Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City in Champions League action

Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City play their second-leg ties in the Round of 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday night. 

All three clubs share the same kick-off times as Chelsea welcome PSG to Stamford Bridge, Arsenal face Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates and City take on Real Madrid at the Etihad.

The Blue’s have given themselves a lot of work to do after falling to a 5-2 defeat in Paris last week.

PSG started strongly and took the lead early through Bradley Barcola, capitalising on Chelsea’s passive defending. However, Chelsea showed resilience and fought back twice, with goals from Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernández bringing the score level at 2-2 midway through the match.

At that point, the game was finely balanced, but it completely swung in PSG’s favour in the final stages. A major turning point came when Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen made a costly error playing out from the back, which allowed Vitinha to score and put PSG back in front.

From there, Chelsea lost control. PSG scored three times in the final 20 minutes, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia netting twice late on to turn a close game into a heavy 5-2 defeat.

Chelsea will need to get off to a quick start and get the fans of their side if they have any hope of progressing through to the quarter-finals.

The Gunners also faced a tough first-leg away from home but unlike their London rivals they came back to England with a good result.

Leverkusen took the lead just after the break through Robert Andrich, who scored from a corner, ironically exploiting Arsenal’s usual strength at set pieces.

The goal exposed a rare lapse in Arsenal’s defensive organisation, with Andrich left free to head home and give the hosts momentum.

Arsenal had actually started the game well, creating early chances, Gabriel Martinelli even hit the crossbar, but they struggled to break Leverkusen down as the match wore on. The home side grew into the game physically and tactically, disrupting Arsenal’s rhythm and limiting their attacking threat.

Just when it looked like Arsenal would take a narrow defeat back to London, the game turned late on. In the 89th minute, substitute Noni Madueke won a penalty after going down in the box, a decision that sparked controversy from the Leverkusen side.

Former Leverkusen player Kai Havertz stepped up and calmly converted the spot-kick, equalising against his old club and rescuing a 1-1 draw for Arsenal.

Arsenal will be favourites to go through, but they will certainly need to put in a better performance against a Leverkusen side who have proved to be dangerous.

City had an extremely disappointing night last week at the Santiago Bernabéu as they were thrashed 3-0.

Pep Guardiola’s side actually started brightly and controlled the opening stages, dominating possession and trying to impose their usual rhythm. But that approach played straight into Madrid’s hands. Once the hosts found space in transition, they were ruthless.

The turning point came midway through the first half when Federico Valverde opened the scoring, finishing off a quick move sparked by a long pass forward. Just seven minutes later, he struck again, this time finishing after a rapid counter-attack to stun City and flip the momentum completely.

Before City could recover, Valverde completed a remarkable first-half hat-trick, producing a brilliant volley just before the break to make it 3-0 and effectively decide the game early.

In the second half, City pushed to get back into the tie and created chances, but they couldn’t find a breakthrough. Thibaut Courtois made key saves to preserve the clean sheet, while Madrid remained dangerous on the counter.

There was even a missed opportunity for Madrid to extend the lead further when Vinícius Júnior had a penalty saved, which was one of the few moments that kept the scoreline from becoming even heavier.

City have given themselves a mountain to climb in the second-leg and will be expected to crash out of the competition.