Spurs and Liverpool Go Home Empty, Newcastle Drops Three Points

MADRID, WEDNESDAY – It is a case of misfortune compounding misfortune. That proverb aptly describes the current situation of Tottenham Hotspur. Threatened with relegation in the Premier League, they also brought shame to England in the Champions League. The 2-5 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Round of 16, Wednesday (11/3/2026 WIB), at the Civitas Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, proves that "The Lilywhites" are increasingly struggling to escape the labyrinth of crisis.

In addition to Spurs, Liverpool, which also began the round of 16 matches away from home, suffered a negative result of 0-1 against the hosts Galatasaray at Rams Park Stadium, Istanbul. The dignity of the English Premier League as the best domestic competition under the sky was also not upheld by the hosts Newcastle United, who were held to a 1-1 draw by the Spanish giant, Barcelona, at St James' Park Stadium.

England began the round of 16 as a team that had not lost any representatives since the qualifying round. Six teams from the "Land of King Charles" reached the knockout stage. Unfortunately, the number of teams is likely to decrease as they enter the quarterfinal phase.

Spurs have a significant chance of failing to maintain a perfect record of English representatives. Arriving in Madrid ranked 16th and only one point away from the relegation zone, Spurs displayed their mediocre quality in front of Atletico.

In just 15 minutes, the team coached by Igor Tudor conceded three goals. Marcos Llorente (sixth minute), Antoine Griezmann (14th minute), and Julian Alvarez (15th minute) punished the poor performance of the Spurs' defense.

As a result, Spurs became the first team to concede three goals within the first 15 minutes of the Champions League knockout stage. Unable to bear the poor performance, Tudor immediately substituted the Champions League debut goalkeeper, Antonin Kinsky, with Guglielmo Vicario in the 17th minute.

The poor performance of Spurs allowed Atletico to play very dominantly. This was evidenced by a record of 65 percent ball possession for the "Los Rojiblancos" squad.

In fact, Atletico is a team that plays more pragmatically with an average of 51.2 percent ball possession before facing Spurs in this season's Champions League. Atletico is also very effective as they managed to score five goals from seven shots on target.

The goalkeeper change could not thwart Atletico's ferocity, which scored two additional goals from Robin Le Normand (22nd minute) and a second goal from Alvarez in the 55th minute. Spurs could only bring home two consolation goals through shots from Pedro Porro in the 26th minute and Dominic Solanke in the 76th minute.

The situation has put the Spurs on a mission that seems impossible, as they must win by four goals to advance to the quarter-finals in the second leg in London next week. With a record of six consecutive losses, a miracle is hard to imagine for Spurs supporters.

Alvarez, a former City player, stated that his team has studied several weaknesses of Spurs. This was applied effectively during the 90-minute duel in Madrid.

"We know how to capitalize on the mistakes of our opponents. We head into the second leg with a three-goal advantage," said Alvarez, who was named the best player of the match, as reported on the UEFA website.

Meanwhile, Liverpool has yet to bring home points from their visit to Galatasaray's home ground. In the last two decades, "The Reds" have consistently suffered defeats when challenging Galatasaray in Istanbul. Liverpool has experienced this curse three times.

The header goal from Galatasaray midfielder, Mario Lemina, just seven minutes into the match became the decisive factor and provided an advantage for his team ahead of their arrival at Anfield Stadium for the second game.

Similar to Spurs, Liverpool's performance wasn't anything to be proud of. They were poor, especially in creating chances.

The only best opportunity for Liverpool was obtained by striker Hugo Ekitike, when he faced off one-on-one against the home team's goalkeeper, Ugurcan Cakir, in the 65th minute. Ekitike's shot was successfully deflected by Cakir's right hand.

Si Merah managed to score a goal in the 70th minute through a "typical English" style, characterized by the chaos from a set-piece situation. Dominik Szoboszlai's corner kick created a scramble in Galatasaray's small penalty area, resulting in the ball entering the home team's net.

However, the goal was annulled by the video assistant referee (VAR) because the ball touched the hand of Liverpool defender, Ibrahima Konate, before entering the Galatasaray goal. In addition to those two situations, Liverpool failed to create any dangerous opportunities.

Galatasaray also managed to score a second goal in the 62nd minute. However, Victor Osimhen's goal was disallowed due to winger Baris Yilmaz being offside during the attack.

Ryan Gravenberch, Liverpool's midfielder, acknowledged his team's poor performance in Istanbul. He stated that the Reds were also unfortunate in several opportunities during the first half.

"We know the match will be difficult, but we also displayed a performance that was not enough (to win). This is just the first game. We will strive to turn the situation around in the second game at Anfield," said Gravenberch as reported on the club's website.

Newcastle missed the opportunity to secure a historic victory over Barcelona due to an error in the final moments of the match. A foul by center-back Malick Thiaw on Barcelona midfielder Dani Olmo in the 90+5 minute resulted in the visiting team being awarded a penalty.

The final kick in the match was perfectly utilized by Lamine Yamal to equalize the score before the referee blew the final whistle. Previously, "The Magpies" had taken the lead with a header from Harvey Barnes in the 86th minute.

Before scoring, Barnes also had an opportunity with a shot that hit the post of the Barca goal in the 74th minute. The rebound from Barnes' shot was briefly touched by midfielder Joelinton to become a goal. However, the goal was disallowed because Joelinton was in an offside position before Barnes took the shot.

"It's certainly a different situation if we go to their home with a 1-0 lead. We're going to go on the road to show what we can do. Game two will be an interesting battle for us," Barnes told TNT Sports.