GM football fans. It’s Tuesday, Mar. 04 - Champions League overview, Chelsea’s frozen assets, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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Champions League, Round of 16, Leg 1: Club Brugge vs. Aston Villa, 17:45 / 12:45. Villa have struggled away from home, having lost their last three away matches and have won just two of their last 12 on the road in all competitions. PSV Eindhoven vs. Arsenal, 20:00 / 15:00. Arsenal have won their last four UCL matches, their best run since 2005-06, while PSV have kept just one clean sheet in 10 UCL games this season. Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid, 20:00 / 15:00. Real have lost just one of their last 17 UCL knockout-stage matches, while Atletico have lost their previous three away knock-out encounters. See the full list of Champions League fixtures here.

Results…

The 2024-25 UEFA Champions League has now reached the last 16 stage, with eight first-leg matches being played this week. See the full fixture list here (or bracket view).

Tuesday sees the pick of the fixtures, with Real Madrid hosting Atletico Madrid. Opta’s latest predictions say the home side have a 49.5% chance of winning the fixture–compared to Atletico’s 25.2% chance. Borussia Dortmund, who host Lille, are projected to have the most comfortable win as they have a 54.3% chance of victory. The Premier League clubs travelling on Tuesday–Aston Villa (vs Club Brugge) and Arsenal (vs PSV)–are expected to win. They have a 38.6% and 44.6% chance of winning their respective matches.

Wednesday’s standout fixture sees Paris Saint-Germain host Liverpool. Despite topping the League Phase table, Liverpool has just a 35.1% chance of winning the game, while PSG have a more favourable 39.8% chance. Bayern Munich versus Bayer Leverkusen is another huge fixture–Opta predicts Bayern have a 51.3% chance, compared to Leverkusen’s 24.9%. Meanwhile, travelling Barcelona (vs Benfica) and Inter Milan (vs Feyenoord) are predicted to win comfortably.

Overall, Opta predicts that Liverpool (19.2%) will win the tournament–with Barcelona (14.8%) and Inter Milan (14%) following closely behind.

The £2.5bn generated from the sale of Chelsea FC remains frozen in a UK bank account. It has been almost three years since Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club and the announcement that the funds would be used to support humanitarian causes following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

While Abramovich’s assets have been frozen under UK sanctions, his representatives continue to have a say in the allocation of the funds. Before selling the club, Abramovich said he would not ask for his £1.5bn loan to the club to be repaid and would donate all net proceeds to the victims of the war in Ukraine. However, it’s been over a year since UK lawmakers expressed frustration that funds from the sale of Chelsea had still not been allocated to Ukraine’s war victims. The UK government and Abramovich’s representatives have effectively been in a stalemate on allocating the funds.

The funds from Chelsea’s sale will be the focus of attention following the UK government’s announcement that it would send Ukraine more than £2.26bn of new funding. The loan will be paid back using profits from sanctioned Russian sovereign assets.

The Women’s Super League (WSL) will vote on whether to scrap relegation to allow the expansion of the top flight. The vote will take place at the end of the season.

If the vote passes, relegation from the 12-team WSL would be stopped from the 2026-27 season. Promotion to the WSL from the Championship would continue in order to increase the number of teams to 16, with one extra club to be admitted to the top flight over the next four years. Relegation would be resumed in the 2030-31 campaign–although it’s reportedly not guaranteed. Additionally, it’s thought that owners would be incentivised to invest and develop a more competitive league by removing the threat of relegation.

While removing relegation has been met with scepticism, there are also concerns about the mechanism for determining promotion from the Championship. Reports suggest several clubs are pushing for a play-off system.

> Ruben Amorim said it’s “easy” to be a pundit in response to Wayne Rooney’s suggestion that the Manchester United manager is “naive” (More) | The FA is expected to extend Liam Roberts’ three-match ban for his challenge on Jean-Philippe Mateta (More)

> Vinicius Jr says he wants to renew his contract at Real Madrid “as soon as possible” despite rumours of a big-money move to Saudi Arabia (More)

> A deal for Rangers to be taken over by a US investor has been agreed in principle (More)

> The Dutch FA has accepted Feyenoord’s request to not play a league game between their Champions League fixtures against Inter Milan (More)

> Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter arrived at court for his trial on fraud, forgery and misappropriation charges one week before his 89th birthday (More)

> Cindy Parlow Cone will “seek re-election for a second full term” as US Soccer president (More) | New data shows more than three-quarters of women’s football fans feel they do not see enough coverage of the sport (More)

> Denver, awarded the 16th National Women’s Soccer League franchise, is asking fans to vote on the club name via a poll. The options are: Denver Peak FC, Denver Gold FC, Colorado 14ers FC, Denver Elevate FC, Colorado Summit FC and Denver FC (More)

> Luis Suarez scored a goal and assisted on three others to lead Inter Miami to a dominant 4-1 victory over the host Houston Dynamo (More)

> Neymar scores another freekick for Santos in their 2-0 win over Bragantino (Watch/via X); the Brazilian played down injury fears after he was substituted (More)

> Sergio Ramos scored his first goal for Monterrey in Liga MX as Monterrey won 4-2 against Santos Laguna (Watch/via X) | After 10 games, Leon remain top of the Liga MX Apertura competition, three points ahead of Club America (More)

> Pakistan is set to rejoin international football in time for Asian Cup qualifiers later this month after Fifa lifted a ban it imposed in February (More)

> Cristiano Ronaldo was not named in the Al Nassr squad in their 0-0 draw to Iranian side Esteghlal, likely due to concern over his safety after an incident in Tehran (More) | Al-Hilal defender Joao Cancelo will be out for two months due to a hamstring injury (More)

> The new 16-team Women’s Club World Cup could be delayed beyond its proposed 2026 launch (More)

Yesterday’s Poll: Do you support the new rule of giving a corner for goalkeeper timewasting?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👏 Absolutely... (82%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅 Nope... (13%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!)... (5%)

Your punditry takes:

The earliest Premeir League title winners.

When Modric was voted the worst signing by a Spanish newspaper.

23 years since that Dennis Bergkamp goal. (via X)

Ranking all the new NWSL team kits.

Daily Mail banned from Millwall after reporting on Mateta chants. (Source Warning: Daily Mail)

Heerenveen fans have turned on Robin van Persie since he left for Feyenoord.

Greenland goes to extraordinary lengths to play football.

A hilarious VAR offside check in the Serie A.

Tiger Woods watches daughter win Florida State Soccer Championship.

Lyon’s manager loses it after being handed a red card.

Nike to reissue Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots from his professional debut.

Question: Can you name every goalscorer from Barcelona’s iconic 6-1 comeback against PSG in the 2017 Champions League Round of 16 second leg?

Clue: Five goalscorers, incl. one own goal.

Scroll below for the answer.

Champions League Last 16

EFL Championship

*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.

Answer

Luis Suarez (3’), Layvin Kurzawa (40’ OG), Lionel Messi (50’ P), Neymar (88’, 90+1’ P), Sergio Roberto (90+5’).

Watch the highlights of this match here.