Reaction and highlights to the Champions League as no English sides win in the first legs of their last-16 matches
Man City lose 3-0 at Real Madrid with Pep Guardiola saying his side 'don't have much of a chance' to turn things around
Chelsea are beaten 5-2 by last year's winners PSG with what Liam Rosenior described as a 'crazy' final 20 minutes while Arsenal scored a late penalty to draw 1-1 at Bayer Leverkusen
Opta: Premier League teams' chances of reaching the quarter-finals have significantly diminished
After defeats to Tottenham and Liverpool on Tuesday and Newcastle's draw with Barcelona, English clubs now have a lot to do to turn around the ties next week
Taken on this evidence, the Premier League picture is not as rosy as some would suggest in the Champions League context, writes Phil McNulty
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Watching the Prem this year it isnt a surprise. The levels are lower than they were a couple of years ago, Arsenal are the top team but not a great one. Getting found out when they play better teams. Simple as that.
Paul, Peterborough
Real Madrid 3-0 Man City
Real Madrid
Real Madrid defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, speaking to Uefa: "It was an incredible game to be apart of it, more so for the team. We wanted to win and we went out there and won. Three-nil is an exceptional result for us and I think it was thoroughly deserved. Of course they had their chances and possession - it's Manchester City, we expected that - we were ruthless and took our chances."
Are Real Madrid celebrating already? "It's only half-time. If you are celebrating at half-time and thinking the game is done, your mindset is completely wrong. The whole club knows this isn't finished. We have seen crazy games between these two clubs before, so we can't rule out anything. We don't take anything for granted and will go to the Etihad and try to win there as well."
Real Madrid 3-0 Man City
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva, speaking to TNT Sports: "It is difficult to speak about it because I would need to watch it again. My feeling on the pitch was that we started the game well.
"The environment we could not control and I think my team let the emotions change the game. We felt comfortable and were finding the right spaces but after conceding the first one we lost completely the control, we stopped controlling transitions and second balls. When you play against Real Madrid with the quality they have you pay the price.
"It is a tough stadium to play at. We are used to playing at these stadiums because playing at Anfield and St James’ Park is very tough. You need to go through these moments to become better and today was just a learning game for the whole team.
“It is quite frustrating [we didn't score], even though we believe it is still possible because in football a lot of things can happen, at half-time we were saying, ‘the situation is bad’ there were a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened but with one goal you are in the tie.
At 3-0 it makes it a bit more difficult. Now it feels really bad, now it feels really dark. Tomorrow is another day and for sure next week we will go to the game thinking we have a chance.
“Right now is the moment to reflect and see what we didn’t do right. Then next week when we are preparing we will be hopeful we can do something.”
Image source, Getty Images
Ben Ramsdale
BBC Sport
Not ashamed to admit I had to do a quick google of "poppycock" to see if it was safe to publish or not.
Great word.
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Typical responses on here blaming it on schedules rather than just admitting we aren’t as good as we think we are (see also, the men’s national team).
Dan, Bedford
Too many games for the PL teams? How much have these 5 spent on transfers in the last 6 years? How many players do they have registered? Overplayed is absolutely poppycock. Maybe our teams just aren’t that good and get praised too much?
Graham, Essex
Real Madrid 3-0 Man City
Paul Robinson
Former Leeds goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live
It is going to have to be spectacular for Manchester City to come back from this. But we have seen them do it before and they have the quality.
At the Etihad, City need to be open and expansive. But they then leave themselves susceptible on the counter-attack. City's weaknesses have been exposed and Real took advantage tonight. One more Real goal and it is out of their reach.
Real Madrid 3-0 Man City
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on his side's chances of turning the tie around next week: "We may not have much chance to turn it around. Of course we are going to try.
"Our game was not as bad as the result. We've played quite a good game. We have tried to do our best. We did not create enough chances. When you're able to do that, it means you have followed a good process but Real Madrid are always very dangerous."
Donnarumma's second-half penalty save from Vinicius offered some hope, Guardiola saying: "Obviously 3-0 is better than 4-0. It is a tough result. We cannot deny it. The quality they have with Valverde was great. It's a difficult result but we have six days, recover. We will try again."
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I love Pep, but his game management ability has not aged as well as his man management ability. He's a fantastic coach, but his subs, line-ups and tactics are overthought and outdated so often. There's no better alternative out there, but it's draining sitting here hoping something will eventually change.
Harry, Manchester
Pep is obviously a fantastic manager but it's happened several times in the Champions league now where he seems to over think in crucial matches, why would you move O'Reilly who's been playing fantastic in midfield back into defense leaving a lightweight midfield away at RM & play 3 wingers!
Marc, Sale
Real Madrid 3-0 Manchester City
Manchester City's woes against Real Madrid continued on Wednesday evening in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Blues finished the game with 0.6 expected goals, a very poor outlook compared to Real Madrid's 2.6.
Despite City having more possession throughout the game they were unable to convert and Real Madrid ran riot.
Pep Guardiola's side will have a mountain to climb in the reverse fixture next Tuesday, 17 March.
Image source, BBC Sport
Nedum Onuoha
Former Manchester City defender on MOTD: UEFA Champions League
Looking at the deficit for City and Chelsea that they have to overcome at home, while they will have the belief they can do it, I think the margins are far too big.
So while the game is still on for all the English sides, the margin of error is tiny for some of them now.
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5 teams were away, the other had one of Europes serial achievers, let us wait until after the 2nd legs before making any judgements !!
Chris, Tilbury
All six English teams have now been given a lower predicted chance of reaching the last eight by Opta than before the last-16 first legs.
Arsenal remain favourites to progress, while Liverpool stay second favourites despite trailing by a goal after the first leg.
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Foreign leagues favour their Champions League teams whereas FA favour the TV stations. PSG and Madrid last played on Friday and PSG don't play again till the second leg. Schedule hits English teams harder.
Prabh, Buckinghamshire
The ChL league phase, which PL teams dominated, was when they were fresh - but they are tired for the knockouts. Also four of the PL teams in the knockouts were playing in 2-leg cup SFs, and four are through to the FA Cup QFs. Just too many games.
Nick, London
Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer
The Premier League's power was supposedly emphasised by having six teams in the last 16 following the league stage, but this was something of a cold shower hosed on talk of its supremacy as City and Chelsea were heavily beaten, following on from defeats for Liverpool and Spurs on Tuesday.
Premier League leaders Arsenal needed Kai Havertz's last-minute penalty to scrape a draw at Bayer Leverkusen, sixth in the Bundesliga, after winning eight from eight in the league phase.
Spurs were humiliated by Atletico, Liverpool lost to Galatasaray – although Newcastle United can take credit as they were only denied victory by Barcelona's last-gasp penalty at St James' Park.
Some big performances are required in the second leg if boasts about the supposed superpower of the Premier League are not to be rendered hollow.
Five of those teams had first legs away from home. Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs must all turn around three-goal deficits, although Arsenal and Liverpool are the best hopes of going through.
It was an unexpected downturn. Could it be that the heavy workload and intensity of the Premier League has taken the edge off performances when the Champions League comes around?
Taken on this evidence, the Premier League picture is not as rosy as some would suggest in the Champions League context.
It all looked so different from the newer league table format, which led to a clean sweep of Premier League teams, giving rise to suggestions they could dominate the latter stages.
Not so, as teams that made their way through the play-offs such as Bodo/Glimt, Atletico, Real, PSG and Galatasaray all impressed.
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Has this week in Europe proved that the Premier League isn't as strong as many people think it is?
We often hear the phrase "best league in the world" - but do results this week show evidence of the contrary?
Between the six Premier League sides involved in the Champions League - four were on the end of defeats, while two picked up draws.
The goals for/against column also reads six goals scored across those games by those in England's top flight and an incredible 16 against.
It was certainly a round of fixtures to forget but are we just being dramatic and will come back to this page and laugh when all six teams progress next week?
What do you think? Click that 'Get Involved' button to send in your views.
Image source, Getty ImagesAs Paul Robinson kindly pointed out, six English teams made it into the Champions League this season and all six manoeuvred their way through the league phase with relative ease.
The knockout stage, however, has proven a different story so far.
Here are the results from this week's round of fixtures:
Paul Robinson
Former Leeds goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live
We spoke about the England teams and dominance in Europe. Look at how easily they qualified, in the Europa and Conference leagues as well. But in the Champions League, not one English team has won.
Manchester City were in a better place than Real Madrid. They were injury-ravaged. It looked like an under-23 side with a scattering of experience for Real. But they were clinical and well-coached and hit City on the counter-attack.
Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Arsenal
Image source, Getty ImagesKai Havertz scored a late penalty as Arsenal came from behind to draw with Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the BayArena.
The German forward who spent 10 years at Leverkusen before moving to Chelsea for £71m in 2020, slotted the ball past Janis Blaswich in the 89th minute after Noni Madueke had been brought down by Malik Tillman.
Arsenal had gone behind for the first time in the competition this season when Robert Andrich headed in a well-worked Alex Grimaldo corner just one minute into the second half.
The Gunners came into this match with an 100% record in the Champions League this season and boss Mikel Arteta looked to take charge of the tie as he made 10 changes to the side that comfortably beat Mansfield in the FA Cup fifth round at the weekend.
Despite losing their winning record in the competition, Arsenal will be pleased to have snatched a draw and go into next Tuesday's return leg as favourites.
Real Madrid 0-3 Man City
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City face a mammoth task to keep their Champions League ambitions alive after Federico Valverde's brilliant first-half hat-trick put Real Madrid in control of this last-16 meeting.
Valverde tormented City with a display of the highest class, Pep Guardiola's side offering threat up front but too often vulnerable at the back.
Real were without injured pair Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, as well as long-term absentee Rodrygo, but still had enough firepower to punish City's defensive frailties.
The English side actually started brightly, giving Real some anxious moments, before it all started to unravel in dramatic fashion on 20 minutes.
Real's opener was simplicity itself, keeper Thibaut Courtois' long pass dropping behind Nico O'Reilly for Valverde to round the on-rushing Gianluigi Donnarumma to score from a tight angle.
The Uruguayan doubled Real's advantage seven minutes later with a low finish across Donnarumma before he completed his hat-trick in superb style.
Collecting a delightful, lofted through-ball, the Real captain showed great invention to lift the ball over Marc Guehi in a tight space before beating Donnarumma on the volley.
City looked to be plunging further into trouble on the hour when Real were awarded a penalty after Donnarumma brought down Vinicius.
He took the spot-kick himself, but far too casually against a goalkeeper of such expertise in this situation, Donnarumma diving to his left to save.
City thought they had pulled one back when O'Reilly pounced on Thiago in the area, but Courtois stuck out a leg to save.
PSG 5-2 Chelsea
Image source, Getty ImagesA costly error by Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen sparked a late collapse as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's double gave Champions League holders Paris St‑Germain a three‑goal lead going into next week's last-16 second leg.
Bradley Barcola opened the scoring with a powerful shot through several Chelsea bodies and inside the near post after Ousmane Dembele's cross was nodded into his path.
Jorgensen then tipped Dembele's powerful effort on to the post, but Malo Gusto equalised for Chelsea, shooting past the unconvincing goalkeeper Matvei Safonov after his run was picked out by Enzo Fernandez.
Just 14 seconds after Cole Palmer struck a shot straight at Safonov from inside the penalty area, Dembele was celebrating putting PSG back in front.
He outran Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and found the space for a composed sidefoot finish. It was Desire Doue's creativity that allowed him to evade challenges from Moises Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah in midfield before playing in last year's Ballon d'Or winner.
However, Doue would cost PSG in the second half when he was caught in possession by Neto, whose low cross was steered into the net by the onrushing Fernandez to level the match again for Chelsea.
Less than five minutes later, PSG manager Luis Enrique replaced Doue with exciting Georgia attacker Kvaratskhelia.
It was Jorgensen's costly error - a misplaced pass straight to Barcola - that allowed Vitinha to lob the out‑of‑position goalkeeper and restore the Parisians' lead for the third time on the night.
A cruel moment for Chelsea was followed by one of pure magic as Kvaratskhelia delivered an unstoppable curling strike from the edge of the box, with a further sidefoot finish making it five goals for the European champions.
