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UEFA Champions League

Tension all the way as UEFA Champions League Round of 16 enters final week

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Tuesday 14 March

Wednesday 15 March

Crucial matches headline the fixtures as the Round of 16 of the UEFA champions league is in its last lap.

Will it be a mission improbable for Liverpool? For Victor Osimhen’s Napoli, the club is in pursuit of a maiden last-eight berth on Wednesday.

This Tuesday, German side, RB Leipzig will be hoping for an upset at Manchester City’s fortress, the Ethihad Stadiu. In the first leg, both teams played 1-1 draw.

Leipzig coach Marco Rose spoke in glowing terms about his team’s second-half performance in that encounter.

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But will they regret not converting more of their opportunities after half-time? Not since Lyon’s 2-1 victory in September 2018 have City been beaten on home soil in the Champions League, winning 21 of their 23 matches during that spell.

Among those victories was a remarkable 6-3 triumph over Jesse Marsch’s Leipzig in September 2021 – a game in which Christopher Nkunku scored a hat-trick for the visitors.

The Frenchman is the club’s joint-top scorer in Europe this season but has been ruled out of the second leg due to injury, complicating the task as the Bundesliga side plot a route to the last eight.

In the other big match of the day, Inter Milan are away to Portugal’s FC Porto.

The Portuguese sides have an impressive recent record against Italian opposition in the round of 16, having dispatched both Roma and Juventus at this stage in 2018/19 and 2020/21 respectively.

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As was the case against the Giallorossi four years ago, the Dragons will have to come from behind to eliminate Inter and clinch a quarter-final spot for the third time in five seasons after a 1-0 defeat at Stadio San Siro.

The Nerazzurri overcame Porto in the round of 16 in 2004/05 but were beaten on their last visit to the Estádio do Dragão seven months later, when an own goal from Marco Materazzi and a Benni McCarthy effort earned the Portuguese side a 2-0 group-stage victory.

Part of the Inter side that reached the semi-finals in 2002/03, Sérgio Conceição will be determined to end his former employers’ journey in the competition this term.

On Wednesday, Liverpool will be on Mission Improbable. Stunned as he reflected on Liverpool’s worst-ever European home defeat, a 5-2 loss to Real Madrid in the first leg, Jürgen Klopp reflected:

“I think Carlo [Ancelotti] thinks the tie is over. I think so as well at the moment.” The prospects are certainly not good: no side has ever retrieved a three-goal deficit from the home leg of a Champions League knockout tie (with Manchester United the only team to have come back from a two-goal home defeat).

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Ancelotti, however, is not thinking of the quarter-finals just yet. “Unfortunately, this tie isn’t finished,” Madrid’s Italian coach said. “No way.” His side are unbeaten in seven games against Liverpool (W6 D1), but he must also contend with this season’s top Champions League scorer (eight-goal Mohamed Salah). Meanwhile, some members of the current squad will remember the 2018/19 round of 16 tie against Ajax when the Amsterdam side – trailing 2-1 from the home leg – won 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu to eliminate the holders.

Napoli close to quarter-final first

UEFA Cup winners in 1989, the year before they won their second (and most recent) league title, Napoli’s exceptional season looks set to get slightly better. The runaway Serie A leaders they go into the home leg of their tie against UEFA Europa League winners Frankfurt with a two-goal lead, and with their opponents’ star striker Randal Kolo Muani serving a suspension following a red card in the first leg in Germany.

Having finished top of their Champions League group for only the second time, they need only avoid calamity in the return to reach the last eight of Europe’s top club competition for the first time in their history, having been thwarted in the round of 16 on three previous occasions.

After the first leg, Corriere dello Sport said Napoli were out of this world (their headline: ‘Galattici!’), but coach Luciano Spalletti is eager to keep their feet on terra firma for now. “We need to stay calm, very calm,” he warned. “Our biggest enemy is to think it’s done.”

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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UEFA Champions League

Osimhen and Aubameyang: Africa’s First Men of the Match in 2025/26 Champions League

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Osimhen and Aubameyang: Africa’s First Men of the Match in 2025/26 Champions League

The Champions League has barely started and already African fans have something to be proud of.

Two of the continent’s biggest names, Victor Osimhen from Nigeria and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon, have become the first African players this season to be named Man of the Match.

For Osimhen, it was a night to remember in Istanbul. Galatasaray were up against Liverpool, a team with a European pedigree and needed someone to step up. Osimhen did just that.

 His goal gave Galatasaray a 1-0 win but it was more than just the goal. His energy and how he kept Liverpool’s defenders on their toes all night made him the best player on the pitch.

So his winning of the UEFA Man of the Match award. Galatasaray fans had proof they have a striker who can change games at the highest level.

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Meanwhile, on the same night in Marseille, Aubameyang was showing why he has been Africa’s most reliable goal scorer for over a decade.

At 36, some wondered if he still had it on nights like this. His answer was a thunderous “YES.”

Marseille tore Ajax apart in a 4–0 demolition that saw Aubameyang seal his stature as the orchestrator and heartbeat of the French club’s attack.

His movement, his composure and his leadership stood out. So much so that he too was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match.

The fact that these two happened on the same night made it even more special for African football fans.

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Osimhen represents the new generation: quick, hungry and with still a few years ahead to make history.

Aubameyang is the veteran still out there to prove – even though he really has nothing to prove anymore – that experience and class don’t fade easily.

Together, they gave African football fans a double reason to smile.

For Nigeria and Gabon, these awards are more than individual trophies. They are ultimately a reminder of how much African players contribute to the Champions League season in, season out.

And the tournament is still in its early stages. So there’s every chance more players from the continent will follow in their footsteps before the Budapest finale in 2026. Only good omens for the 2025 AFCON that starts in a few months.

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-Morocco World News

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UEFA Champions League

‘Special One’ Mourinho makes low-key, losing return to Chelsea

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UEFA Champions League - Chelsea v Benfica - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - September 30, 2025 Benfica coach Jose Mourinho reacts alongside Chelsea's Alejandro Garnacho Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

In his glory days, Jose Mourinho celebrated dramatic goals from his teams by sprinting down the touchline, sometimes sliding on his knees for extra euphoric effect.

On Tuesday, back at his former club Chelsea as the new coach of Benfica, Mourinho’s most eye-catching intervention was down the touchline again, but this time his run was to urge his team’s fans to stop hurling objects onto the pitch.

Benfica under Mourinho, in his fourth game in charge, were defeated 1-0 by an under-strength Chelsea side in the Champions League after a fist-half Richard Rios own goal.

The self-declared “Special One” was lauded by the home fans with a few choruses of “Jose Mou-rin-ho” in recognition of his successes – three Premier League titles and four other trophies – which no other Chelsea manager has come close to matching.

Mourinho, 62, acknowledged the chants with a gentle wave, got a cheer when he ventured onto the pitch to clear a spare ball and quickly vanished down the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking the hand of Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.

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It was all a far cry from the fervour of 20 years ago when Mourinho – having led Porto to an unlikely Champions League triumph – turned Chelsea into English champions for the first time in 50 years in 2005 and won the title again a year later.

After a collapse of form, Mourinho departed in 2007 but he won the Champions League again, this time with Inter Milan in 2010, knocking out the Londoners on the way to the final.

He went on to manage Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea where he claimed a third English title and then had spells at Manchester United, London side Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.

As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.

Asked after Tuesday’s defeat by Chelsea if he still had the drive of the early days of his career, Mourinho insisted he felt more motivated.

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“If I am in a job it’s because I like to put myself on the line every day,” he told reporters. “I am desperate to win the next match.”

Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. “We started well, we controlled well. I don’t know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure.”

Chelsea’s Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side’s Champions League opener.

“Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way,” he said of Chelsea’s improved defensive performance. “At least we learned how to win a game with a red card.”

Striker Joao Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow card after coming on as a substitute, the third time in four matches that Chelsea have finished with 10 men

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-Reuters

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UEFA Champions League

Osimhen-less Galatasaray crumble miserably at Frankfurt

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Hosts Eintracht Frankfurt scored four times in 29 minutes to bounce back from a goal down and hammer Galatasaray 5-1 in their Champions League opener on Thursday.

The Turkish sides are without their talismanic striker, Victor Osimhen who was injured while on international duty with Nigeria.

The Turks had hit Frankfurt on the break with Yunus Akgun completing the move from a Leroy Sane assist in the eighth minute. Germany international Sane, who joined from Bayern Munich this season, became the only player in Champions League history to play for four or more clubs and score or assist on his debut for each of them.

Frankfurt, competing for only the second time in the Champions League main round, struggled to break through Galatasaray’s defence until a defensive error from Akgun in the 37th. Ritsu Doan pounced, charged into the box and Davinson Sanchez deflected the Japanese winger’s shot in for an own goal.

The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time when 19-year-old Turkey international Can Uzun scored a superb goal on his Champions League debut after fine control and a quick turn in the box. The hosts netted again before halftime with Jonathan Burkardt’s well-timed glancing header putting them 3-1 up.

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With the visitors forced to take more risks after the break, Frankfurt found space and Burkardt completed his dream Champions League debut with another header in the 66th for his second goal of the evening. Ansgar Knauff completed the rout in the 75th.

Frankfurt next travel to Atletico Madrid on September 30 when Galatasaray host Liverpool.

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