PARIS – Liverpool may have the prospect to avenge last season’s Champions League remaining defeat by the hands of Real Madrid after Jurgen Klopp’s facet have been drawn on Monday to face the holders once more in the last 16.

Meanwhile, the opposite standout tie noticed Paris Saint-Germain drawn to play Bayern Munich in a repeat of the 2020 remaining which was gained by the German membership.

Liverpool gained 5 of their six group video games however missed out on high spot to Napoli after dropping 4-1 when the perimeters met in Italy.

The Anfield membership additionally misplaced the 2018 Champions League remaining to Real, who gained their group forward of RB Leipzig.

“They are two historic teams and the tie is going to be electric, fascinating for the fans,” stated Emilio Butragueno, an ideal former Real participant who’s now the director of institutional relations for the 14-time European champions.

Current home type suggests Real must be favourites, with Carlo Ancelotti’s facet unbeaten in La Liga whereas Liverpool are eighth in the Premier League regardless of profitable away to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

However, each golf equipment will lose key gamers to the World Cup and Butragueno acknowledged a lot can change in the three months earlier than the Champions League returns.

“The World Cup is going to condition the whole season. We will see how the players are when they return,” he stated.

PSG solely missed out on topping their group as a result of Benfica scored extra away targets throughout all matches after the perimeters remarkably completed degree on factors, objective distinction, targets scored and face to face.

CHELSEA TO PLAY DORTMUND

That left the Qatar-owned membership uncovered to a troublesome draw, a 12 months on from their painful exit in the primary knockout spherical by the hands of Real.

In phrases of type they may not have gotten more durable than Bayern, who have been the one facet to win all six group matches, regardless of being in a bit with Barcelona and Inter Milan.

The 2020 remaining was performed behind closed doorways in Lisbon on the peak of the pandemic, with Bayern triumphing 1-0. PSG gained revenge the next season by beating the Bavarians in the quarter-finals.

Like PSG, Manchester City have by no means gained the trophy however are additionally one of many main contenders to take action this season.

Pep Guardiola’s facet might be anticipated to get rid of Leipzig, who they confronted in the group stage a 12 months in the past and beat 6-3 at residence earlier than a 2-1 defeat in Germany, by which period they’d already secured first place in the part.

Chelsea, who defeated City in the 2021 Champions League remaining, additionally drew German opposition in the form of Borussia Dortmund, with the golf equipment set to satisfy for the very first time in a aggressive sport in the primary leg on the Signal Iduna Park.

After topping their group due to a last-gasp winner away to Marseille last week, Tottenham Hotspur got a troublesome draw in opposition to Italian champions AC Milan.

They have met at this stage of the competitors earlier than, with Spurs profitable 1-0 on combination in 2010/11 due to a solitary objective at San Siro by Peter Crouch.

Inter will play Porto and last season’s Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt tackle Napoli, whereas Benfica’s reward for profitable their group was a tie in opposition to event outsiders Club Brugge of Belgium.

The first legs of all last-16 ties might be performed in February with the return matches in March.

The remaining of this season’s Champions League might be held in Istanbul on June 10 subsequent 12 months.

The Turkish metropolis was alleged to host the ultimate in 2020 and once more 2021, just for the sport to be moved on every event to Portugal because of the pandemic.

PARIS – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored a Ninety fifth-minute winner as Tottenham Hotspur got here from behind to beat Marseille 2-1 and attain the Champions League knockout stage on Tuesday, the place they had been joined by Eintracht Frankfurt after their victory at Sporting Lisbon.

Liverpool ended Napoli’s unbeaten begin to the season with a 2-0 success at Anfield, however the Italian membership did sufficient to complete prime of Group A.

Atletico Madrid crashed out of Europe altogether with a loss to Porto, whereas Bayern Munich made it six wins from six matches by beating Inter Milan.

At a raucous Velodrome, Tottenham knew they’d progress if they may keep away from defeat by Marseille, though supervisor Antonio Conte needed to watch from the stands after being red-carded in last week’s dramatic draw with Sporting.

Spurs had been camped inside their very own half for almost all of the primary interval and fell behind simply earlier than the break when Chancel Mbemba headed in Jordan Veretout’s cross after a quickly-taken nook.

The Premier League facet had been a lot improved after the restart and Clement Lenglet glanced in a 54th-minute equaliser.

Former Arsenal left-back Sead Kolasinac nodded an excellent late alternative to ship Marseille by way of broad.

He was made to pay as Hojbjerg struck on the counter as Spurs snatched prime spot within the group and denied Marseille the comfort of a Europa League place.

“I just spoke with Antonio. He’s tired because to watch from the crowd is not normal,” Tottenham assistant coach Cristian Stellini instructed BT Sport. “He wasted a lot of energy.”

That Hojbjerg purpose pushed Eintracht, who additionally gained 2-1, down into second in Group D and saved Sporting in European competitors.

Like Tottenham, Sporting solely wanted some extent to qualify they usually solid forward six minutes earlier than half-time as Arthur Gomes volleyed house on the again put up.

But Frankfurt, enjoying within the competitors for the primary time since shedding the 1960 European Cup last to Real Madrid, didn’t hand over and Daichi Kamada scored a 62nd-minute penalty awarded for handball.

Randal Kolo Muani offered the successful second, latching onto Ansgar Knauff’s hooked move and hammering the ball into the far nook.

The gamers celebrated wildly on the pitch after the Europa League holders’ newest European exploit, with Sporting coach Ruben Amorim left trying surprised on the touchline.

(*16*) stated Frankfurt midfielder Sebastian Rode.

“But we are a comeback team, we gave everything in the second half and deservedly make the next round.”

LIVERPOOL DOWN NAPOLI

Liverpool introduced an finish to Napoli’s 21-game unbeaten run however couldn’t win by 4 targets to take first place.

Both groups had been already assured of a knockout-phase berth.

Liverpool put Saturday’s shock Premier League house loss to Leeds behind them, as late targets from Mohamed Salah, scoring in a fifth straight Champions League sport, and Darwin Nunez gained a measure of revenge for the 4-1 loss in Naples in September.

“I would have really enjoyed the game even without the goals,” Reds supervisor Jurgen Klopp stated.

“We showed tonight a reaction. Being compact makes all the difference.”

Ajax noticed off Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox to inflict a sixth straight defeat in Group A on the Scottish giants.

Earlier, Atletico failed to complete third in Group B and drop into the Europa League as a 2-1 loss at Porto noticed Bayer Leverkusen take third because of their goalless draw at Club Brugge.

Atletico, the 2014 and 2016 runners-up, had been overwhelmed by early targets from Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustaquio regardless of Ivan Marcano’s stoppage-time personal purpose.

Bayern completed with a 100-percent file by seeing off Inter 2-0 on the Allianz Arena in Group C.

Benjamin Pavard headed house a nook and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting crashed in his seventh purpose in six video games.

Barcelona’s bitterly disappointing match got here to an finish with a 4-2 victory at backside membership Viktoria Plzen.

Barca should settle with being one of many favourites to win the Europa League.

“We’re one of the candidates, the Europa League is looking like a good competition, the objective is to reach the end and win it, compete for it,” stated coach Xavi Hernandez.

Ferran Torres scored a brace, with Marcos Alonso and teenage midfielder Pablo Torre additionally heading in the right direction.

PARIS – Liverpool eased to a cushty 2-0 win within the ‘Battle of Britain’ towards Rangers within the Champions League group video games on Tuesday whereas Napoli underlined their credentials with a powerful 6-1 thrashing of Ajax in Amsterdam.

On an evening when a minute’s silence was held earlier than each match in tribute to the 131 victims of the Indonesia stadium tragedy, Bayern Munich and Club Brugge additionally made it three wins from three whereas Inter edged Barcelona in a good contest in Milan.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool went into their Group A recreation towards the Scottish champions on the again of simply three wins of their first 9 Premier League and Champions League video games of the season.

But they settled shortly when Trent Alexander-Arnold produced a elegant free-kick to place the house facet forward after simply seven minutes.

Rangers’ 40-year-old goalkeeper Allan McGregor produced some fantastic saves, together with 4 to disclaim Darwin Nunez his first aim for Liverpool, to maintain his facet within the hunt at half-time.

Seven minutes into the second half, nonetheless, Leon King’s problem caught the legs of Luis Díaz to present away a penalty.

Mohamed Salah stepped up and struck the ball down the center as McGregor was unable to repeat the penalty-saving heroics he produced towards Napoli.

“It was exactly what we needed. It was a super, solid performance,” mentioned Klopp, who switched from his common 4-3-3 formation to a 4-2-3-1.

“Sometimes you have to change things.”

Napoli keep prime of Group A after one other spectacular victory, coming from behind to hammer Ajax 6-1 to take their tally of targets to 13 from three matches.

Mohammed Kudus put the house facet forward within the ninth minute however Luciano Spalletti’s facet bounced again with first-half targets from Giacomo Raspadori, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Piotr Zielinski.

Raspadori added his second two minutes after the restart and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added the fifth simply after the hour.

Ajax’s evening was made worse when captain Dusan Tadic was despatched off after amassing a second yellow card and Giovanni Simeone closed out the win.

‘UNSTOPPABLE’ BAYERN

Bayern moved to the edge of qualification with a 3rd successive win, thrashing Viktoria Plzen 5-0 in Group C.

“We were calm, we dominated and we were in total control,” mentioned Bayern captain and Manuel Neuer.

“When everything is going well, we’re almost unstoppable.”

German worldwide Leroy Sane struck twice, opening the scoring from distance after seven minutes and including a second 5 minutes after the break.

Between Sane’s two targets, Serge Gnabry added a second on 13 minutes earlier than Sadio Mane posted his first Champions League aim for Bayern with quantity three after 21 minutes.

Substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting got here off the bench at half time and added the fifth simply earlier than the hour mark.

Hakan Calhanoglu fired Inter Milan to a 1-0 win over Barcelona on the San Siro which took the Italians into second spot in Group C, three factors behind Bayern.

Inter had misplaced 5 of the earlier 10 matches in all competitions however Turkey midfielder Calhanoglu ended the disaster speak when he lashed in the one aim of the sport on the stroke of half-time.

“It was very important today for us, to show something to our fans who are always with us. We showed that we deserved it,” mentioned Calhanoglu.

Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez, nonetheless, was left fuming after two key handball selections went towards his crew.

The first noticed an equaliser dominated out following a pitch assessment by referee Slavko Vincic for Ansu Fati’s handball simply earlier than the ball dropped to Pedri to tuck house.

Barca had been then denied a stoppage time penalty after VAR officers dominated that Denzel Dumfries didn’t commit a handball offence regardless of touching the ball in a really comparable method to Fati.

“If you ask me I’m outraged… the word is outrage because it makes no sense, it’s an injustice,” Xavi informed reporters.

“I think it’s an injustice, I just can’t hide it.”

Club Brugge additionally claimed a 3rd successive win to proceed their shock cost in the direction of the following spherical.

Kamal Sowah and Ferran Jutgla had been on course as the Belgian facet made brief work of Atletico Madrid in Group B.

Atletico had their possibilities with Antoine Griezmann crashing a penalty off the crossbar. They additionally had a aim dominated out for offside which added to their frustration.

“It’s a very tight group and we will have to fight because we won’t get anything for free,” mentioned Atletico captain Koke.

Club Brugge prime Group B, three factors forward of the opposite three groups after Porto beat Bayern Leverkusen 2-0 with second half targets from Zaidu and Galeno.

Sporting Lisbon’s march in Group D got here to a shuddering halt in Marseille the place the house facet got here from a aim all the way down to win 4-1 and get their first win beneath their belt.

Lisbon nonetheless prime the group with six factors, two forward of Eintracht Frankfurt and Tottenham Hotspur who performed out a goalless attract Germany.

PARIS – Bayern Munich obtained the higher of Barcelona as Robert Lewandowski returned to face his former membership on Tuesday, whereas a late Joel Matip purpose allowed Liverpool to beat Ajax and get their Champions League marketing campaign up and operating.

There was additionally a shock defeat for Tottenham Hotspur at Sporting Lisbon, and Atletico Madrid had been crushed on their journey to play Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Spanish guests to Germany got here away on the dropping facet, with Barcelona happening 2-0 on the Allianz Arena in Group C as Lewandowski got here again to the membership he left in the summertime after eight prolific seasons in Bavaria.

The Pole scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for Barca because the Catalans beat Viktoria Plzen 5-1 final week.

He was desperately near opening the scoring within the first half in Munich, nevertheless it was Bayern who went in entrance 5 minutes into the second half when Lucas Hernandez headed in from a nook.

Leroy Sane burst by 4 minutes later to make it 2-0 as Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern made it two wins out of two within the group.

They have now received their final 5 conferences with Barcelona, together with two in final season’s group stage and their 8-2 victory within the 2020 quarter-finals.

“I think for ‘Lewy’ it was really an emotional game to come back – a little bit like coming home, because he was so successful here,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer informed Amazon Prime of his outdated teammate.

“The luck in the decisive moments wasn’t on his side – and that became our luck.”

Barcelona subsequent face Inter Milan, who obtained their first factors with a 2-0 win away to Plzen within the Czech Republic.

Edin Dzeko and Denzel Dumfries obtained the targets for Inter whereas the house facet had Pavel Bucha despatched off within the second half.

MATIP THE HERO

Liverpool obtained off to a disastrous begin in Group A once they misplaced 4-1 to Napoli in Italy, however they bounced again from that to beat Ajax 2-1 at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah shook off a poor run of type to place Jurgen Klopp’s facet forward within the seventeenth minute, just for the Dutch champions to equalise earlier than the half-hour courtesy of an emphatic end from their thrilling Ghanaian expertise Mohammed Kudus.

Liverpool had been heading for a 3rd recreation with no win in all competitions till Matip rose in entrance of the Kop to move in from a nook within the 89th minute, the ball crossing the road earlier than it might be cleared out.

“I think everybody could see that we understood and that we had to put a completely different shift into the game. The boys did that,” Klopp informed BT Sport.

“We played a lot of good stuff against a hard fighting opposition.”

That match was preceded by a minute’s silence to mark the loss of life of Queen Elizabeth II.

The different recreation in Group A, between Rangers and Napoli, was postponed till Wednesday on account of extreme limitations on police sources in Scotland because of the Queen’s loss of life.

SPURS SHOCKED

Meanwhile Antonio Conte’s Spurs slumped to a 2-0 defeat in opposition to Sporting in Portugal in Group D, with the house facet scoring each targets late on on the Jose Alvalade stadium.

It seemed just like the English facet would escape with some extent after Hugo Lloris produced a shocking late save to disclaim Pedro Porro.

But Paulinho headed in from the ensuing Ninetieth-minute nook, and Brazilian Arthur Gomes got here off the bench to make it 2-0 with an excellent solo strike in damage time.

“It was a difficult result. When you lose the game you are not happy,” admitted Conte.

Sporting prime the group with six factors, whereas Eintracht Frankfurt joined Spurs on three factors due to a 1-0 win in Marseille, with Jesper Lindstrom scoring within the first half.

Leverkusen claimed their first factors in Group B as they beat Atletico 2-0 with two late targets, Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby each discovering the online.

Belgian champions Club Brugge prime the part with six factors after a shocking 4-0 win at FC Porto.

Former Barcelona striker Ferran Jutgla opened the scoring with a penalty earlier than Kamal Sowah, Andreas Skov Olsen and Norwegian teenager Antonio Nusa all netted within the second half.

PARIS – Last season’s crushed finalists Liverpool received their Champions League marketing campaign off to a disastrous begin in a 4-1 defeat away to Napoli on Wednesday, whereas Robert Lewandowski hit a hat-trick in an enormous win for Barcelona.

Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich additionally received their campaigns underway with victories, however Rangers had been crushed 4-0 by Ajax within the Netherlands on their return to the group section of Europe’s elite membership competitors.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have gained simply two of their first six Premier League video games this season and there was to be no enchancment on their journey to Italy as Napoli raced into an early lead and by no means seemed again.

Piotr Zielinski transformed a fifth-minute penalty, and Victor Osimhen then had a second Napoli spot-kick saved by Alisson Becker.

Yet Napoli – who had defeated Liverpool in their very own stadium within the group stage in 2018 and in 2019 – had been 3-0 up on the break as Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s nice end was adopted by a tap-in from substitute Giovanni Simeone.

Liverpool fell additional behind two minutes into the second half as Zielinski adopted as much as rating after his preliminary effort was saved, however Luis Diaz did pull a objective again.

“We were miles too open. You can’t come to a place like this and not be compact. They were by miles the better team,” Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson instructed BT Sport.

“We have to wake up and quickly because we can’t perform like that.”

RANGERS CRUSHED BY AJAX

The six-time European Cup winners’ subsequent Group A outing is at dwelling to Ajax, who might have gained by greater than 4 at dwelling to Rangers, final season’s Europa League finalists enjoying within the Champions League group stage for the primary time since 2010.

Edson Alvarez headed Ajax in entrance earlier than a Steven Berghuis shot deflected in and an outstanding particular person strike from Mohammed Kudus made it 3-0 to Ajax by half-time.

Steven Bergwijn pounced on a poor backpass to seal the victory late on in Amsterdam, leaving Rangers supervisor Giovanni van Bronckhorst to offer a bleak evaluation of his facet’s prospects.

“To compete in the Champions League you spend hundreds of millions, for us to compete it is too much to ask,” insisted the Dutchman.

Lewandowski turned the primary participant to attain a Champions League hat-trick for 3 totally different golf equipment as the ex-Borussia Dortmund and Bayern star marked his first look within the competitors with Barcelona in model.

The Catalans crushed Czech champions Viktoria Plzen 5-1 in Group C, with Franck Kessie heading within the opener earlier than Lewandowski made it 2-0.

Jan Sykora pulled one again just for Lewandowski to attain once more earlier than half-time after which fireplace in his third objective halfway by way of the second half.

The Pole now has 89 Champions League objectives, three greater than Karim Benzema, with solely Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi forward of him.

Ferran Torres scored the fifth for Barca, whose subsequent recreation will probably be away to Lewandowski’s previous facet Bayern.

The Germans claimed a powerful 2-0 win away to Inter Milan on Wednesday, with Leroy Sane rounding Andre Onana for the first-half opener after which forcing Danilo D’Ambrosio right into a 66th-minute personal objective.

RICHARLISON BRACE FOR SPURS

Antonio Conte’s Tottenham struggled to interrupt down Marseille in north London till the French facet had Chancel Mbemba despatched off simply after half-time.

Richarlison scored the opener within the 76th minute, heading in Ivan Perisic’s cross, and the Brazilian headed in once more quickly after to make it 2-0.

“I think we felt a bit of pressure in this competition, but at the end we have to be pleased,” Conte mentioned of the victory.

Also in Group D, Sporting Lisbon scored three second-half objectives to win 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt, with former Spurs teenager Marcus Edwards, Francisco Trincao and Nuno Santos all on the right track.

In Group B, Antoine Griezmann headed the winner within the eleventh minute of damage time as Atletico Madrid beat Porto 2-1.

In an unimaginable end, Porto had Mehdi Taremi despatched off late on earlier than Mario Hermoso put Atletico forward with a deflected 92nd-minute strike.

Hermoso then conceded a penalty for handball, permitting Matheus Uribe to equalise within the 96th minute, just for Griezmann to have the final snort.

The solely different recreation in Champions League historical past to characteristic three objectives scored in stoppage time was Porto’s assembly with Atletico in December final yr.

In the identical group Abakar Sylla’s header was spilled over the road by the goalkeeper to offer Club Brugge a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.