UEFA Champions League

We got 10 years of Pepe at Real Madrid, and if time weren’t such a cruel mistress, we could’ve been blessed with 10 more. I, for one, would welcome an eternal version of Pepe, a timeless incarnation of shithousery that doesn’t care about VAR now being a thing — a mad lad with his face cast in an eternal scowl, eyebrows bulging cartoonishly from his skull and always looking for fingers to stomp on and fouls suffered to greatly exaggerate. 

Harry Kane’s lone goal in the 48th minute put the finishing touches on a 4-0 aggregate victory for Tottenham over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, putting Spurs into the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time since 2011.

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos intentionally picked up a yellow card late in the first leg against Ajax to earn himself a suspension for the return leg so he’d be ready to go in the quarterfinals. Real Madrid won’t make it to the quarterfinals.

And this might be the end of the Real Madrid dynasty as we know it.

We here at The18 are as excited about the final season of Game of Thrones as anyone. But forget about that trailer HBO put out on Tuesday for a moment and watch this David Neres goal vs Real Madrid.

Ajax lost the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 tie with Real Madrid despite looking the better side for much of the game. 

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri elected to bench starting goalkeeper Kepa for Chelsea’s hosting of Tottenham.

The benching ended in favor of Sarri as the Spurs failed to get a shot on goal against veteran keeper Willy Caballero in a 2-0 victory on Wednesday. The Argentine was not tested in the net as the few shots Tottenham managed to get off were wide.

On the Blues’ side, Pedro played phenomenal after nutmegging Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.

In his first season in Italy after nine season with Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the Spanish capital for a Champions League Round of 16 match on Wednesday.

Facing Atlético Madrid with his new Italian club Juventus, Ronaldo was unsurprisingly a target of the home fans at the Wanda Metropolitano. He responded by mocking the Atleti fans, and Los Colchoneros responded by handing the Bianconeri a critical 2-0 defeat. 

Leroy Sané’s spectacular 85th minute free kick denied Schalke a famous victory over Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie at Veltins-Arena. The footballer that Schalke groomed entered the match in the 78th minute and then hammered the dead ball seven minutes later to draw 10-man City level — and then Raheem Sterling muscled his way to goal for a dramatic 3-2 winner in the 90th minute. 

There were a lot of Liverpool vs Bayern Munich highlights from the Champions League Round of 16 first-leg match on Tuesday. Surprisingly, none of them included goals.

Neither team could find a way to break the deadlock as the teams settled for a 0-0 draw at Anfield ahead of a return trip to Allianz Arena in Munich on March 13. 

That the match finished scoreless came down to a combination of brilliant last-ditch defending and scuffed opportunities. The highlight of the match, however, was neither — just some really great, unwitting teamwork.

Barcelona and Lyon played to a 0-0 draw at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on Tuesday in the first leg of a Champions League Round of 16 encounter, giving a slight edge to the Blaugrana ahead of the return leg at the Camp Nou on Mar. 13. 

The first half was a tubthumping affair with Lyon carving out three good opportunities, only to be denied twice by Marc-André ter Stegen while sending another effort blazing over.