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

The Champions League round of 16 continued on Wednesday with two first-leg matchups. Manchester City earned a 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach and Real Madrid eeking out a 1-0 win over 10-man Atalanta.  

Below, we'll name the biggest winners and losers from the two games.

Winner: Joao Cancelo

The Manchester City fullback was excellent in attack on Wednesday, playing the key pass on both goals. 

The first was an inswinging cross to Bernardo Silva, leaving him with an easy header to give City the lead:

He found Silva again in the second half, with a similar inswinging cross in an almost identical position. This time, the crafty attacker headed the ball back across the face of goal, where Gabriel Jesus pounced:

You can't make two passes much more perfect than Cancelo's two key passes. He looked more like Patrick Mahomes dropping a dime into the outstretched hands of a wide receiver than a fullback curling a cross into the box with those efforts.  

Loser: Remo Freuler

Atalanta's Remo Freuler put his team in a major hole just 17 minutes in the contest, getting a straight red after the referee determined he denied Ferland Mendy a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

You be the judge: 

Suffice to say, it was a controversial call:

To make matters worse, it was Mendy who would ultimately score the game-winning goal:

Tough day all around for Freuler. 

Loser: Real Madrid's Attack

Yes, Real Madrid got the win on Wednesday. But it was a wrong-footed effort from a fullback outside of the box, a shot that Pierluigi Gollini probably saves with a better reaction. All applause to Mendy, who put a great effort on goal. But it was saveable. 

That it came to that despite Real Madrid being up a man for most of the game was an indictment of the team's attack. This just does not look like a very good Los Blancos side, at least compared to the rest of the Champions League field. 

Yes, they were missing some key players. But you expect more from Real Madrid than what they showed today.