THE first legs of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 ended tonight with none of the six English Premier League clubs winning any of their matches over the two nights.
After last night’s home draw for Newcastle United against Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool’s defeats at Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray, tonight delivered two more defeats and a draw for the English clubs.
While Arsenal opened the evening with a last-gasp 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester City and Chelsea followed up with heavy away defeats, going down 3-0 and 5-2 respectively to Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
A costly error by Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen sparked a late collapse as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s double gave PSG that three‑goal lead going into next week’s second leg.
Chelsea had played well, having brought the score back to 2‑2, but Jorgensen’s pass straight to PSG’s Bradley Barcola before being lobbed by Vitinha let the European champions restore their lead for the third time.
However, substitute Kvaratskhelia curled a wonderful strike from the edge of the box before giving Chelsea a mountain to climb by making it 5-2 with a sidefooted finish with virtually last kick of the match.
It could have been a much better night for Chelsea, who performed well for 75 minutes, despite going a goal down inside 10 minutes.
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 the reigning Ballon d’Or winner.
Meanwhile, Manchester 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 tie.
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.
Earlier, Kai Havertz’s late penalty earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw against his former club Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, while Bodo/Glimt continued their fairytale run with a 3-0 home win over Sporting Lisbon.
RESULTS
Paris Saint-Germain 5-2 Chelsea
Real Madrid 3-0 Manchester City
Bodø/Glimt 3-0 Sporting CP
Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Arsenal
