarding the boots worn by the Liverpool players. Starting with Thiago, who, as many of you already know, has ended his partnership with Nike and is therefore still wearing an older pair of Phantom Venoms.
As well as him, Origi wore the previous Dream Speed boots, specifically the third generation. But the most interesting boot was undoubtedly Sadio Mané’s, who turned up in the New Balance Furon 6+, a new generation that the American brand will officially launch tomorrow.
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