Category: UEFA Competitions

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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After ninth red card this season, Chelsea are running out of time to fix discipline issues and must turn things around at Aston Villa

It is natural for young people to feel they have all the time in the world. For Liam Rosenior, though, part of the challenge with Chelsea’s tyros is making them knuckle down. They have to realise the competition is about to heat up. The sun was shining at training this week and the warmer weather brings a greater sense of urgency. The yellow footballs have gone into storage, signalling that the business end of the season is approaching.

“Today it’s the first time we trained with the white balls,” Rosenior said. “That’s normally a sign we’re into that period. When those white balls come out, we can’t make those mistakes that we’re making. You’re running out of time – and that’s the message myself and my staff have given the players this morning.”

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• Three fans found to have made gesture in Frankfurt

• Club impose indefinite bans on individuals involved

Tottenham have had a one-match ban imposed on their away supporters in Europe, suspended for a year, after three of them were found to have directed Nazi salutes at their Eintracht Frankfurt counterparts during the Champions League game between the clubs in January. Spurs have given the trio indefinite bans and described their behaviour as “utterly abhorrent”.

Uefa announced the punishment on Monday, saying it had also fined Spurs €30,000. If there is any repeat offence within a year, the club’s fans will serve a one-game away ban.

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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!

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