Category: UEFA Competitions

Riccardo Calafiori reflects on Max Dowman’s impact as Mikel Arteta’s side bid to reach the Champions League quarter-finals

Even the man who Mikel Arteta has described as his chief “chaos creator” almost found things a bit too much. Riccardo Calafiori was in the thick of the celebrations after Max Dowman’s historic late goal to clinch victory over Everton on Saturday as Arsenal’s players mobbed him by the corner flag at the Emirates after the six touches that changed the 16-year-old’s life forever.

In all the excitement, Kai Havertz borrowed a pair of glasses from a more than willing supporter and waved them in the air before politely returning them in what Calafiori described as the best moment of Arsenal’s season so far. “We were all so happy. We ran towards him and the fans,” the Italy defender said. “It was almost a fight with the fans – in a nice way, obviously. It was amazing.”

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• ‘We can create many chances in minutes’

• Rüdiger believes he can keep Haaland quiet

Pep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City require a “perfect game” to overturn Real Madrid’s 3-0 lead in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

Álvaro Arbeloa’s team are firm favourites to progress to the quarter-finals after their victory at the Bernabéu last week when Madrid’s captain, Federico Valverde, scored a first-half hat-trick.

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• Uefa: ‘Disciplinary proceedings have been instigated’

• Portuguese player had apologised for push after game

Pedro Neto is at risk of being banned after Uefa opened an investigation into the winger pushing a ballboy during Chelsea’s 5-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Wednesday.

Neto apologised for the incident and gave his shirt to the ballboy after the game but that has not been enough to avert the possibility of disciplinary action. Uefa said it was investigating the Portugal international for “unsporting behaviour” and that its “disciplinary bodies will take a decision on this case in due course”.

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Real Madrid left Erling Haaland marooned and picked off an unbalanced Manchester City in the Champions League

Pep Guardiola’s wry and serial observation is that only victory makes the head coach appear a sage of the tactical battle. If defeat is endured then, fair or not, it is open season on the man who lives and dies by results.

Cut to Wednesday’s 3-0 Champions League last-16 hammering of Manchester City by Real Madrid and Álvaro Arbeloa emanated a seer-like cool in the post-first leg briefings, while Guardiola was forced into explaining why he sent out a 4-2-2-2 that crumpled so easily before Federico Valverde, who scored a memorable first-half, 22-minute hat-trick.

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All six of the Premier League’s last-16 teams have plenty of work to do in their second legs. Bodø/Glimt, meanwhile, have eyes on a fairytale quarter-final

A rude awakening for the English Premier League, a week when European football reasserted itself; financial dominance need not mean dominance on the field. Real Madrid’s first-half destruction of Manchester City was chastening. This was a Madrid team shorn of Kylian Mbappé, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham and yet City were soundly beaten 3-0. Arsenal’s drab 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen showed Mikel Arteta’s team will require more than set pieces to prevail in the competition.

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Federico Valverde scored one of the great Champions League hat-tricks to give Real a huge advantage going into next week’s second leg

The Atari-esque sprites of Manchester City get the ball rolling. The famous old pile might not be sold out, but it is noisy.

The teams are out! Real Madrid in their meringue whites, Manchester City in a green top with jet-set geometric squiggles all over it, and a chip embedded within the City crest that, if you were to wave a newfangled “smart electric telecommunications device” over it, unlocks a slew of bonus features for Pele’s Soccer on the Atari 2600 EA Sports FC 26. This is the sort of news that will either excite you or make you feel so very old and useless. Latest score: Excited 0-1 Old & Useless.

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Kai Havertz scored a late penalty on his return to Leverkusen to help Arsenal rescue a draw before the second leg in London

1 min Peep peep. Arsenal kick off from right to left as we watch.

Read today’s Football Daily

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• Supporter ended up in Exeter, 366 miles away

• League One club took pity and let him watch their game

A Barcelona fan’s navigation mishap turned into an unexpected adventure when he arrived at the wrong St James’ Park on Tuesday for a Champions League clash, ending up 366 miles from where his team were playing.

The Spanish fan, who had travelled from London expecting to watch Barcelona take on Newcastle in the first leg of the last-16 tie, instead found himself at the turnstiles of third-tier Exeter’s St James Park.

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• First-leg scorer senses self-belief to reach last eight

• ‘In the Champions League we have hit our top form’

Harvey Barnes believes Newcastle are primed for historic success against Barcelona after showing they are more than capable of living with them in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Barnes’s 86th-minute goal for 1-0 at St James’ Park on Tuesday was cancelled out by Lamine Yamal’s penalty with the last kick of stoppage time. But Newcastle will travel to the Camp Nou for next Wednesday’s return with confidence, Barnes’s assertion that they were the better team brooking little argument and reflecting the mood inside their dressing room.

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Visitors were underwhelming in the face of Newcastle’s power and pace and Eddie Howe’s men can still hope to reach the last eight

Banners are not always that easy to unfurl. Particularly on the sort of capriciously breezy March nights when sheeting emblazoned with the message “Budapest awaits me” refuses to be pulled taut and simply sags in the middle.

For a while before kick‑off it was easy to interpret the ongoing struggles of that banner’s owners to successfully hoist it in the Gallowgate End as emblematic of the travails awaiting Newcastle.

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Antonin Kinksy was taken off after 17 minutes on an awful night for Spurs, while Lamine Yamal equalised with the last kick at St James’ Park

An early goal from Mario Lemina gave Galatasaray a first-leg victory in Turkey. Scott Murray was watching.

Galatasaray still lead Liverpool 1-0 in Turkey. You can follow the last five minutes (plus stoppage time) with Scott Murray.

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Team’s path to a quadruple appears manageable – give Mikel Arteta and co serious credit for getting to this position

Cruyff’s Ajax, Messi’s Barcelona, Rice’s Arsenal. Stein, Michels, Ferguson, Arteta. The Dark Side of the Moon, The Very Best of The Beatles, Arsenal 2025-26 highlights DVD. Total Football, tiki-taka, hugging the goalie at corners. Get ready. Make room among the greats. It may just be coming.

And yes, you can laugh at this on the internet. You can pull-quote excerpts with mocking emojis. Throw in some Niles from Frasier has really lost it stuff. You can point, with justification, to the fact these other people, the actual greats, did it for a long time, not just one year.

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Mario Lemina’s early goal gave Cim Bom the first-leg advantage … and the hosts could have had more

Galatasaray get the ball rolling. Liverpool desperately hoping to improve on the events of last September.

The teams are out! And there’s some BREAKING NEWS: the atmosphere is hella hot at the Ali Sami Yen^†. Cim Bom Bom! Galatasaray wear their classic red and yellow halves, Liverpool are in third-choice bottle green, a colour that may send shivers down the spine of the Candy generation. We’ll be off in a couple of Zadok-the-Priest-soundtracked minutes.

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• Newcastle host Barça in Champions League last-16 first leg

• Howe: ‘It’s an opportunity to grab a moment we never get again’

For Eddie Howe it was quite a statement. “Barcelona is the biggest game in this club’s history,” said Newcastle’s manager. “It’s massive.”

Given Howe usually seems allergic to exaggeration it was a surprising way to approach Tuesday night’s Champions League last 16 first leg with Hansi Flick’s side.

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