Category: Football (Soccer)

Arsenal and Liverpool will fancy their chance of making the quarter-finals, while Manchester City and Newcastle face tougher routes

The Club World Cup final victory over Paris Saint-Germain last summer was probably Enzo Maresca’s finest hour as Chelsea manager. He devised a gameplan, pinging balls over Nuno Mendes for Cole Palmer to chase, backed up by Malo Gusto, that tore the European champions apart in the first half. Liam Rosenior may try to exploit the same vulnerability, but this is a Chelsea that look weary, their exertions in the US perhaps having left them fatigued.

• Newcastle v Barça; Liverpool get Galatasaray rematch

• Spurs take on Atlético Madrid; Arsenal meet Leverkusen

The draw for the Champions League last 16 has produced some intriguing, heavyweight clashes featuring the renewal of old rivalries. If Manchester City’s meeting with Real Madrid arguably ranks foremost among them, Chelsea’s engagement with the holders, Paris Saint-Germain, and Newcastle’s duel with Barcelona are certainly not lacking in glamour.

Or, in the case of Chelsea and PSG in particular, edge. The tie is a repeat of last summer’s Club World Cup final in New Jersey, which Chelsea won 3-0 thanks to two goals from Cole Palmer and with a team under the management of Enzo Maresca.

The knockout playoffs are complete after a whirlwind round of action. Bodø/Glimt’s fairytale continues while the holders struggled again

Bodø/Glimt’s 2-1 defeat of Inter at San Siro continued this season’s miracle. The post-match discussion between Inter coach Cristian Chivu and his opposite number, Kjetil Knutsen, was one of admiration, an acknowledgment the Norwegian team had been too good for the runaway Serie A leaders. Even though Inter were without Lautaro Martínez, their standard bearer, a comeback seemed likely as they dominated the early stages. But they found no way through, eventually falling victim to the high-quality, high-speed attacking that had left them with a 3-1 deficit to overcome from the first leg.

Real Madrid didn’t impress, but they still had too much quality for Benfica, while Atalanta, PSG and Galatasaray all advanced in dramatic style

85 min: Krstović one-twos with Zalewski down the middle … and he’s clear! But Kobel reads the danger and comes racing out of his box to blooter clear. The keeper takes a whack for his trouble, but Krstović was within his rights to compete for the ball with so much on the line. Great play all round.

82 min: Atalanta counter, and Samardžić dances his way in from the right, before lashing a low diagonal drive inches wide of the left-hand post. Kobel wasn’t getting to that.

• Serie A side win 4-3 on aggregate after 4-1 victory

• Istanbul giants fend off 10-man Juve in extra time

Lazar Samardzic slotted home a stoppage-time penalty to complete a dramatic 4-1 victory for Atalanta against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian side into the Champions League’s last 16 with a comeback 4-3 aggregate triumph.

Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic in the penalty area and Samardzic converted the spot kick in the 98th minute to send the Italians through. Atalanta will now face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the round of 16, with the draw on Friday.

• Norwegian side win 2-1 in Milan to seal giant-killing upset

• Atlético defeat Club Brugge; Bayer Leverkusen progress

Bodø/Glimt dumped last season’s finalists Inter out of the Champions League with a remarkable 2-1 win at San Siro in their playoff second leg that sent the Norwegian minnows through to the last 16, 5-2 on aggregate.

Under sustained pressure, the visitors struck in the 58th minute when Ole Didrik Blomberg seized on a loose pass on the edge of the Inter area and drove at goal. Yann Sommer pushed his shot away but Jens Petter Hauge reacted quickest to convert the rebound from close range.

Newcastle won an entertaining low-stakes second leg against Qarabag, while Bodø/Glimt slayed European royalty at the San Siro

A short-corner routine by Atleti is pinged back down the left flank. Matteo Ruggeri crosses, the ball dropping onto the foot of Alexander Sørloth, who slots with a confident sidefoot from close range past the rooted Simon Mignolet. That’s a hat-trick for Sørloth, and Atleti will play either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16.

… so having said that, Atletico establish a two-goal lead, and are surely in the hat for Friday’s last-16 draw. Marcos Llorente plays a long ball down the inside-right channel for Alexander Sørloth, who should release Ademola Lookman into the box down the left. His pass across is poor, behind Lookman, but Antoine Griezmann comes over, offering himself as a wall for Lookman to ping the ball off. A one-two down the left, then Lookman crosses low. Sørloth can’t miss from six yards and that is surely that!

Eddie Howe adores motivational slogans and the Newcastle manager’s current favourite is: “One Brain.” The idea is to inspire his team to play with the sort of synchronicity that stems from a collective mindset and unity of purpose.

For a while here it seemed to be working a treat with Newcastle’s intelligence – joint and individual – threatening to further humiliate Qarabag. But then, with a last-16 tie against either Barcelona or Chelsea assured, home concentration began, understandably, wandering a little. Commendably, the Azerbaijani title holders capitalised by fighting back; Gurban Gurbanov’s side, and, in particular, their Colombian forward Camilo Durán, showing they can play a bit too.

Manager has already undergone a tactical evolution but needs further progress if his side seek highest honours

At first glance, Anthony Gordon appears to have little in common with Sir Keir Starmer but, like the prime minister, the Newcastle forward looks infinitely more surefooted on foreign soil than domestic battlegrounds.

In the Champions League, Gordon has scored 10 goals in nine games. In the Premier League, meanwhile, he has managed a modest three in 21 appearances, two of which were penalties. Whether deployed wide on the left or, following a recent positional shift, at centre-forward, Gordon seems emblematic of a wider Newcastle paradox. Just like Eddie Howe’s team, he is irrepressible one match and ineffective the next.