Category: UEFA Champions League

The last 16 started with a host of intriguing fixtures. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action

Arsenal

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PSG dominated, creating chance after chance, but came up against Alisson in inspired form, eventually succumbing to Harvey Elliott’s late smash-and-grab winner

2 min: Ruiz hassles Gravenberch down the PSG left but the Liverpool midfielder holds firm and buys a cheap free kick. PSG soon try again, this time down the right, Hakimi nearly getting the better of Diaz, but again the Liverpool player sticks to his guns and Hakimi runs the ball out for a goal kick.

1 min: An instant blast of jeering as Liverpool start with some midfield possession.

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Raphinha struck a second-half winner to give Barcelona a lion-hearted 1-0 victory at Benfica on Wednesday as they overcame a red card for Pau Cubarsí early in the game to steal an advantage in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Barcelona’s teenage defender Cubarsí was given a straight red card for a last-man foul on Vangelis Pavlidis in the 22nd minute, but the visitors hung on with goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny putting in a brilliant performance.

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Harry Kane scored twice for Bayern as Raphina’s goal grabbed a first-half lead for ten-man Barça.

Jeyland Mitchell caught Thuram’s heel – VAR calls over the German ref, and it’s awarded.

Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen teams

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A late own goal from Brandon Mechele and a Marco Asensio penalty give Villa the edge

Unai Emery: “We know their potential and we know we have to be strong, defensively, offensively, tactically. We have to try to stop their gameplan and skills. We have to try to win the match, not concede. This is our challenge.

“We try always to improve. It is a good experience we had here. They deserve to be here, we deserve it, too, but today will be a different match. Hopefully we can show our best performance collectively and individually.”

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• Atlético travel to Bernabéu for last-16 first leg
• ‘It’s a special match in terms of emotions and pressure’

As Real Madrid prepare to host Atlético Madrid in a city derby in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday, Carlo Ancelotti said he is looking forward to another battle against his rival Diego Simeone.

Heading into their 27th clash, with the two managers having faced each other more often than any other rival in their careers, they are tied at nine wins each along with eight draws.

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Aston Villa and Arsenal will fancy their chances of progress, while Liverpool will face a challenge to oust in-form PSG

Villa produced probably their worst performance of the season in losing the meeting of the sides in the group stage, Brugge winning 1-0 with a penalty awarded after Tyrone Mings, not realising a goal-kick had been taken, picked up the ball. Villa may be grateful for that: had they taken a point from that game they would have been facing Bayern in the last 16. That said, as domestic form has stagnated, the victory over Bayern, a repeat of the scoreline from the 1982 European Cup final, probably represents the high point of their season so far. Domestically this hasn’t been a great campaign for Brugge either. They lie eight points behind Racing Genk but for them too the Champions League has provided salvation. They sneaked into the playoffs with three wins but then were much the better side against Atalanta, winning home and away.

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A Bigger Cup needs a Bigger Draw. Last year Uefa set out the tournament brackets from the quarter-final onwards, showing Real Madrid which particular jails they might need to escape to win the competition for the 15th time. This year Uefa have gone one better by doing the draw for the rest of the tournament at the last-16 stage. It’s a punch up the bracket for Manchester City, who can now empathise with every failed Bullseye contestant. Look what they could have won: Atlético Madrid in the last 16, then Arsenal or PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals, then maybe Liverpool in the semis.

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The last 16 beckons, and there were plenty of storylines to digest. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action

Feyenoord

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• PSV beat Juventus 3-1 after extra time in playoff
• PSG and Borussia Dortmund stroll into last 16

Ryan Flamingo scored in extra time to give PSV Eindhoven a 3-1 home win on Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoff against Juventus, overturning a first-leg deficit and putting them into the last 16.

The tie was level at 3-3 on aggregate after 90 minutes and went into extra time before Flamingo poached a 98th-minute winner as Juventus became the third Italian side eliminated from the competition, after Milan and Atalanta on Tuesday.

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• Gasperini calls him ‘one of the worst penalty takers’
• Striker’s spot-kick saved as side were beaten by Brugge

The Atalanta striker Ademola Lookman said comments by his coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, describing him as “one of the worst penalty takers” he had ever seen after Tuesday’s Champions League exit were “deeply disrespectful” and hurtful.

Club Brugge stunned Atalanta 3-1 in the second leg of their playoff to dump the Italian side out with a 5-2 aggregate win and reach the last 16. Lookman pulled back one goal for Atalanta when they were 3-0 down. However the London-born Nigeria forward, who has scored 15 times this season, then had a penalty saved by Simon Mignolet, after which Gasperini said Lookman was not supposed to take the spot-kick.

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An heroic Celtic performance ended in heartbreak when Alphonso Davies settled the tie with 30 seconds remaining

“Speaking of Father Ted,” begins Matt Emerson, “I see that Tom from Craggy Island has swapped his ‘I Shot JR’ T-shirt for an Ipswich Town kit and is going by the name of ‘Liam Delap’.”

That’s a sensational spot.

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• Feyenoord edge past Milan after Hernandez red card
• Club Brugge beat Atalanta 5-2, Benfica edge Monaco

Milan were left to rue Théo Hernandez’s sending-off following a dive as Feyenoord pegged them back on the night and advanced 2-1 on aggregate to the Champions League last 16 with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff.

Hernandez earned his second yellow card for the seven-time European champions for a dive in the 51st minute when Milan were dominating. The Italian side had cancelled out their first-leg deficit almost immediately, with forward Santiago Giménez striking against his former team in the first minute at San Siro.

From a short corner move, Christian Pulisic floated a pass towards the far post where Malick Thiaw placed a header back across goal and Giménez nodded the ball over the line. The Mexican declined to celebrate against the club he left in January, and soon after played in João Félix who put his effort over the bar.

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The knockout stages are here, and there were plenty of storylines to digest. We hand out honours and dishonours from the latest round of action

Feyenoord

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Michael Olise and Harry Kane gave Bayern Munich the edge going into the second leg against Celtic, who pulled one back through Daizen Maeda

Justin Kavanagh emails: “Great photo of Rod! He’s certainly got the gladrags on tonight, but does that bandage on his right fist suggest he’s already had some handbags? If so, it probably won’t be the last we’ll see at Celtic Park tonight in what should be a quite tasty match. Don’t spare the Rod, Bhoys.”

The main plan for Celtic here is to keep it tight early on against one of the most exciting front fours in Europe. You do not get many Musiala-type players in the Scottish Premiership.

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