Top Winners and Losers After Wednesday's Champions League Round-of-16 Results

The round of 16 in the Champions League hit the halfway point Wednesday with the last two first-leg fixtures.

Things remain all square in both of the matchups. Benfica drew 2-2 with Ajax in Estadio da Luz, while Atletico Madrid was unable to protect a one-goal lead at home and finished 1-1 with Manchester United.

Here are some of the notable figures from the two contests.

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Winner and Loser: Ralf Rangnick

Wednesday didn't provide much clarity as to Ralf Rangnick's suitability as the permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

In the buildup to Wednesday's match, Fred conceded to TNT Sports Brazil (via The Athletic's Holly Percival) that Rangnick's interim status is less than ideal because "it's all about the short-term goals."

The Premier League is already effectively lost with United 17 points back of Manchester City, but the Champions League presents the Red Devils with an opportunity to get themselves pointed in the right direction.

More than just the draw, the manner of the result won't sit well with supporters. United mustered little in attack, and Rangnick's triple substitution in the 66th minute—bringing on Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Nemanja Matic and Alex Telles—seemed to be a case of damage limitation.

This isn't even one of the better Atletico sides of the Diego Simeone era. The club is fifth in La Liga and has conceded 34 goals after having allowed 25 over the entirety of last season. Still, Manchester United did almost nothing in the final third for much of the match.

Of course, Rangnick was vindicated when Anthony Elanga delivered the equalizer almost immediately after entering the match. The 19-year-old has caught the eye of the manager, which is the kind of thing that would justify why taking the interim tag off Rangnick might make sense.

The trouble with Rangnick's still-uncertain position is that he can find himself right back on the hot seat if Atletico Madrid prevails in the second leg.

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Loser: Diego Simeone

Simeone was about 10 minutes away from delivering the kind of performance that has become synonymous with his time at Atletico Madrid. The club snags one goal and proceeds to use the proverbial dark arts to suffocate its opponent and survive.

Joao Felix put Atletico ahead in the seventh minute.

From there, Atleti did what it does best. Unfortunately, it was unable to muster many goalscoring opportunities on the counterattack. Felix's goal was Atletico Madrid's only shot on target.

For a long time, that wasn't much of a problem with how well Simeone's side was defending.

But Atletico ultimately paid for its inability to find a second goal. When you decide to play for a 1-0 victory, you're still only one calamitous mistake away from watching all of your progress to that point disappear.

That's exactly what happened with Elanga's tally, and the sequence was emblematic of how the reigning Spanish champion lacks the defensive sharpness it possessed one season ago.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

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Winner: Sebastien Haller

Sebastien Haller scored 10 goals in the Premier League across a season-and-a-half with West Ham. The Ajax star now has 11 goals during this Champions League campaign alone, widening his lead over Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski.

Scoring in the 29th minute also canceled out his own goal three minutes earlier.

Putting one in the back of the net for Benfica certainly dropped Haller's player rating on the night, but it shouldn't totally overshadow what he has achieved already. Imagine being told before this year started that the Ivory Coast international might wind up topping the UCL goalscoring chart.

Should Ajax lose in the second leg and get eliminated, then Haller's own goal could take on an added significance. For now, let's appreciate his inability to stop scoring at either end of the pitch.