Champions League Last-16 Kicks Off
The Champions League last-16 stage opens this week with Galatasaray hosting Liverpool at 5:45pm and Barcelona facing Newcastle at 8pm. Other first-leg clashes include Atletico Madrid vs Tottenham and Atalanta vs Bayern Munich, with return legs scheduled for March 17-18. Barcelona leads La Liga with 67 points from 27 games heading into their Newcastle test.
This season's Champions League format saw all 36 teams compete in a single league phase, with the top eight qualifying directly for the last-16. Teams finishing from 9th to 24th had to navigate a two-legged knockout play-off to secure their spot in this round. Liverpool secured their place in the last-16 by finishing 3rd in the league phase with 18 points, earning a direct entry. Their opponents, Galatasaray, finished 20th and had to go through a knockout play-off, where they impressively dispatched Juventus 7-5 on aggregate. The two sides have already met this season in Istanbul, where Galatasaray claimed a 1-0 victory. Barcelona also booked their spot directly in the last-16 by finishing 5th in the league table with 16 points. Newcastle United, on the other hand, finished 12th and had to overcome Qarabağ in the play-off round to advance. Historically, Barcelona has had the upper hand in this fixture, winning four of their five previous encounters in the Champions League. In the other featured matchups, Tottenham Hotspur, despite a poor run of form in the Premier League where they've lost their last five games, managed to finish 4th in the Champions League league phase. They face an Atlético Madrid side known for their formidable home strength. Bayern Munich, who finished a strong 2nd in the league phase, will travel to face Atalanta, who are coming off a play-off victory against Borussia Dortmund.
