The first legs of the Champions League last 16 delivered the kind of drama this competition was built for. A goalkeeper nightmare in Madrid, a last-gasp equaliser in Newcastle, a routine demolition job in Bergamo, and another painful night in Istanbul for Liverpool.
Arne Slot, Vincent Kompany, Igor Tudor, Eddie Howe, and Hansi Flick all walked away from Tuesday night with very different feelings. Only one of them seemed genuinely comfortable with where their team stands heading into the second legs.
Liverpool 0–1 Down and Still Making the Same Mistakes
There is a certain cruel irony in Arne Slot's 100th game as Liverpool manager ending in defeat, and doing so in exactly the way his critics would have predicted. Set pieces have been a problem all season. They were a problem again in Istanbul.
Mario Lemina, who had not scored all season before Tuesday night, found himself completely unmarked at the back post after Victor Osimhen headed on a Gabriel Sara corner in the seventh minute. Giorgi Mamardashvili, deputising for the injured Alisson, had no chance. A header from close range, and Galatasaray had the lead they would hold for the rest of the match.
For those keeping count, that was the 10th goal Liverpool have conceded from corners this season. Only West Ham, Chelsea, and Nottingham Forest have let in more in the Premier League. It is one thing to identify a problem. It is another thing entirely to fix it, and Liverpool have so far managed neither.
What made the night even more frustrating was that Liverpool actually had the better of the opening exchanges. Florian Wirtz fired just wide before the goal went in, and the visitors continued to create openings even after falling behind. Wirtz forced Ugurcan Cakir into a save, Ibrahima Konate drilled a shot narrowly over the bar, and Mamardashvili came up big to deny Davinson Sanchez from making it two for the hosts. Hugo Ekitike had a chipped finish kept out by a brilliant left-handed save from Cakir.
Galatasaray were not exactly dominant, but they did not need to be. They had their goal and they sat back and made Liverpool work for an equaliser that never came. VAR did not help matters. Osimhen thought he had doubled the lead only for Baris Alper Yilmaz to be flagged offside in the build-up, even though he never touched the ball. Then Liverpool thought they had levelled through a scrambled finish from Dominik Szoboszlai's corner, only for the referee to rule that the ball struck Konate's arm on its way in. Twice, in fact. It was that kind of night.
The tie is not dead. Liverpool only trail by one goal and the second leg is at Anfield. But they have already lost to Galatasaray this season, going down 1-0 in the league phase back in September, and a repeat exit in the last 16 would be the second year in a row that Slot's side have gone out at this stage, following last season's loss to Paris Saint-Germain. The pressure is already building.
Bayern Make Atalanta Look Ordinary
If Liverpool's night was complicated, Bayern Munich's was anything but. Michael Olise was brilliant. Atalanta were taken apart. By the time the dust settled in Bergamo, it was 6-1 and Bayern had one foot very firmly in the quarter-finals.
Harry Kane, returning from a calf injury, was not risked from the start, but his absence barely registered as Olise ran the show. He set up the opener for Josip Stanisic after 12 minutes with a quick corner routine that caught the home side completely off guard. He scored the second himself with a curling finish into the far corner, the kind of goal that looks easy until you try to replicate it. And then he found Serge Gnabry for the third, plucking the ball out of the air and sliding it through with the sort of casual precision that makes him so difficult to contain.
Nicolas Jackson added a fourth before Olise scored his second of the night, another curler past Marco Carnesecchi, and then Jamal Musiala wrapped up six before the hour was done. Bayern had scored six in the Champions League for the first time since September 2024, and Atalanta's 2024 Europa League win feels like a long time ago right now.
Mario Pasalic grabbed a consolation in added time, but it was meaningless in the context of the tie. Bayern travel back to Munich holding a five-goal advantage and with Olise looking every bit the player they paid such a large fee to bring to Germany.
Spurs Reach a New Low in Madrid
Some nights are hard to watch, and Spurs' trip to Atletico Madrid fell firmly into that category. The word "humiliating" gets used a lot in football, but there are few other ways to describe what happened at the Estadio Metropolitano.
Antonin Kinsky, given the nod ahead of regular starter Guglielmo Vicario by interim head coach Igor Tudor, lasted just 17 minutes before being substituted. In that time, he slipped twice. Both slips led to goals. Marcos Llorente scored first, benefiting from a Kinsky error that sent the ball straight to Ademola Lookman. Antoine Griezmann got the second when Micky van de Ven also lost his footing, before Kinsky fell for a second time to hand Julian Alvarez a tap-in. Robin le Normand made it four after 23 minutes.
Kinsky was taken off, consoled by his team-mates, and even received sympathetic applause from the home fans, which perhaps says everything about just how unfortunate his night had been. Vicario came on, but the damage was already done. Porro pulled one back almost immediately after Le Normand's fourth, giving Spurs a brief moment of hope, but Alvarez added his second after the break to make it 5-1. Solanke then scored to make it 5-2 late on, after Oblak had his own moment of madness with a clearance, but it was nothing more than a footnote on a desperately heavy night for the visitors.
Tudor made a bold call with his goalkeeper selection and it backfired completely. That much is clear. What is less clear is how long he remains in charge. Spurs are a point above the Premier League relegation zone and have now lost four games in a row under Tudor. This was supposed to be an opportunity for him to show he could steady the ship. Instead it was the worst possible outcome in the worst possible manner. The club's hierarchy will be asking questions, and with a trip to Liverpool coming up this weekend, the answers are unlikely to improve before the next round of conversations.
Newcastle Almost Did It, Then Yamal Happened
Of all the results on Tuesday night, perhaps none was more dramatic than what unfolded at St James' Park. Newcastle came so close to one of the great European results in the club's recent history, only for Lamine Yamal to break their hearts in the 96th minute.
The atmosphere at St James' was extraordinary before a ball was kicked. Fireworks went off outside the ground, a banner in the Gallowgate End referenced a Budapest final, and the noise inside was the kind that makes these occasions feel genuinely significant. The players responded to it. Newcastle matched Barcelona from the first whistle, showed them no respect in the best possible sense, and grew into the game as the night went on.
Harvey Barnes, benefiting from a brilliant cross by substitute Jacob Murphy, fired in off the goalkeeper in the 86th minute. The ground went wild. Ninety minutes of holding on felt entirely achievable. But football at this level rarely allows for tidy endings.
In the 96th minute, substitute Dani Olmo went down under a challenge from Malick Thiaw inside the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot. Yamal stepped up, sent Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way, and the tie was level. Barnes, who had received a standing ovation when substituted moments earlier, sat on the bench with his head in his hands.
It was a sucker punch, and Newcastle will know they need to go to the Nou Camp and likely score to go through. That is a hard task for any team, let alone one sitting 12th in the Premier League. But they have already shown they can compete with the best on a given night, and there will be no shortage of belief in the squad heading into the second leg.
Looking Ahead
The second legs arrive on 18 March, with Liverpool needing to overturn the deficit against Galatasaray at Anfield, Bayern looking to make it official against Atalanta at the Allianz Arena, Spurs heading back to try to recover the unrecoverable against Atletico, and Newcastle making the trip to the Nou Camp hoping Yamal does not do it to them again.
For three of those four teams, the situation feels manageable at worst. For Spurs, it feels like the season summed up in one disastrous evening.
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