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Key events
40 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona Lamine Yamal somehow escapes a yellow card for a brazenly cynical foul on Lewis Hall.
36 min: Atletico 4-1 Tottenham Cristian Romero has just thumped a header off the outside of the post from a corner. Spurs are showing plenty of character here.
34 min: Atletico 4-1 Tottenham “Remember when Tottenham went 4-0 down to Inter in 2010?” writes Matthew Charlesworth. “First half was a farce, their keeper Gomes had a nightmare. Me neither.”
That’s a great comparison. They were down to 10 men as well weren’t they? Put the farm on a Pedro Porro hat-trick.
35 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona It looks like Barcelona are controlling this game now. I won’t lie, I’ve been paying more attention to the car crash and I only have two eyes, but whenever I look at this game Barcelona have the ball in the middle third.
32 min: Atletico 4-1 Tottenham “I can’t help but watch this utter fiasco and wonder what Tottenham would be like if Harry Kane had stayed,” writes Rebekah Voss. “As a Bayern fan, I can vouch for the quality and character he brings to our team. And as Bayern lead 3-0 and Tottenham are down 4-1 I can’t help to wonder what is going through Harry’s head. Does he feel like he caught the last chopper out of Vietnam, or is he observing this with the same quiet horror we neutrals have?”
Tonight’s latest scores
30 min: Atletico 4-1 Tottenham
“This is the dumbest gosh darn Spurs game I have ever seen,” says Evan Crocker. “I love it. (Because I hate myself.)”
Ahem.
30 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona Still goalless in this one. I haven’t seen much of the action in the last 10-15 minutes due to events in Madrid.
27 min: Atletico 4-1 Tottenham “Kinsky’s 17 minutes,” begins Paul Griffin, “are probably an unrecoverable disaster for the Loris Karius brand USP.”
GOAL! Atletico 4-1 Tottenham (Porro 26)
Erm, it’s on? Pedro Porro has scored an excellent goal. He controlled Richarlison’s square pass while simultaneously dummying Ruggeri, then drove a crisp shot back across Oblak.
GOAL! Atalanta 0-3 Bayern (Gnabry 25)
The last Serie A team are going out of the competition. Olise controls a long goalkick with a boot made of velvet and velcro. Then he slips in Gnabry, who finishes with aplomb.
GOAL! Atletico 4-0 Tottenham (Le Normand 22)
I’ve no idea what to say. Griezmann’s free-kick from the right brushes the head of a Spurs player and is spectacularly saved by the sub keeper Vicario, but Le Normand is first to the rebound and nods it in.
20 min: Atletico 3-0 Tottenham “I have been watching Spurs for 20 years (hi from America) and I am not sure I have ever seen a comedy of errors like that,” says Evan Crocker. “It also so perfectly encapsulates this season that I think it must have been scripted.”
Never mind the Champions League, which Spurs were never going to win. This could do irreparable damage to their morale ahead of their last nine games in the Premier League.
21 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona Barcelona are growing into the game, as we knew they would, and Dan Burn has just come perilously close to scoring an own goal. He was trying to cut out a cross and poked it fractionally wide of the far post.
GOAL! Atalanta 0-2 Bayern (Olise 22)
It looks like Bayern are cruising into the quarter-final.
Spurs keeper Kinsky substituted after 17 minutes
17 min: Atletico 3-0 Tottenham What a horrible mess. Guglielmo Vicario replaces Antonin Kinsky, who is applauded off the pitch by the smiling home fans and walked straight down the tunnel with a couple of the backroom staff trying to console him.
GOAL! Atletico 3-0 Tottenham (Alvarez 15)
This is offically a fiasco. Poor Antonin Kinsky has given away another goal and is about to be substituted. This time it was a howler: Van de Ven played the ball back to Kinsky, who was pressed by Alvarez and tried to play a first-time pass out to the right. Instead he kicked it against his standing foot and gave it straight to Alvarez, who walked it into an open net. Poor kid.
GOAL! Atletico 2-0 Tottenham (Griezmann 14)
Another slip, another goal. This time it was the last defender Micky van de Ven, who lost his footing and allowed Antoine Griezmann to run through on goal. The rest was a formality: he cut across the recovering Danso and reversed a textbook finish past Kinsky.
Richarlison also slipped at the other end a moment ago, so Spurs may actually be wearing the wrong studs.
16 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona Joan Garcia makes a terrific save, plunging to his right to fingertip Elanga’s shot round the post. The flag went up against Elanga but he looked onside to me so it might have counted had he scored.
11 min: Atletico 1-0 Tottenham Poor Antonin Kinsky. It was a literal slip rather than a mistake* but it came at a pretty inopportune time.
* Unless he’s wearing the wrong studs, in which case let’s have a hashtag and a pile-on quicksmart.
14 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona “Kari Tulinius’s email has me contemplating a brain tickling counter factual: What would the Premier League table – and, by extension, the galaxy – look like if Spurs, Forest and Man U had all decided to stick with the managers they had at end of last season?” wonders Hugh Collins.
That’s the worst Black Mirror episode ever.
GOAL! Atalanta 0-1 Bayern Munich (Stanisic 12)
One of the favourites for the competition are ahead in Bergamo thanks to Josip Stanisic, who was the beneficiary of a cleverly worked corner.
GOAL! Atletico 1-0 Tottenham (Llorente 6)
A dog of a start for Spurs. Antonin Kinsky, brought into the side tonight, loses his footing while trying to play a pass and gives the ball to Julian Alvarez on the edge of the area. He squares it to Marcos Llorente, who places an excellent finish into the corner.
8 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona Newcastle are still dictating the tempo, and you feel like they need to strike before Barcelona find their rhythm. What they would give to have Bruno Guimaraes out there alongside Tonali.
4 min: Atleti 0-0 Spurs “On behalf of the Tottenham fandom,” writes Sam, “the fact that neither Vicario nor Dragusin are starting is a step in the right direction.”
Djed Spence has just been booked for inflicting pain on Antoine Griezmann.
“Yesterday I was in a café and at the next table two men were conversing in a language I didn’t understand; Lithuanian or Latvian, I think,” begins Kári Tulinius. “But I did grasp that they were discussing a roll call of Spurs greats in reverse chronological order, from Son Heung-Min to Luka Modrić. It made me realise that some absolutely world class players have worn the Lilywhite shirt, and that not a single one of them was adequately replaced. They’ve been bad at team-building for a long time, despite some stellar recruitment at times. That Ange got them a European trophy last year is astonishing.”
4 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona The second of those corners leads to a header from Tonali that slitters through the keeper Joan Garcia and is booted away by a defender behind him.
By the way, Atletico v Spurs kicked off a couple of minutes late for reasons as yet unknown.
3 min: Newcastle 0-0 Barcelona Lamine Yamal’s first attempt at self-expression, a run from deep in his own half, ends with a brusque but fair challenge from Joelinton. Newcastle have started well and have already won a couple of corners.
Jonathan Wilson
Match report: Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
The good news for Liverpool is that the situation is salvageable, when it really might not have been. The bad news is that they were distinctly second best for the first three quarters of the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Peep peep! And they’re off.
There’s a belting atmosphere at St James’ Park as Local Hero is blasted out around the ground. This could be a lot of fun.
“Anthony Gordon is reportedly a little under the weather,” writes Chris Paraskevas, “which these days is basically code for ‘imminently signing for Liverpool’ like The Other Bloke did.
“It seems a bit odd not to risk Gordon here and even more pointedly, to have both big money strikers on the bench. It speaks to the issues Eddie Howe has been plagued with and occasionally brought upon himself this season.
“I’m not going to say that Wisse and Woltemade are now confirmed as Panic Buys, but I know the feeling of overspending in the market: I have 1kg of bacon to cook for my breakfast this morning (…ask Scott Murray for clarification).
“Anyway this should be a humdinger of a match / I’ll be screaming obsenities at the local cockatoos by the end.”
The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Quarter-final draw
A reminder that Newcastle or Barcelona will face Atleti or Spurs in the quarter-finals. The winner of Atalanta v Bayern will partake in a humdinger against Real Madrid or Manchester City.
Full time: Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
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.
Atalanta v Bayern Munich team news
Harry Kane is only fit enough for the bench because of acalf injury, so Nicolas Jackson starts in attack for Bayern.
Atalanta (4-2-3-1) Carnesecchi; Zappacosta, Hien, Kolasinac, Bernasconi; De Roon, Pasalic; Sulemana, Krstovic, Zalewski; Scamacca.
Subs: Rossi, Sportiello, Kossounou, Bakker, Musah, Samardzic, Bellanova, Djimsiti, Vavassori, Ahanor, Cassa.
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1) Urbig; Laimer, Upamecano, Tah, Stanisic; Kimmich, Pavlovic; Olise, Gnabry, Diaz; Jackson.
Subs: Ulreich, Prescott, Kim, Goretzka, Kane, Musiala, Davies, Bischof, Guerreiro, Karl.
Referee Espen Eskas (Norway)
Newcastle v Barcelona team news
An interesting call from Newcatle manager Eddie Howe: Will Osula is preferred up front to Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa and Anthony Gordon, who are all on the bench. There are three changes to the side that lost against Manchester City in the FA Cup: Joelinton, Jacob Ramsey and Dan Burn replace Woltemade, Joe Willock and Sven Botman.
Marcus Rashford, who scored twice when Barcelona won at St James’ Park in the league phase, starts on the bench.
Newcastle (4-3-3) Ramsdale; Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall; Ramsey, Tonali, Joelinton; Elanga, Osula, Barnes.
Subs: Ruddy, Harris, Botman, Livramento, Jacob Murphy, Willock, Alex Murphy, Neave, Pope, Wissa, Woltemade, Gordon.
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan Garcia; Joao Cancelo, Araujo, Cubarsi, Gerard; Gonzalez, Bernal; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
Subs: Kochen, Gavi, Rashford, Bardghji, Cortes, Espart, Marques, Szczesny, Casado, Eric Garcia, Torres, Olmo.
Referee Marco Guida (Italy)
Atletico Madrid v Spurs team news
Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario has been dropped, with Antonin Kinsky replaces him. Cristian Romero, who has been suspended domestically, returns in defence. Djed Spence and Richarlison also come into the team for Joao Palhinha, Souza and Dominic Solanke.
Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann return for Atleti after missing the 3-2 win over Real Sociedad at the weekend.
Atletico Madrid (4-4-2) Oblak; Pubill, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri;
Simeone, Llorente, Johnny, Lookman; Alvarez, Griezmann.
Subs: Musso, Gimenez, Koke, Barrios, Sorloth, Baena, Almada, Lenglet, Molina, Vargas, Gonzalez, Diaz.
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3) Kinsky; Romero, Danso, Van de Ven; Porro, Sarr, Gray, Spence; Muani, Richarlison, Tel.
Subs: Vicario, Austin, Dragusin, Joao Palhinha, Simons, Solanke, Gallagher, Olusesi, Rowswell.
Referee Serdar Gozubuyuk (Netherlands)
Louise Taylor
Newcastle v Barcelona preview
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.
Admittedly, Newcastle have never gone this deep into Europe’s showpiece competition before but their past contains a big enough share of cup finals and title tilts to make that assertion somewhat arguable. Not that a Barcelona team made to work hard for a 2-1 win at St James’ Park in the competition’s league phase in September are treating their return to Tyneside lightly.
Sid Lowe
Atletico Madrid v Spurs preview
Tottenham’s interim head coach, Igor Tudor, called tonight’s Champions League last-16 first leg at Atlético Madrid a “beautiful game”, but admitted it was not the priority as they battle against relegation from the Premier League.
Spurs finished fourth in the league phase, earning them direct qualification for the last 16 and a return to the stadium where they played in the final less than seven years ago. But a run of 11 matches without a win has left them one point above the Premier League relegation zone and Tudor under pressure just three weeks after taking over. He admitted: “Our first aim is the Premier League, this needs to be said publicly.”
Galatasaray are leading Liverpool in the first Champions League of the night. Scott Murray has the latest.
Will Unwin
Groundhog Day!
After eight months and 252 games, Bigger Cup has finally reached the bare-knuckle stage of this bizarrely elongated competition. We get the thrilling spectacle of three repeat fixtures from the league phase, thanks to the suits wanting to make this the most thrilling and profitable product possible. The world demands more Galatasaray v Liverpool, extra Kieran Trippier v Lamine Yamal and plenty of Pep Guardiola against whichever former Anfield stalwart is in the Real Madrid dugout this week. It is very much Groundhog Day for the TikTok generation, with Uefa desperately hoping that short attention spans mean everyone has already forgotten these earlier matchups.
Preamble
For the last 20 years, scholars and halfwits alike have volubly considered the same burning question: is La Liga or the Premier League the best in the world? Spanish and English clubs have dominated European football (and therefore world football) in that time, and you can make a decent case for the overall superiority of either.
In the Swiss model years™ of the Champions League years, eight English teams have qualified automatically for the knockout stage to Spain’s three, including five this season. Premier League teams have also won more Champions Leagues (3-2) than La Liga if you take the convenient cut-off point of the 2018-19 season. Go back further and it’s almost all Spain. Half of the last 20 Champions Leagues have been won by Real Madrid or Barcelona, five by English teams.
This eternal debate is a choose-your-own-evidence adventure. Some oddballs even cite the Uefa coefficient, which has Italy in second place ahead of Spain. The last 16 of this season’s ChampionsLeague will provide a bit more evidence: there are three Anglo-Spanish ties, two of which kick off tonight.
Newcastle host Barcelona in a repeat of the repeat of Tino Asprilla’s glory night in 1997. And Tottenham Hotspur – who, if you’re into the whole league table thing, are the fourth-best team in Europe and the 16th-best in England, visit Atletico Madrid. We’ll also keep what remains of our eyes on Atalanta v Bayern Munich.
In case you scanned the above without taking any of it in, these areREDRUM tonight’s games.
Kick offs 8pm.
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