After another drama filled round of Champions League football, we say cheerio to one of the pre-tournament favourites as Manchester City, the 2023 champions crashed out at the Round of 16 stage, losing 5-1 on aggregate to Real Madrid.
Returning to the Etihad Stadium with a three goal deficit the Sky Blues had an uphill battle, which was made nigh on impossible by events mid way through the first half. With 20 minutes on the clock City midfielder Bernardo Silva leant into a Madrid shot clearing it off the goal line. Silva’s contact was adjudged to be low enough down the arm to be a handball and a penalty, which Vinicius Junior dispatched to make the score 4-0.
Silva was also shown the first red card of his 598th top flight appearance and, with ten men and four goals to make up the game was up for the Sky Blues.
City put in a brave effort, pulling a goal back through Erling Haaland and having two more efforts, from Jeremy Doku and Rayan Ait Nouri, chalked off before Vinicius added his and Madrid’s second of the night, deep into stoppage time.
So the Sky Blues are gone, but not so Arsenal who managed to see off a dangerous Bayer Leverkusen, 3-1 on aggregate. 1-1 after the first leg, the Gunners stormed through thanks to two exceptional goals, from Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice. The opener came midway through the first half when Eze latched on to a ball from Leandro Trossard and unleashed a howitzer into the net for his fourth goal in seven games. Rice made the tie safe in the second half when he picked up a clearance from Leverkusen and lashed his shot into the corner to keep Arsenal’s quadruple chasing season on track, and set up a quarter final against Sporting Lisbon.
With Manchester City gone, the SBOTOP Champions League 2026 betting odds make the Gunners clear favourites to lift the trophy; but there are plenty of teams who will have something to say about that.
Sporting Lisbon is one of them; and the Portuguese side made their own mark with an incredible comeback to beat Bodo Glimt 5-3 after extra time, despite trailing the Norwegian giant killers 3-0 following the first leg. Goncalo Inacio opened the floodgates with a 34th minute header and, after Bodo had hit the crossbar, Pedro Goncalves made it 2-0 and the match went into extra time when Luis Suarez converted a 78th minute penalty.
The Lions of Lisbon needed just two minutes of extra time to nudge ahead when Maxi Araujo scored the fourth and Rafael Nel rounded off the scoring.
Magnificent Eight for PSG and Barca, and Ten for Munich!
Another Premier League giant bowed out as Paris Saint-Germain beat Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to complete a resounding 8-2 aggregate victory. After losing 5-2 at the Parc des Princes the Blues were totally wiped out by two goals in 14 minutes, the first from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia before Bradley Barcola smashed home a spectacular volley.
Teenager Senny Mayulu scored the third to send PSG through in style as Chelsea conceded the most goals over two Champions League legs in the club’s European history.
While Tuesday’s matches threw out some spectacular Champions League 2026 highlights, there was more to come on Wednesday when a third Premier League team crashed and burned as Barcelona racked up seven goals on the night. Newcastle were out to spring a surprise in the Camp Nou after drawing 1-1 in the first leg at St James’ Park but it was the Geordies who were stunned as the Blaugrana ran riot to win 7-2 on the night and 8-3 on aggregate. Raphinha was the man-of-the-match, scoring the first and the last, setting up two more and winning a penalty, while Robert Lewandowski also helped himself to a brace. Anthony Elanga scored two of his own for the shell-shocked Magpies.
Tottenham Hotpsur made it four Premier League clubs to exit in this round, but not without a fight. Starting the night with a 5-2 deficit to Atletico Madrid the Whites won their home leg 3-2 as Xavi Simons scored a brace. Spurs went out 7-5 on aggregate but Igor Tudor earned his first win as manager.
But Liverpool joined Arsenal in the quarter finals, turning round a one goal deficit to beat Galatasray 4-1 thanks to goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mo Salah.
The second Round of 16 fixture, not to feature an English club, was already over by the second leg after Bayern Munich took a 6-1 lead away from Atalanta. Back in Munich Harry Kane made it seven from the penalty spot and he added his second on 54 minutes. Two minutes later Lennart Karl struck and Luis Diaz made it four on the night before Lazar Samardzic made it 10-2 on aggregate.
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