Champions League Round of 16 First Leg in Review: Tuesday’s Matches as They Happened

Champions League Round of 16 First Leg in Review: Tuesday’s Matches as They Happened

Yesterday marked the first matches of this year's Champions League Round of 16 as four first-leg matches occurred. With the final only a few months away, every team at this stage in the tournament will be hoping to get all the way to Budapest.

There was everything on the night, including big away wins, goalkeeper errors, and late equalisers. Here is how each match unfolded.

Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool

Galatasaray repeated their league phase win over Liverpool in Turkey with another huge victory against the Premier League champions in the first game of the evening. The Turkish side took an early lead with a goal from Mario Lemina after just 7 minutes. The goal came from a corner as he bundled the ball into the net from close range.

The home side nearly made it two when Osimhen saw a goal ruled out for offside just after the hour mark. However, Liverpool also had their fair share of decisions go against them, as just minutes later they had a goal ruled out for handball themselves.

Liverpool kept pushing throughout the second half, but the pressure wasn’t to be enough as Galatasaray held on to their clean sheet to set up a mouth-watering tie at Anfield next week.

Arne Slot's 100th game as Liverpool boss ended miserably as his side lost at Galatasaray for the second time in this season's Champions League campaign 🔴👀 pic.twitter.com/qi3o0CTj5w

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 10, 2026

Atalanta 1-6 Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich have shown that they are true contenders for the trophy in May with a huge away win in Italy against Atalanta. And that was all without star man Harry Kane entering the pitch.

A very one-sided first half saw Bayern three up at the break after goals from Josip Stanišić, Michael Olise and Serge Gnabry.

It only took Bayern seven minutes after the break for Nicolas Jackson to make it four before Olise and Musiala added a quickfire double just after the hour mark.

However, Atalanta did score a goal themselves in injury time through Mario Pašalić, but the game was well and truly over by that stage. It leaves Atalanta with a five-goal deficit to turn over away from home, so it certainly looks as if it will be Bayern progressing to the quarter-final.

🔴⚪️ Bayern Munich DESTROY Atalanta! 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/LsXB7IjXsr

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) March 10, 2026

Atletico Madrid 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur

More pressure is piled onto Igor Tudor and Tottenham Hotspur after another disappointing display and a fourth defeat from four in his time in charge of the London side.

Antonin Kinsky was given his Champions League debut on the night; however, it couldn’t have been any worse for the young keeper. It only took six minutes for Atletico Madrid to find the net after a slip from Kinsky was pounced on and Marcos Llorente put his side a goal up.

Two more mistakes, one from Van de Ven and the other from Kinsky, saw Spurs 3-0 down after just 15 minutes. To make Kinsky’s night even worse, he was given the ultimate humiliation of being subbed off on the 17th-minute mark and ignored by his manager as he exited the pitch.

At half-time the score was 4-1 and Atletico soon made it five with a second from Julian Alvarez 10 minutes into the second half. Spurs were gifted a goal themselves to make it 5-2 with 15 minutes to play, which ended up being the final score.

It is a record sixth loss in a row for Tottenham, and it looks as if Igor Tudor’s time at the club could soon be up.

"It was necessary to preserve the guy" 🗣️

Igor Tudor explains why he took Antonín Kinský off in Spurs' 5-2 loss to Atlético Madrid and reflects on his sides defeat ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/wMv1yUCkBZ

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 10, 2026

Newcastle United 1-1 Barcelona

Barcelona left it very late to avoid defeat at St James’ Park with a goal from Lamine Yamal very late in injury time.

The Spanish side certainly didn’t perform at their best on the night, and it was arguably Newcastle that was the better side in the match as a whole. The Magpies found quite a lot of joy in the wide areas and even hit the post before Harvey Barnes put them ahead with only four minutes to go from the ninety.

But a clumsy challenge in the area from Malick Thiaw on substitute Dani Olmo saw the away side awarded a penalty right at the death. 18-year-old Lamine Yamal stepped up and cooly slotted the penalty into the bottom corner to silence St James’ Park and save his side from defeat.

After the late blow, it looks as if it's going to be an uphill task for Eddie Howe’s side next week in the away leg at the Spotify Camp Nou, although they are certainly not out of the tie in the slightest.

Newcastle thought they had another famous victory over Barcelona 😮

Then Lamine Yamal broke the home fans' hearts 💔 pic.twitter.com/I8GQquTTZW

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 10, 2026