All three UEFA club competitions have entered their more exciting phases this week: the playoffs for the knockout stage. We’ve seen some thrilling encounters that have left us eagerly awaiting the rematches that will tell us who will be playing in the round of 16 of each of the competitions.
Let’s see who’s one step closer to the knockout stage and who has to do better in the second leg.
Champions League Recap: Goals Galore on Tuesday Night
Tuesday brought us the most-anticipated match of these playoffs when Manchester City welcomed Real Madrid at Etihad Stadium. Despite the bookies favouring the English side to win the first leg, it was last year’s champion who came out victorious 2-3, with a late goal by Jude Bellingham.
Brest suffered a defeat 0-3 against PSG at home, making it incredibly difficult to reach the knockout stage after pleasantly surprising everyone during the group stage. Former champions Bayern München scored a 2-1 away win against Celtic, and last year’s Europa League champion Atalanta lost its away match to Club Brugge, 2-1.
These are the complete results of the first leg of the Champions League playoffs:
Tuesday, 11 February
- Brest 0-3 PSG
- Manchester City 2-3 Real Madrid
- Juventus 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
- Sporting 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
Wednesday, 12 February
- Club Brugge 2-1 Atalanta
- Celtic 1-2 Bayern München
- Monaco 0-1 Benfica
- Feyenoord 1-0 AC Milan
Europa League Recap: Three Clubs One Step Closer to Knockouts
AZ Alkmaar and Fenerbahçe both won their home fixtures with a three-goal margin, and Ajax scored a 2-0 away victory against Union SG. These three teams are the closest to the knockout stage, but that’s not to say that they are already through.
Porto and Roma are nowhere closer to deciding who goes through, with a ten-men Roma managing a 1-1 draw to keep hopes high for the home rematch. Real Sociedad and FCSB both won their away fixtures and await their home matches with slight optimism.
Here are all the results of the first leg of the Europa League playoffs:
Thursday, 13 February
- Fenerbahçe 3-0 Anderlecht
- Ferencváros 1-0 Viktoria Plzeň
- Union SG 0-2 Ajax
- Midtjylland 1-2 Real Sociedad
- Porto 1-1 Roma
- AZ Alkmaar 4-1 Galatasaray
- Twente 2-1 Bodø/Glimt
- PAOK 1-2 FCSB
Conference League Recap: Real Betis and Jagiellonia With Confident Away Wins
Real Betis scored a 3-0 away win against Gent, giving itself a fair advantage going into the rematch next week. Jagiellonia dominantly won its match against TSC 3-1, although the score leaves some hope for the Serbian side in the rematch.
Shamrock Rovers and Heidenheim also won their respective away matches against Molde and Copenhagen. The scores were 0-1 and 1-2, meaning that nothing is yet decided, just like in the remaining fixtures of this Conference League playoff.
Let’s look at the complete scores from the last night’s matches:
- TSC 1-3 Jagiellonia
- Víkingur R. 2-1 Panathinaikos
- Molde 0-1 Shamrock Rovers
- Celje 2-2 APOEL
- Gent 0-3 Real Betis
- Copenhagen 1-2 Heidenheim
- Omonoia 1-1 Pafos
- Borac 1-0 Olimpija
The second leg matches are scheduled for next week and will be played on 18-20 February, after which we will know who is through to the knockout stage to meet the pre-qualified clubs.
