Champions League: Premier League Clubs’ Quarter-Final Hopes After R16 First Leg
· YEN.com.gh News · Join- The first-leg UEFA Champions League Round of 16 results have thrown the hopes of Premier League teams into doubt
- Tottenham, Man City, and Chelsea face uphill battles after heavy defeats, with Opta already predicting their chances
- The second legs of the Champions League Round of 16 promise to be even more dramatic for the elite clubs involved
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The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League has reached a critical stage, with six Premier League clubs vying for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Before the first leg of the Round of 16 matches were played on March 10 and 11, 2026, analytics expert Opta had already offered predictions on each English side’s likelihood of progressing.
Source: Getty Images
Opta's UCL predictions before R16 first legs
According to BBC Sport, Opta’s supercomputer analysis highlighted optimism for England’s representatives ahead of the high-stakes fixtures.
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The six last-16 ties featuring Premier League clubs were: Galatasaray vs Liverpool, Atletico Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United vs Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen vs Arsenal, PSG vs Chelsea, and Real Madrid vs Manchester City.
Before kick-off, Opta's analysis predicted that the chances of reaching the last eight were heavily in favour of Arsenal and Liverpool.
The Gunners topped the list with an 85.8% chance, followed by the Reds at 82.3%.
Manchester City (with 64.3%), Chelsea (53.3%), Tottenham (46.3%), and Newcastle (44.7%) were rated more cautiously.
Source: Getty Images
Opta's UCL predictions after R16 second legs
These projections reflected expectations based on team form, historical Champions League performance, and statistical modelling, giving fans an early picture of which clubs were most likely to survive the knockout round.
Meanwhile, the first leg of the Round of 16 brought unexpected results and several high-scoring encounters, prompting Opta to update its predictions significantly.
On Tuesday, March 10, Galatasaray secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Liverpool, while Newcastle United played out a 1-1 draw with Barcelona.
Atletico Madrid produced a dominant performance to defeat Tottenham Hotspur 5-2, and Bayern Munich thrashed Atalanta 6-1 in a one-sided encounter.
The action continued on Wednesday, March 11, when Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
Real Madrid delivered a commanding display to beat Manchester City 3-0, Bodo/Glimt cruised to a 3-0 win over Sporting Lisbon, and Paris Saint-Germain overwhelmed Chelsea with a 5-2 victory.
Following these results, the predicted chances of Premier League clubs reaching the quarter-finals were adjusted dramatically.
Arsenal saw a slight dip to 77.9%, while Liverpool’s probability fell to 53.8% after their defeat in Istanbul, despite a blockbuster clash at Anfield coming up.
Newcastle’s chances edged down to 32.2%, and the outlook for Man City, Chelsea, and Tottenham worsened drastically, to 9.4%, 7.3%, and 3.3%, respectively.
Mystic cat predicts Real Madrid victory
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that a 'prophetic' cat had forecast the result of the Champions League Round of 16 first leg between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
The cat selected the bowl marked 'Madrid', signalling a win for the Spanish side, with Los Blancos eventually going on to clinch a commanding 3-0 victory at home.
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh