Category: UEFA Competitions

• Germán Burgos sacked by Movistar Plus+
• Barcelona and PSG refused to give interviews

The Spanish TV station Movistar Plus+ has fired the analyst Germán Burgos after Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain refused to give interviews to the network on account of his comment about Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal before Wednesday’s Champions League match.

Movistar Plus+ had earlier apologised to Yamal after Burgos, a former Argentina goalkeeper and assistant manager at Atlético Madrid, said “if [professional football] doesn’t go well for him, he could end up at a traffic light”.

The knockout stages have finally started to deliver, with standout performances from Phil Foden, Antoine Griezmann and Barcelona’s reluctant fullback

Perhaps the quarter-finals are where the Champions League can be counted to catch light. This week’s first legs saw goals aplenty, with a mix of veteran and young guns starring, with each second leg set up for even more excitement.

Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak, Atlético Madrid

Atlético Madrid held onto to a first-leg advantage despite a stirring performance from Dortmund after the break

2 mins: Dortmund, very much in yellow, dominate possession in the early stages but Atletico break on them, resulting in a beautiful pass from Griezmann to Morata, whose shot is blocked by Maatsen.

Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!

Striker sees parallels between run to the final five years ago and his current club’s European adventure amid domestic woe

Harry Kane emerged from the Emirates with the look of a man who had enjoyed himself. “I think they have a soft respect for me, the Arsenal fans,” he laughed, a glimmer of mischief crossing the striker’s face as he remembered the cacophony that had accompanied his every move upon returning to enemy territory. The jeers were never louder than when he stepped up to the penalty spot, blocking out the noise to roll calmly past David Raya and give Bayern Munich the upper hand.

Bayern felt they had just about departed with it, even though Leandro Trossard’s equaliser set up a titanic rematch in Munich next Wednesday. Kane’s demeanour could be explained by the fact Bayern, a soft touch domestically of late, had shown a resilience that has deserted their Bundesliga campaign. It had clearly encouraged him, suggesting that well-documented dream of a Wembley final for the England captain may not quite be a thing of fantasy after all.

Harry Kane got himself on the scoresheet at one of his happier hunting grounds but it’s all to play for between both sides at the Allianz Arena

• Read Nick Ames’ match report from the Emirates Stadium

Those teams: Mikel Arteta makes two changes to the team that beat Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Saturday, opting to freshen up the left side of his outfit. Gabriel Martinelli replaces Gabriel Jesus on the wing, while Jakub Kiwior is in for Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back. Both players who have been dropped are likely to be disappointed, not least because they both played well against Brighton. Other opinions are, of course, available.

Manuel Neuer and Leroy Sane come in to the Bayern Munich side that lost at Heidenheim at the weekend, while Kingsley Coman, Noussair Mazraoui and Aleksandar Pavlovic, who also missed that game are on the bench. Eric Dier and Matthijs de Ligt are also in, for Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-Jae in the heart of Bayern’s defence.

• Champions League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
• Live scoreboard | And feel free to email Tim your thoughts

The Bernabeu is a fabulous sight. All white on the night, though dotted with colour.

Carlo Ancelotti, on the occasion of his 200th Champions League Game in charge, looks as mournful as ever. Or he does until he is greeted by Pep Guardiola, whereupon a hug and a warm smile are exchanged. The sorcerer and the other sorcerer.

• Manager can ‘see the energy change’ before quarter-final first leg
• Gabriel Jesus happy to compromise preferred position for team

Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal have the belief they can “create their own ­history” against Bayern Munich as they prepare for their first ­appearance in a Champions League quarter-final for 14 years.

Arsenal have suffered three ­successive 5-1 defeats against ­Bayern, losing 10-2 on aggregate in the last 16 in 2017, and have never beaten the German club in a knockout tie. But with Bayern’s fans banned from Tuesday’s first leg in London after throwing fireworks on to the pitch at Copenhagen and Lazio in the group stages, Arteta believes the ­Arsenal supporters could make the ­difference before a daunting trip to Munich for the second leg.

• Bayern Munich manager says striker is ‘very motivated’
• Tuesday’s Champions League opponents are ‘a real team’

Thomas Tuchel said that nothing will hold Harry Kane back when the ­Bayern Munich striker returns to north London and renews ­hostilities with Arsenal in the Champions League.

Bayern’s manager, who warned that the Bundesliga champions know how to hurt Mikel Arteta’s side, is not worried about Kane being targeted because of his ­Tottenham ­connections during the first leg of Tuesday’s ­quarter-final at the ­Emirates Stadium. The England captain scored 14 goals in 19 appearances for Spurs against Arsenal and Tuchel backed him to silence the taunts from the home fans.

Real Madrid loanee is playing his best football but spells in cold and snowy England provided tranquility needed for the top level

Real Madrid’s No 14 has a familiar face and a very familiar name. He does according to Jude Bellingham, anyway. Bellingham calls him Peter Crouch, in his passport he’s José Luis Mato Sanmartín, and his shirt reads Joselu. Yes, that Joselu. “That’s me,” he says smiling as he settles into a sofa at the Spanish national team training base: the former Stoke and Newcastle striker who has a better goals ratio than anyone in the selección and is banging them in for the biggest club on the planet.

Already the scorer of more in one season in Madrid than the three he had in the Premier League, Joselu has experienced a long journey and says he is better for it, though it might not always have felt that way. He is living moments now that are more special for those lived before, his success an example of perseverance, never losing hope. Besides, he insists, England was fun.

• Gunners face German side in Champions League quarter-final
• Victory at Brighton was their 10th in 11 Premier League games

Martin Ødegaard has insisted Arsenal do not fear anyone as they prepare to face Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the Champions League ­quarter-final in scintillating form.

An impressive victory at Brighton on Saturday meant Mikel Arteta’s team have won 10 of their 11 Premier League games since the turn of the year and conceded only four goals to reignite their title challenge. Bayern’s hopes of retaining their Bundesliga crown are all but over after they threw away a two-goal lead at Heidenheim to lose 3-2 and the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen moved to within three points of a first title.

The same old teams in the same old patterns – which is why last eight must not be yet other procession for Europe’s elite

This time, nobody can blame the draw. The last 16 of this season’s Champions League was a drab, largely unimpressive thing, salvaged to an extent by its final week as Arsenal came through a fraught second leg against Porto and Atlético Madrid came from 2-0 down on aggregate to eliminate Internazionale on penalties. But for the most part it was a plod of the predictable and the uninspired.

To an extent that was simply a function of the ties, a mixture of mismatches and clashes between sides who for one reason or another have been out of sorts this season. Even the meeting of the Spanish and Italian champions felt weirdly insignificant given how disappointing Barcelona and Napoli have been.