Alex Keble reviews Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League last-16, first-leg ties featuring Liverpool, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Newcastle United 1-1 Barcelona
Lamine Yamal’s last-gasp penalty for Barcelona broke Newcastle United hearts at St James’ Park, denying the home side a famous victory.
For so long Newcastle looked set to pull it off, following a battling performance led by the brilliant Lewis Hall, who kept Yamal quiet and led a flurry of late pressure that eventually told when a superb cross from Jacob Murphy found Harvey Barnes, who guided the ball into the corner to send the home fans into delirium.
Yamal cancelled it out with the last kick of the game, but when the dust settles Newcastle will feel quietly confident they can finish the job at Camp Nou next week.
After a chaotic early period the match settled into a pattern of Barcelona probing with the ball and Newcastle counter-attacking at every opportunity down both flanks – a strategy that bodes well for the second leg.
Barcelona will push even further forward on home ground, leaving even more space behind their high line.
They had plenty of encouragement this evening. That could continue next week – and could yet lead to a place in the quarter-finals.
Before they fly off to Spain they must travel to Chelsea on Saturday in the league.
See: Newcastle report
Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
A repeat of Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Galatasaray in the League Phase back in September has left Arne Slot’s side with it all to do, although they will back themselves to turn things around at Anfield next Wednesday, with the Turkish club's fans banned for the return leg.
Galatasaray always make it difficult on home turf and this was no different. The have only lost two of their 22 home matches in the knockout stages of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, last tasting defeat in 1973.
It was a deserved win for the hosts in an end-to-end 90 minutes filled with chances – the majority for Galatasaray – and two disallowed goals, one for each side.
Former Southampton and Fulham midfielder Mario Lemina scored the only goal in the seventh minute, meeting a Victor Osimhen header from a corner to stun the Premier League side. It was the 12th time this season in all competitions that Liverpool had lost after conceding the opener, matching their 2015/16 total.
It will have left Slot disappointed, but he will back his players to get the job done in front of only Liverpool fans. After all, Anfield under the lights has provided some of the greatest Champions League nights in the competition’s history.
"I don't think it's possible that if I look at the last two games that so many things can go against us as happened in the last two games, although sometimes I question that if I look at this season," Slot said. "But things will be more normal in a home game for us. And I also think we can improve our performance and that, with the help of our fans, has to lead to a big game in a week."
Before then, they have a chance to return to winning ways at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
See: Liverpool report
Atletico Madrid 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Igor Tudor’s difficult start at Tottenham Hotspur continued as his team fell to a 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid.
Spurs suffered a horror opening quarter of an hour, conceding three goals in the space of nine minutes.
Antonin Kinsky, selected in goal in place of Guglielmo Vicario, was at fault for the first and third goals and was replaced by Vicario in the 17th minute. In between, Micky Van de Ven suffered an unfortunate slip to allow Antoine Griezmann to make it 2-0.
Vicario was unable to stop a fourth goal from Atletico in the 22nd minute but Spurs pulled one back four minutes later through Pedro Porro.
The youngest-ever Spurs XI in their Champions League knockout history, at 25 years and 24 days, recovered well and almost scored the first goal after the break, only for Atleti’s Julian Alvarez to add the fifth mere seconds after Richarlison’s header had been saved.
Dominic Solanke scored late on to keep Spurs in the tie. They will require a comeback akin to that famous night at Ajax in the semi-final in 2019, when a three-goal deficit was overturned.
See: Spurs report
Arsenal, Chelsea and City in action
Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City will hope for more success in the last 16 on Wednesday night.
Arsenal travel to Bayer Leverkusen in the early 17:30 GMT kick-off, before Paris Saint-Germain host Chelsea and Real Madrid entertain City, both at 20:00.
See: How results affected England's coefficient standings