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GM football fans. It’s Tuesday, Mar. 17 - The Champions League Round of 16 second legs, Chelsea have been given a suspended transfer ban, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
Champions League Round of 16, leg 2, (Mar 17): Arsenal vs. Bayer Leverkusen, Agg 1-1, 20:00 GMT / 16:00 ET. When avoiding defeat away from home in the first leg, Arsenal have progressed from 17 of their 20 two-legged knockout stage ties in major European competition. Meanwhile, Leverkusen have lost eight of their 11 away games against English sides in this competition. Chelsea vs. Paris Saint-Germain, Agg 2-5, 20:00 GMT / 16:00 ET. Chelsea have not beaten PSG in their past five Champions League meetings, drawing two and losing three. It is their joint-longest winless run against a single opponent in the competition. Manchester City vs. Real Madrid, Agg 0-3, 20:00 GMT / 16:00 ET. Real have never been eliminated after winning the first leg of a knockout tie by three or more goals. Plus, Pep Guardiola has not reversed a first-leg defeat in this competition since the 2014-15 season with Bayern Munich. See every Champions League last 16 fixture here.
Results…
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TOP TALKING POINTS
Champions League Last 16
The Champions League Round of 16 second legs take place on Tuesday (Mar 17) and Wednesday (Mar 18), with the winners advancing to the quarter-finals. See the Champions League bracket for the quarter-finals and beyond here.
Tournament favourites Arsenal are expected to advance to the quarter-finals (79%) as they host Bayer Leverkusen (Agg 1-1) on Tuesday. The only other Premier League side expected to advance is Liverpool, despite trailing Galatasaray by one goal on aggregate following last week’s defeat.
Manchester City, who lost 3-0 away at Real Madrid last week, are deemed the likeliest Premier League side to overcome their first-leg defeat. They’re still given just a 13.4% chance of doing so. Chelsea (5.9%) and Tottenham (4.1%) have very slim chances of overturning their three-goal deficits against Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid, respectively. While Newcastle narrowly missed out on a win against Barcelona in the first leg (Agg 1-1), they’re projected to be knocked out when they travel to the Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich are almost guaranteed a spot (99.9%) in the quarter-finals with their 6-1 win over Atalanta in the first leg. Bodo/Glimt are also projected a comfortable route (86.9%) to the next stage following their 3-0 victory over Sporting.
Suspended Transfer Ban
Chelsea have been handed a suspended one-year ban from signing players and given a £10m fine from the Premier League. The fine, which is the largest ever imposed by the English top-flight, follows the club's admission to having made £47.5m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties for transfers between 2011 and 2018 under previous owner Roman Abramovich. A separate FA disciplinary investigation into the alleged use of unregistered agents is ongoing.
The ban is suspended for over two years, meaning Chelsea can register players provided they do not commit any further breaches, though they are immediately banned from registering academy players for nine months. The Blues have also avoided a sporting sanction, including a points deduction, because they “voluntarily” reported the “historical breaches.” Even with these payments, Chelsea wouldn’t have breached the Profitability and Sustainability rules (PSR) during the relevant seasons, so the Premier League didn’t believe a points deduction was appropriate.
The breaches in question related to transfers for the following players: Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle, and Nemanja Matic. There is no suggestion that the players have committed any wrongdoing.
Barcelona Re-Elect President
Joan Laporta has been re-elected as Barcelona president after winning over 68% of the vote and will begin his second consecutive term, and fourth overall. Laporta obtained 32,934 of the 48,480 votes from the club's members (socios), while his sole challenger Victor Font received 14,385 votes, 984 were left blank, and 177 were declared void.
While the club has experienced economic issues since the Covid pandemic, many members have come to believe that Laporta has begun to steady the club’s finances, writes Elizabeth Conway for the BBC. The emergence of young talent in recent seasons has also established confidence in the club’s long-term sporting direction. As such, voters opted for continuity and stability, and Font found it difficult to persuade them to change their minds.
Laporta was previously club president between 2003 and 2010, during which he oversaw the club’s first Treble in 2009. Since his return, Barcelona have won two La Liga titles and the women’s team have won three Champions Leagues.
POLL
Do you think Chelsea’s punishment is strong enough for the rule breaches they admitted?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Ticket prices for the men’s Champions League final in Budapest will start at €70 ($80; £60); Uefa has also released the dates for general public sale for all European club competition finals (More)
> Wayne Rooney believes that Michael Carrick should “100%” get the permanent role as Manchester United manager (More) | Chelsea captain Reece James has suffered a hamstring injury, his 10th such injury since December 2020 (More)
> Uncapped 19-year-old Findlay Curtis has been named in Scotland's squad for this month's World Cup warm-up matches (More)
Americas
> The 2026 MLS Cup final will be played on Friday, December 18, and will be hosted by the team with the better regular-season record; see all of MLS’s key dates (More)
> Neymar has been left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squad for their upcoming friendlies in the United States this month; see the full squad (More)
> NWSL’s San Diego Wave have agreed terms with Catarina Macario on a five-year deal worth nearly $8m, the largest contract in total dollars in NWSL history (More)
> James Rodriguez made his MLS debut with Minnesota, coming on as a substitute in their 6-0 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps (More) | The MLS has suspended Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner for violating policies and standards (More)
Rest of the World
> The Asian Football Confederation says that Iran is still set to play at the World Cup in June (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Are players playing too many games?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (75%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (20%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (5%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 P.J.M: “In just the past few years, the number of matches each competition plays has increased significantly. Every tournament has expanded. The number of friendlies and tours has grown. With the physical toll the sport takes on the body, players at the top of the game's ability pyramid need an offseason to recover. Otherwise, we'll see a significant drop in overall performance. It's just like with a high-performance car. You can't keep running the car in top gear, at high revs all the way around the track. Eventually, you'll just wear it out.”
🙅♂️ L.L: “Considering the likes of baseball (MLB) and hockey (NHL) and the amount of games these players play in a season, the answer is no. Instead of relying just on the main players of a team, teams should have to use their bench players for longer periods in a game. This would prevent the so-called burnout.”
✍️ J.M: “Some probably are. Some players at top Premier League teams, in particular, playing in four competitions (league, two domestic cups, Europe) are almost certainly playing a bit too much, leading to fatigue or injury. Players in other teams are probably fine, though, so it is certainly not accurate to make the blanket statement that all players are overplaying.”
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GAME FACE ON
Question: In 2017, Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain 6–1 in the second leg to win 6–5 on aggregate after losing the first leg 4–0. Which player came off the bench to score the winning goal in the 95th minute?
Scroll below for the answer.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
Too long for me.
Answer
Sergio Roberto.
