Real Madrid are UNKILLABLE: Winners and losers as Champions League luck shines on Carlo Ancelotti once more and Kylian Mbappe avoids European embarrassment while Atletico Madrid again taste derby defeat

Well, some credit has to go to the manager, right? There is constant debate as to how much of a difference Carlo Ancelotti actually makes to this Madrid team. It is well chronicled, at this point, that he doesn't run training sessions (that's his son's job, nor is he necessarily a master tactician who reinvents the wheel every year. Instead, he is a sort of manager-by-aura, a man who instils confidence into an incredibly talented group of players and gets the best out of them despite the contrasting intentions and ego clashes that really should tear this locker room apart.

And so it proved again. Ancelotti did make some correct calls on Wednesday. Substitutingg Luka Modric (tired) and Aurelien Tchouameni (ineffective) just after the hour mark gave Madrid an injection of energy into the midfield. Replacing Vinicius before the penalty shootout made sense, even if it seemed risky at the time. And more broadly, he ensured his team did not capitulate in a hostile environment.

There has been some scattered talk of late that Ancelotti might lose his job if Madrid end the season without silverware, but such claims are ridiculous. Madrid have been changed by €150 million worth of ego in Mbappe and decimated by injuries in key positions. Many a manager would see this season crumble, and, at times, Ancelotti has Los Blancos holding on by a thread. But who cares? A treble is still very much on at the Bernabeu.

Is it possible to feel anything other than sorrow for Alvarez? The replays are going to be shown over, and over, and over in the coming weeks. But VAR made the right call: the Argentine touched the ball twice on his otherwise wonderfully converted penalty. There was nothing intentional about it - he slipped on the turf - but it is a moment that will now live in infamy.

It was a night of 'almosts' for Alvarez. He did all of the right things, played out 99.9 percent of his evening to perfection, but couldn't quite come up with a killer blow. He ran the channels, pressed at the right times and forced Thibaut Courtois into three excellent saves. It really has become clear, in recent months, that he was wasted as a back-up to Erling Haaland at Man City.

However, it is unfortunate that his debut season in Spain will now almost certainly be remembered for a stroke of awful luck.

"I will come back 10x stronger if I have to." Those were the words of Vinicius after narrowly missing out on the Ballon d'Or to Rodri in 2024. The Brazilian claimed, in effect, that him being overlooked would only spur him on.

Since that tweet, though, he has produced a rather mixed bag. There have been some wonderful goals and exciting moments, but consistency has been elusive. Of course, there is a big fat Mbappe-shaped reason why this has all happened, but more broadly, Vinicius has lacked cutting edge at times.

These, though, are supposed to be the games when that all gets forgotten. On Champions League nights, Ballon d'Or-mode Vini tends to show up.

Only against Atleti, he really didn't. Diego Simeone has shown, repeatedly, that he knows how to get under Vinicius' skin. The solution? Swarm him, ensure that he has no room to breathe, foul him if you have to, and laugh at him when he tries to complain.

Such treatment seemed into Vinicius' head a bit, so much so that when his moment arrived - a penalty in the second half that may well have killed off the tie - he fell short. Vini doesn't have to be the hero every time, but if this is the kind of night when star men show up, and Ballons d'Or are handed out, then Wednesday was nothing short of a failure.

Well, Kylian, you wanted your Champions League trophy; now you're one step closer to grabbing it.

Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain because he wanted to play for Real Madrid ever since he was a child. Everything about his career has been geared towards him becoming a Galactico. Individual accolades and big-stage moments are what seem to matter to him most.

What an embarrassment it would have been, then, had Mbappe exited stage right from the Champions League just 24 hours after his former club had finally announced themselves as genuine contenders for a continental crown. Talk of an 'Mbappe curse' would have dominated Spanish newspapers, with PSG seemingly free of a goal-scoring marvel who was secretly holding them back the whole time while Madrid had inherited a wonderful footballer who looked destined to never quite make it to the top of the mountain.

Fortunately for the France captain, that didn't come to pass, and he remains on the path towards both a first European Cup, while Mohamed Salah's departure from the Champions League means the Ballon d'Or is back in play too. This could still turn into a dream debut campaign for the boyhood Blanco.

Deep into Wednesday night, Diego Simeone was taking polls in press conferences. After the game, he queried how many reporters in the room had seen Alvarez kick the ball twice in the penalty shootout. Not a single hand went up. That's an unfair question from the coach, of course. After all, who will stand against a beleaguered manager, especially when even the fans in the stadium couldn't see why Alvarez's penalty was disallowed?

El Cholo must be sick of the sight of Real Madrid at this point, however. Atleti have actually been pretty successful in the league against their cross-city rivals of late, but in games when either elimination or silverware is on the line, Simeone can't get it done. Atleti have still never won a Champions League knockout tie against Madrid under his tutelage after being beaten for the fifth-successive time.

Perhaps Simeone is cursed at this point. After all, it's hard to criticise any of the decisions he made at the Metripolitano. Antoine Griezmann didn't make it to extra-time, but he had nothing left - and Alex Sorloth seemed an ideal out ball for an Atleti side under pressure. The defensive changes to his line up made sense to, as having Rodrigo De Paul and Gallagher drift wide onto either flank ensured that Madrid's wingers were swarmed by hard-working midfielders. Ultimately, this one can be chalked up to plain old bad luck.

Arsenal fans must have been praying for Atleti. The Gunners are injury stricken, short on ideas, missing their best player, and - for the billionth time - playing without a proper striker. Can they win big games? Sure. But are they good enough to beatReal Madrid in the Champions League? Probably not.

Mikel Arteta's side have made things hard on themselves of late, although there is a hope that Bukayo Saka will be back for the quarter-final. That will hopefully give Martin Odegaard a boost, who has looked lacking in confidence, especially in the final third, without his partner in crime to combine with. Still thi is this rather patchwork side that will have to find a way to beat European royalty.

Arteta relishes these kinds of contests, and he will hope to make it ugly and tense. A Bayern Munich-esque thrashing of Arsene Wenger's final years this will not be. But does anyone, in their right mind, give Arsenal a chance? They would need a minor miracle to avoid yet another trophy-less season now.