AF UCL Review: Premier League teams frustrate, Spanish rise and some big scores

UEFA Champions League Round of 16 matches come to a conclusion. Come and rewind what happens in the last two weeks!

Real Madrid 5-1 Manchester City(On Aggregate)

Pep Guardiola’s men were facing an uphill task after a 3-0 defeat in the first leg and that was made almost impossible when Bernardo Silva was sent off for handball in the 20th minute.

Vinicius Jr, who had a penalty saved in the first leg, sent Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way to make it 4-0 on aggregate. Erling Haaland reduced the arrears before half-time but he and his team-mates were unable to make further inroads into the deficit.

Vinicius Jr scored deep in stoppage time — after seeing a goal disallowed moments before — to give Madrid a 2-1 win on the night,

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich look set to meet in the quarter-final

FC Barcelona 8-3 Newcastle United(On Aggregate)

Barcelona thrash Newcastle, advance to UCL quarters

Barcelona have humiliated Newcastle United in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at Camp Nou, winning 7-2 to advance 8-3 on aggregate.

After last week's 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, today's game saw a flurry of goals in the first half. Raphinha, Marc Bernal and Lamine Yamal all scored for the hosts, while Anthony Elanga struck twice for the visitors.

Fermin Lopez scored early in the second half to give the La Liga side some breathing room, before Robert Lewandowski added two more goals to turn the match into a rout. Raphinha then scored his second of the game to deepen Newcastle's misery.

Barcelona will face the winner of Atletico Madrid vs. Tottenham in the last eight.

PSG 8-2 Chelsea(On Aggregate)

Chelsea crashed out of the UEFA Champions League after losing to PSG by three goals for the second time in a week on Tuesday, with the defending European champions advancing to the quarterfinals following an 8-2 aggregate victory.

PSG wasted no time putting the tie to bed in the second leg in London, as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made it 6-2 on aggregate in the 6th minute and Bradley Barcola scored for 7-2 in the 15th. 19-year-old Senny Mayulu put the cherry on top in the 62nd, leaving Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior with plenty of questions to answer after such a lopsided defeat in both legs.

PSG will face the winner of Liverpool vs Galatasaray (currently 0-1) after Wednesday's second leg at Anfield.

Trailing 5-2 from the first leg in Paris after their late implosion, Liam Rosenior's side are really struggling for form both in Europe and the Premier League. They need a couple of goals early, and for PSG to have an off day, to try and pull off a miraculous comeback. Chelsea are streaky and their talented attackers have to hit PSG hard early, and often, to make this possible.

But this is also reigning European champions PSG we are talking about and Luis Enrique's side always seem to keep finding new levels at this stage of the season. They were open defensively in the first leg but they are so dynamic in attack and PSG's aim will be to withstand the early pressure from Chelsea and take the sting out of the tie with some precise and punishing counter attacks.

Atletico Madrid 7-5 Tottenham Hotspur(On Aggregate)

Tottenham bowed out of the Champions League in the round of 16 with their heads held high following a 7-5 loss on aggregate to Atletico Madrid after a spirited 3-2 win at home in the second leg.

Igor Tudor's side faced an uphill battle following a humiliating 5-2 loss at the Estadio Metropolitano in the first leg but hopes of a comeback were sparked when Randal Kolo Muani capitalised on Spurs' strong start to head them into an early lead.

Julian Alvarez's equaliser dampened a crackling atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but a quickfire response from Xavi Simons, curling his effort in five minutes after his team conceded, restored belief for the home side once more.

Atletico goalkeeper Julian Musso was called upon a total of eight times to keep Spurs at bay as they pushed to reduce the deficit, until a glancing header from David Hancko sealed Spurs' fate.

Xavi would go on to double his tally with a late penalty to secure the win on the evening, Tudor's first as head coach of the club, but a chaotic first 20 minutes in the first leg ultimately left them with too much to do.

The performance, albeit short of what the club needed to progress into a quarter-final tie against Barcelona, is one Spurs can take confidence from.

Liverpool 4-1 Galatasaray(On Aggregate)

Liverpool are in the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Galatasaray 4-0 (4-1 on aggregate) at Anfield.

In the first half, Dominik Szoboszlai scored with a cool first-time finish before Mohamed Salah saw a weak penalty saved.

A brilliant second-half onslaught saw Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Salah score for the hosts to turn the tie around.

Arne Slot's Premier League champions face last year's winners, French side Paris Saint-Germain, in the last eight.

Bayern Munich 10-2 Atalanta(On Aggregate)

Atalanta are out of the Champions League after another rough night with Bayern Munich, as Harry Kane scored twice in a 4-1 result on the night, 10-2 on aggregate.

The 6-1 first leg defeat in Bergamo meant a miracle was needed to reach the quarter-finals, but La Dea made the trip without suspended Yunus Musah, giving Charles De Ketelaere his first start since meniscus damage on February 5, with Giacomo Raspadori back on the bench. Bayern had Joshua Kimmich and Michael Olise banned, plus Manuel Neuer, Sven Ulreich, Leon Klanac, Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala injured. Goalkeeper Jonas Urbig recovered from concussion to take the gloves.

Luis Diaz pounced on a poor Isak Hien header back, but couldn’t find the net from a tight angle, while Raphael Guerreiro scuffed a finish straight at Marco Sportiello.

Pavlovic stung Sportiello’s gloves from the edge of the area, but VAR intervened when Giorgio Scalvini charged down a Kane volley with his elbow when trying to turn and tuck the arm into his body.

VAR was involved again because when Sportiello parried the Kane penalty, it was confirmed he was off his line, so it had to be retaken and this time Kane sent him the wrong way to convert.

Arsenal 3-1 Leverkusen(On Aggregate)

Arsenal are through to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, keeping alive their dream of winning the quadruple this season, after seeing off Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 (3-1 on aggregate) at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice got the goals for Arsenal, a pair of stellar strikes from just outside the penalty area, in the 36th and 63rd minutes. Leverkusen put just two shots (of nine total) on target and did very little to threaten David Raya’s goal in the second leg.

Up next, the Gunners will try to claim trophy no. 1 in the League Cup final on Sunday (12:30 pm ET), when they face Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Sporting CP await in the quarterfinals of the Champions League next month, after the Portuguese side overturned their 3-0 deficit to Bodo/Glimt earlier on Tuesday.

Sporting CP 5-3 Bodo Glimt(On Aggregate)

Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt’s improbable men’s Champions League run has come to an abrupt end, after they had appeared set to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Glimt had beaten Portuguese champions Sporting CP 3-0 in last week’s round-of-16 first-leg game in Bodo, only to suffer a 5-0 defeat in Tuesday’s second leg in Lisbon.

Glimt’s defeat brings a fairytale run in the competition to an end: Kjetil Knutsen’s team were competing in the Champions League for the first time and picked up some famous results along the way. In the league phase, they defeated European giants Manchester City and Atletico Madrid and finished 23rd in the table, qualifying for the play-off round.

They drew 20-time Italian champions Inter, securing a shock 3-1 home win in the first leg before a 2-1 victory at San Siro in the second leg, becoming the first ever Norwegian club to progress in a Champions League knockout tie.

Bodo is a town located in the north of Norway, just above the Arctic Circle, and has a population of just over 42,000.

Sporting are only the fifth team in the competition’s history to overturn a three-goal deficit from the first leg. Spain’s Deportivo La Coruna first achieved the feat against AC Milan in 2004 and it was not repeated for another 14 years, when Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 in a last-16 second leg. Barca were then on the losing side of the equation in the next two years, against Roma in 2017 and against Liverpool in 2018.

Centre-back Goncalo Inacio gave Sporting the lead on Tuesday before Pedro Goncalves tapped in a second just after the hour mark.

Sporting were awarded a penalty in the 78th minute by Swiss referee Sandro Scharer after Bodo defender Fredrik Bjorkan was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box when it was fired at him from close range. Colombian forward Luis Suarez converted the resulting spot-kick.

Maximiliano Araujo completed the comeback two minutes into extra-time, with Rafael Nel adding a fifth in the closing stages to help send Sporting into the quarter-finals for only the second time in their history.

Sporting will play Arsenal in their quarter-final, which will take place next month.