Liverpool Champions League path becomes clearer as Chelsea and Arsenal learn their fates

The Champions League knockout stages continued with Liverpool getting a clearer picture of its path to the final if it can progress beyond Galatasaray in the last-16

Chelsea was eliminated from the Champions League by PSG on Tuesday

Liverpool’s potential route to the Champions League final has become a little clearer following the conclusion of Tuesday’s last-16 fixtures.

The Reds face Galatasaray on Wednesday, 24 hours after the first round of second-leg matches concluded. That included Chelsea’s demolition at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain, meaning the reigning European champions lie in wait for Liverpool should it progress to the quarter-finals.

Chelsea approached the second leg trailing by three goals and knew it needed to start quickly at Stamford Bridge. But two goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola inside the first 14 minutes ended any hopes of an unlikely comeback.

Liam Rosenior showed the tie was lost with 30 minutes remaining, and his side losing by five goals on aggregate. Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro made way, with the Blues clearly turning their attention to Saturday’s trip to Everton.

And within two minutes, Senny Mayulu added a third for the Parisians, who ran out 3-0 winners on the night to comfortably secure a spot in the last eight of the competition.

They will be joined by Arsenal, who extended its unbeaten run in this season’s Champions League courtesy of a 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

PSG eased into the quarter-finals after beating Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate

Eberechie Eze and Declan Rice were on target as Mikel Arteta’s side earned a 3-1 aggregate victory.

And the Gunners face a relatively kind draw against Sporting Lisbon in the next round after the Portuguese champions staged an unlikely comeback win over Bodo/Glimt.

Sporting had trailed 3-0 from the first leg, but reversed that scoreline back in Lisbon, bringing the game to extra-time.

Goals from Maximiliano Araujo and Rafael Nel in the additional period earned the club a 5-0 win on the night to end Bodo’s remarkable Champions League journey.

City was eliminated by Real Madrid(Image: Jose Breton/NurPhoto)

Elsewhere, Manchester City was dumped out by Real Madrid on Tuesday. Pep Guardiola’s side lost 3-0 at the Bernabeu last week, and back in England, hopes of a comeback were killed off inside the first quarter of the game, when Bernardo Silva was sent off and Vinicius Junior converted from the spot.

Erling Haaland did score for the hosts, but Vinicius grabbed a second on the night in injury-time as the 2023 Champions League winners again lost out to the competition’s perennial juggernaut.

Liverpool will hope to join Los Blancos in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, but will need to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Galatasaray.

Barcelona’s clash against Newcastle is also in the balance ahead of the second leg, with the sides drawing 1-1 at St James’ Park last week.

Elsewhere, it would take a miracle to prevent Tottenham from being eliminated by Atletico Madrid, with the Spanish side holding a 5-2 advantage from the first leg. Bayern Munich is also expected to eliminate Atalanta, and heads into the second tie at home with a commanding 6-1 lead.