Newcastle v Qarabag, Inter v Bodø/Glimt: Champions League playoff second legs – live

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Inter 0-1 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-4). A reminder that the winner of this tie – Bodø/Glimt, let’s face it – will play either Manchester City or Sporting Clube de Portugal in the last 16. This is a proper jaw-dropper. Inter were finalists in two of the last three years!

GOAL! Inter 0-1 Bodø/Glimt (Hauge 58): agg 1-4

It’s been all Inter, all evening, but now look! Jens Petter Hauge, formerly of AC Milan, extends Bodø/Glimt’s lead! He couldn’t miss. Manuel Akanji, fluffs a backpass. Ole Didrik Blomberg steals away with the ball and shoots. Yann Sommer parries, winning the one-on-one duel, but the rebound sits up for Hague, and Inter are stunned!

Newcastle 3-2 Qarabag (agg 9-3). That double whammy from Qarabag has rattled Newcastle a bit. Sandro Tonali gets involved with Joni Montiel, and is lucky he doesn’t connect when throwing hands. The referee tells them both to grow up.

GOAL! Newcastle 3-2 Qarabag (Jafarguliyev 57); agg 9-3

Well this is turning into a lot of unexpected fun! Pedro Bicalho advances down the right and crosses low. The ball hits the supporting arm of Dan Burn, sliding in to block. That might not clear the bar for a penalty award in the Premier League, but in Uefa competition, it’s nailed on. Marko Janković takes. Aaron Ramsdale parries brilliantly. However the ball breaks to Elvin Jafarguliyev, just to the left of the six-yard box. Jafarguliyev forces into the near corner and this is game (if not tie) on!

Newcastle 3-1 Qarabag (agg 9-2). Oh dear, Qarabag have poked the bear. Here comes Anthony Gordon.

GOAL! Newcastle 3-1 Qarabag (Botman 52); agg 9-2

Newcastle respond to that mild disappointment by going up the other end and re-establishing their two-goal advantage on the night in short order. Kieran Trippier curls a corner in from the right. Sven Botman rises highest, six yards out, and plants a header into the top right. Easy as that!

Newcastle United's Sven Botman heads the ball to score against Qarabag in a Champions League match

GOAL! Newcastle 2-1 Qarabag (Duran 50); agg 8-2

Kevin Medina plays a long pass down the middle. Joni Montiel meets it in the centre circle with a one-touch cushioned volley into Camilo Duran’s path. Duran steams down the inside-right channel, getting ahead of Dan Burn easily, and powerfully slotting into the bottom right from the edge of the box. Aaron Ramsdale with no chance!

Camilo Duran fires a shot past Newcastle’s keeper Aaron Ramsdale to pull a goal back for Qarabag.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Trippier sends a delicious cross in from the right. Joelintion stoops with a view to steering a header into the bottom left from six yards. He has to score, but instead misses the ball altogether.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). The hosts get the game restarted at St James’ Park, where they’ll play towards the Gallowgate End in this second half. If Newcastle ~~get through, they’ll~~ face either Chelsea or Barcelona in the round of 16.

Half-time postbag. “I’m not a Bodø/Glimt fan, I’m not even Norwegian, and I kinda like this Inter team, if I’m being honest, but I’m crawling up the walls with stress watching them defend their two-goal lead. Frankly, I thought this tie would be over by now, but they absolutely refuse to die. This feels like a game from another era, maybe the late seventies, when small provincial sides could dream of hoisting ol’ big ears. Every part of my being knows this will end soon, but hope somehow creeps in” – Kári Tulinius

“I know Bodø/Glimt are the underdogs but frankly I expected a bit more from a group of Norwegians at the site of the Winter Olympics. They’re allowing Inter to run Arctic Circles around them” – Peter Oh

HALF TIME: Internazionale 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3)

The winners of this tie will face either Manchester City or Sporting Clube de Portugal of Lisbon. The Serie A leaders have been the better team, but they’ve still got plenty of work to do if they’re to be in Friday’s draw. And now they’ve only got half the time in which to do it.

HALF TIME: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Olympiacos (agg 2-0)

Leverkusen uneventfully take a step closer to a last-16 tie with either Arsenal or Bayern Munich.

HALF TIME: Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1)

This tie was as good as over eight minutes into the first leg. Tonight’s leg was done and dusted after six. And overall, here we are.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Camilo Duran sent into a little pocket of space just outside the Newcastle D. He creams a rising shot towards the top right. Aaron Ramsdale extends fully to tip over. That’s fine play all round. Qarabag beginning to finally show how they got here … and how they gave Chelsea a game back in November.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). Davide Frattesi crosses. The ball hits Patrick Berg on the arm. Inter want a penalty, but they’re not getting one. Proximity Bodø/Glimt’s friend there.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Nick Woltemade stands on the ball – deliberately, skilfully – to swivel then flick a first-time pass down the inside-right channel. He’s released Jacob Murphy, 31 years young today, into the box! Murphy should score, one on one with Mateusz Kochalski, but slips his shot wide left. The flag goes up for offside, but had he found the net, VAR would have definitely over-ruled the decision and awarded the goal. Not that it really matters in the grand scheme for Newcastle, but such a shame for Murphy.

Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy (right) places his shot wide of Qarabag keeper Mateusz Kochalski and also wide of the upright.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). Piotr Zieliński zig-zags his way down the left, cutting infield and nutmegging Håkon Evjen before sending a screamer across Nikita Haikin and wide right. Not too far wide. The three-time champions getting closer, closer, closer.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Some space down the inside-left channel for Elvin Jafarguliyev. He’s facing a tight angle, but takes a whack for goal anyway. Aaron Ramsdale kicks away at his near post. Two corners later, the pressure on Newcastle is released, but that’s much better from Qarabag, who are playing for nothing more than dignity now. A consolation away goal would suit them real fine.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). A corner for Inter down the right. Federico Dimarco whips it to the near post. Davide Frattesi rises miles above Kasper Høgh and powers a header towards the right-hand side of the goal. Nikita Haikin parries the close-range effort, a sensational reaction save. Inter getting closer and closer … but still no nearer to cutting into their opponents’ advantage.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). There’s not a great deal happening at St James’ Park either. Not much in the way of drama or jeopardy when the hosts have a seven-goal lead in the tie. Qarabag string a few passes together in midfield, and their fans indulge in some ironic olés. The Toon fans join in.

Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Olympiacos (agg 2-0). There’s not a lot happening in Germany. The winner of this tie will face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the last 16.

Bayer Leverkusen keeper Janis Blaswich (left) grimaces as he pounces on the ball ahead of Olympiacos' Chiquinho.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). Federico Dimarco feeds Davide Frattesi down the left. Frattesi enters the box and is clipped by a yellow-socked leg. He stumbles, but opts to stay on his feet. Had he gone over, he would have given the referee something to think about. To be fair, it would have been a super-soft penalty … but you’ve seen them given, and with the attack otherwise petering out, it might have been better to cynically ask about the penalty. Hats off for sportsmanship. Meanwhile, Helenio Herrera turns in his grave. Spins in fact. All movement powered by fume.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). Now Marcus Thuram barrels down the inside left, his vicious shot-cum-whipped-cross deflected over the bar. The men from Norway are hanging on a bit, presumably hoping Inter will puff themselves out sooner rather than later.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). It’s been all Inter in the opening stages, and now Marcus Thuram is sent clear down the middle. He opens his body and steers a shot across Nikita Haikin and inches wide of the left-hand post. He should have scored. He might have been offside, but it was mighty close. Put it away and discuss afterwards.

Inter's Marcus Thuram reacts after putting his shot the wrong side of the upright.

Inter 0-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg 1-3). Federico Dimarco, gliding in from the right, aims a curler towards the top left. He’d have scored a worldie, were it not for Nikita Haikin, who fingertips over at the very last nanosecond. What wonderful football all round.

Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (agg 8-1). Qarabag look punch-drunk, and Dani Bolt, with time and space on the edge of his own box for a while, dithers for so long that Sandro Tonali nearly steals the ball off his toe. Tonali would have been clear on goal. That would have been a complete farce.

Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Olympiacos (agg 2-0). A big chance for Patrik Schick, who races after a long ball down the inside-left channel and attempts to lob Kostas Tzolakis, on walkabout, from 30 yards. The ball bounces inches wide of the right-hand post.

GOAL! Newcastle 2-0 Qarabag (Joelinton 6); agg 8-1

… in fact it’s officially 80 seconds later, when Barnes loops a cross in from the left, and Joelinton slams home with a powerful sidefoot. Those poor Qarabag fans, 2,529 miles and 84 minutes away from home.

Joelinton scores Newcastle's second goal with a sidefooted finish with his right boot.

Newcastle United's Joelinton celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Qarabag.

GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Qarabag (Tonali 5); agg 7-1

… and that’s probably just as well, because Newcastle have taken the lead in short order. Tonali slaloms elegantly down the middle of the park. The ball’s sent to the left. It comes in for Osula, who should head home. Kochalski parries, but the ball falls to Tonali, who can’t miss. And then, 90 seconds later …

Sandro Tonali fires home a right footed shot from close range to give Newcastle an early lead.

Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game.

Newcastle 0-0 Qarabag (agg 6-1). The 301 members of the travelling Qarabag crowd are making themselves heard at St James’ Park. Fair play to each and every one of them; they’ve travelled 2,529 miles from Baku to Tyneside, with their team five goals down in the tie and utterly bereft of hope. But then that’s not really the point.

Newcastle 0-0 Qarabag. Whistles ring out across Europe, and there’s a couple of early touches for the full debutant Alex Murphy. That’ll settle the young left-back down.

It’s about that time. The teams emerge from the tunnels in Northumberland, northern Italy and North Rhine-Westphalia. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes. Take it away, George Frideric …

FULL TIME: Atletico Madrid 4-1 Club Brugge (agg 7-4)

It was comfortable in the end for Diego Simeone’s team, though they only tore clear from dogged opponents in the second half of the second leg. A slightly flattering scoreline for the Spaniards, but the right outcome overall. Atleti will face either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16. Draw on Friday!

Atlético Madrid salute their fans after the victory against Club Brugge

Internazionale v Bodø/Glimt. … but if we’re dipping into the history books for pointers, it’s only fair to show both sides. Inter have won four of the 11 European ties in which they’ve lost the first leg by a two‑goal margin, which is a pretty good ratio when it comes to clambering out of deep holes. And this fixture has only been played once before, in the round of 16 in the 1978-79 Cup Winners’ Cup, and Inter won that 5-0. Which would more than do the job this evening. Where’s Alessandro Altobelli when you need him?

Internazionale v Bodø/Glimt. Speaking of Liverpool, here’s an illustration of the size of the task facing last year’s finalists Inter tonight: the last team to get through a knockout match after losing the first leg by two goals or more away from home was Liverpool in the 2019 semis against Barcelona. So this sort of thing doesn’t happen too often, and when it does, it tends to be seismic. In addition, Inter have lost four of their last five Champions League matches including the last two at home.

GOAL! Atletico Madrid 4-1 Club Brugge (Sørloth 87); agg 7-4

A short-corner routine by Atleti is pinged back down the left flank. Matteo Ruggeri crosses, the ball dropping onto the foot of Alexander Sørloth, who slots with a confident sidefoot from close range past the rooted Simon Mignolet. That’s a hat-trick for Sørloth, and Atleti will play either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16.

Alexander Sørloth leaps in the air after competing his hat-trick

GOAL! Atletico Madrid 3-1 Club Brugge (Sørloth 76); agg 6-4

… so having said that, Atletico establish a two-goal lead, and are surely in the hat for Friday’s last-16 draw. Marcos Llorente plays a long ball down the inside-right channel for Alexander Sørloth, who should release Ademola Lookman into the box down the left. His pass across is poor, behind Lookman, but Antoine Griezmann comes over, offering himself as a wall for Lookman to ping the ball off. A one-two down the left, then Lookman crosses low. Sørloth can’t miss from six yards and that is surely that!

Atletico Madrid 2-1 Club Brugge (agg 5-4). There’s not a whole lot going on at the Metropolitano. But then the hosts were similarly in control at this corresponding point during the first half, only to go on to ship an equaliser followed by a couple of big chances. So the Belgians won’t be giving up on this quite yet. A quarter of an hour of regulation time to go.

That Newcastle team, then. With the Toon five goals up after the first leg, Eddie Howe has been able to rest quite a sizeable chunk of his first team. He’s made seven changes from the XI sent out for the brave 2-1 defeat at Manchester City last weekend. The 21-year-old left-back Alex Murphy makes his first start for the club, while Harvey Barnes, Aaron Ramsdale, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy, William Osula and Sven Botman are all recalled. Anthony Gordon, who last week became just the second English player to score four times in a single Champions League match (after Harry Kane for Bayern Munich against GNK Dinamo in 2024), is on the bench.

Eddie Howe talks to Amazon Prime. “We’ve picked a really strong team … I really like all of the players playing … I want to win the game … it’s important we keep the rhythm of the players in the squad … I’m sure the younger players will get an opportunity … there are dangers … complacency … selfishness … we want to be professional … calmness … get the job done.”

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe smiles and makes a gesture with his hand as he speaks into a microphone whilst being interviewed.

The 8pm teamsheets

Bayer Leverkusen: Blaswich, Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba, Lucas, Palacios, Garcia, Grimaldo, Hofmann, Maza, Schick.
Subs: Omlin, Lomb, Fernandez, Arthur, Oermann, Tape, Poku, Kofane, Culbreath.
Olympiacos: Tzolakis, Rodinei, Retsos, Pirola, Ortega, Mouzakitis, Hezze, Dani Garcia, Gelson Martins, Taremi, Chiquinho.
Subs: Paschalakis, Botis, Biancone, Kalogeropoulos, Nascimento, El Kaabi, Scipioni, Andre Luiz, Clayton, Costinha, Liatsikouras, Onyemaechi.

Internazionale: Sommer, Bisseck, Akanji, Bastoni, Luis Henrique, Frattesi, Barella, Zielinski, Dimarco, Esposito, Thuram.
Subs: Di Gennaro, Josep Martinez, Dumfries, de Vrij, Sucic, Bonny, Acerbi, Diouf, Mkhitaryan, Carlos Augusto, Darmian, Lavelli.
Bodø/Glimt: Haikin, Sjovold, Bjortuft, Gundersen, Bjorkan, Evjen, Berg, Fet, Blomberg, Hogh, Hauge.
Subs: Lund, Sjong, Nielsen, Aleesami, Auklend, Saltnes, Helmersen, Klynge, Riisnaes, Bassi, Maatta, Mikkelsen.

Newcastle United: Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Burn, Alex Murphy, Jacob Murphy, Tonali, Joelinton, Barnes, Woltemade, Osula.
Subs: Pope, Ruddy, Harris, Hall, Wissa, Gordon, Elanga, Willock, Shahar, Neave.
Qarabag: Kochalski, Matheus Silva, Badavi Huseynov, Medina, Daniel, Pedro Bicalho, Jankovic, Cafarquliyev, Montiel, Zoubir, Duran.
Subs: Cabrayilzada, Abbas Huseynov, Bayramov, Qurbanly, Ramazanov, Buntic, Addai, Andrade, Borges, Kashchuk.

GOAL! Atletico Madrid 2-1 Club Brugge (Cardoso 48); agg 5-4

For the fourth time in the tie, Atleti go into the lead! Johnny Cardoso meets a half-hearted header on the edge of the Brugge D. He takes a touch before whipping a low shot into the bottom left. It wasn’t tight in the corner, and so once again Simon Mignolet may have done better, but it was hit pretty sweetly nonetheless.

Johnny Cardoso enjoys putting Atlético Madrid ahead

For the completist, here are the team-sheets from Madrid. There were no changes during the first half … and none at the break either. The second half is underway at the Metropolitano.

Atletico Madrid: Oblak, Llorente, Pubill, Hancko, Ruggeri, Simeone, Johnny, Koke, Baena, Sorloth, Alvarez.
Subs: Le Normand, Lookman, Vargas, Molina, Lenglet, Almada, Griezmann, Mendoza, Gimenez, Musso, Esquivel.

Club Brugge: Mignolet, Sabbe, Ordonez, Mechele, Seys, Stankovic, Forbs, Vetlesen, Vanaken, Tzolis, Tresoldi.
Subs: Campbell, Lemarechal, Diakhon, Spileers, Siquet, Nilsson, Osuji, Vermant, Meijer, Sandra, de Corte, Jackers.

HALF TIME: Atletico Madrid 1-1 Club Brugge (agg 4-4)

The tie at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid has reached its three-quarter mark. Or has it? We’ll have to reassess if this goes to extra time, which it may well do, because Atleti simply can’t shake off Brugge at all. Alexander Sorloth gave the hosts the lead on 23 minutes, Simon Mignolet failing to deal with a shot from the edge of the box that squeaked into the bottom left. But Joel Ordoñez headed home from a corner after 36 minutes, after which Hugo Vetlesen missed two big chances to put Brugge ahead in the tie for the very first time. Second half promises fun!

Preamble

This was going to be a standalone MBM of the second leg between Newcastle United and Qarabag. But, well, y’know.

Good evening and welcome, then, to the wonderful world of Clockwatch. We’ll still take in events at St James’ Park tonight, but there will be three other Champions League matches on the go, one having already started, so we may as well keep checking in on those as well. Especially as last year’s runners-up are in grave danger of being dumped out by Bodø/Glimt, a club Inter dispatched from the 1978-79 Cup Winners’ Cup second round 7-1 on aggregate. Times change. Anyway, here’s tonight’s card, and here we go. It’s on!