PSG and Newcastle Utd drop into UCL playoffs after stalemate

Holders Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United were forced into the Champions League playoff round after a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes in Wednesday’s final round of the league phase left both outside of direct qualification for the last 16.

PSG went ahead early through Vitinha’s low finish, only for Newcastle to level just before halftime when Joe Willock headed in, putting both teams on 14 points and outside the top eight.

A year after navigating the playoffs on their way to lifting the trophy, PSG will again go through the extra knockout round and will be drawn to face either Qarabag or fellow Ligue 1 side Monaco in next month’s two-legged tie.

Newcastle, who finished 12th, one place behind PSG, will be paired with the remaining team — Qarabag if PSG draw Monaco, and vice versa.

The hosts had an early opportunity to seize control when Lewis Miley was penalised for handball, only for Ousmane Dembele to see his penalty saved by Nick Pope, as PSG controlled large spells of the opening period.

Luis Enrique turned to his bench after the break in search of a winner yet while PSG enjoyed the bulk of possession, Newcastle stayed compact and carried a threat on the break, with Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes testing Matvey Safonov.

“It’s hard to swallow, we did everything to win the game and finish in the top eight but once again we failed to convert our chances. Now let’s see who we will face,” PSG midfielder Vitinha said.

“I’m happy with what the team showed even if the result is not what we wanted. We played a big game against a very tough team.”

Dembele’s miss on the penalty, which was turned away by Pope, did not stem the flow as PSG kept coming and made the pressure count in the eighth minute when Vitinha drilled a sharp, low strike from the edge of the box that skidded past the keeper.

There was a blow for the hosts midway through the half when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was forced off with an ankle injury, with Desire Doue taking his place.

Newcastle weathered the storm and found their moment just before the interval, Willock rising to nod in from Dan Burn’s flick to level on the stroke of halftime.

Looking to shake things up at the front, Luis Enrique replaced Bradley Barcola with Goncalo Ramos, who scored six of his last 10 goals after the 90th minute but while PSG dominated possession, the visitors continued to threaten with Gordon’s dipping shot being palmed away by Safonov.

Eddie Howe’s side were also compact in defence and dangerous on the break through Gordon and fellow substitute Harvey Barnes, who was denied from close range by Safonov in the 86th minute and just missed the target two minutes later.

Arsenal complete Champions League clean sweep for top spot

Arsenal became the first side to win all eight matches in the Champions League league phase as the Gunners secured top spot with a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta’s men were already assured of a place in the last 16 and have also guaranteed they will have home advantage in the second leg of the knockout stages as long as they progress.

“I am very proud of the players and the run that we have had in the first stage of the competition,” Arteta said.

“It is very difficult to win eight games in a row in the Champions League and you can see what has happened with other teams.”

Tournament debutants Kairat finished bottom of the 36-team table with just one point from their eight matches and were never going to be a match for the Premier League leaders.

Arteta could afford the luxury of making 11 changes from the side that lost at the Emirates for the first time this season to Manchester United on Sunday.

The goalscoring return of Kai Havertz could be critical to their chances of silverware in four competitions in the coming months.

“It is going to give him a lot of confidence, and joy and energy and to the team, too,” Arteta said.

“The team knows how important Kai is for us and how he can help the team to be much better and take the team to another level.

“So, the fact that he was able to do that today after such a long time was very impressive.

“We must use him in the right way because he is going to be really important for us in the second part of the season.”

The German was making his first start for nearly a year after an injury-ravaged 12 months.

Havertz showed his class after just two minutes with a defence-splitting pass for Viktor Gyokeres to blast in his 10th goal of the season.

Jorginho gave the visitors a moment to savour when he equalised from the penalty spot.

Havertz quickly restored Arsenal’s advantage by firing in his first goal of the season from the edge of the area.

The man who scored the winner for Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final was also involved for Arsenal’s third as Havertz’s cross was converted by Gabriel Martinelli.

Ricardinho pulled a goal back for Kairat deep into stoppage time.

Barcelona thump Copenhagen 4-1 to seal last-16 spot

Barcelona stormed back in the second half to claim a 4-1 victory over Copenhagen at the Camp Nou on Wednesday, sealing a top-eight finish and direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Goals from Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Marcus Rashford ensured the Catalans finished fifth in the standings on 16 points, level with Manchester City, Chelsea and Sporting but ahead on goal difference.

Copenhagen shocked the hosts early when 17-year-old Viktor Dadason slotted the opener past Joan Garcia in the fourth minute but the second half began with a Barcelona fightback.

Yamal set up Lewandowski to equalise in the 48th minute, before scoring himself in the 60th with a deflected effort that left Copenhagen keeper Dominik Kotarski helpless. Raphinha made it 3-1 from the penalty spot after Lewandowski was fouled, and Rashford added a fourth with a free kick in the 85th minute.

“We all came here tonight thinking about getting into the top eight. We’re very happy with the win,” 18-year-old Yamal told Movistar Plus.

“When you concede a goal in the Champions League, it’s very difficult to come back, but the team was very resilient and managed to turn it around. With the number of matches we play in a season, having two fewer matches leaves you feeling much better.”

Despite the comfortable final result, Barcelona endured a frustrating first half, during which Copenhagen took a shock lead.

Dadason stunned the home crowd after Mohamed Elyounoussi delivered a defence-splitting pass, allowing Dadason to outrun Barca’s high defensive line before rifling a low shot past keeper Garcia.

Clearly unsettled, Barcelona were wasteful in attack during the opening 45 minutes. Raphinha and Lewandowski spurned opportunities to equalise, while Eric Garcia came closest to levelling when his driven effort struck the crossbar in the 33rd minute.

The second half, however, saw a completely transformed Barcelona.

Barely three minutes after the restart, Yamal burst forward on a counter-attack, darting past Copenhagen defenders before unselfishly squaring the ball for Lewandowski to slot into an empty net.

The hosts seized control and upped the tempo, pinning Copenhagen deep inside their own half and Barca took the lead on the hour mark through Yamal, whose deflected shot from inside the box looped over a stranded Kotarski and nestled into the far corner.

Raphinha made it 3-1 from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after Lewandowski was brought down inside the area while attempting to shoot and substitute Rashford wrapped up the scoring.

Although Barcelona delivered a clinical attacking display, questions remain about their defensive organisation. They completed the league phase without a clean sheet and finished with the worst defence among the top 13 teams.

Mourinho’s Benfica stun Real Madrid in 4-2 thriller to earn playoff spot

Jose Mourinho condemned his former employers to a ninth-placed finish in the league phase as his Benfica side beat Real Madrid 4-2 in the Champions League on Wednesday, with a stoppage-time header by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin keeping the Portuguese alive in the competition.

A third defeat of the campaign for Madrid, coupled with wins for Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting Lisbon and Manchester City, meant Madrid finished ninth and will have to play the two-legged knockout play-off round.

Benfica, on the other hand, will not turn their noses up at the extra game after ‘keeper Trubin sensationally nodded in a 98th-minute goal to snatch the last qualification spot on goal difference.

Earlier, Kylian Mbappe netted a brace as Andreas Schjelderup scored twice and Vangelis Pavlidis converted a penalty for the hosts

For Mourinho, who coached Madrid between 2010 and 2013, it was a first victory at the second time of asking against his old club since departing them.

Much the livelier side in the opening period, Benfica thought they had a penalty on the quarter-hour when the referee pointed to the spot following a Jude Bellingham challenge from behind on Gianluca Prestianni.

But after a VAR intervention, the England midfielder was adjudged to have played the ball and the decision was overturned.

Mourinho was left shaking his head again moments later as Argentine forward Prestianni popped up in space on the left of the Madrid box and shaped a fine curling effort for which Thibaut Courtois needed all of his two-metre frame to tip onto the crossbar.

Arda Guler fired a warning shot across Benfica on 26 minutes with a drive from distance that fizzed just wide of the goal as Madrid showed signs of finally waking up under the pouring rain in Lisbon.

Mourinho’s side failed to heed the warning and soon paid for their profligacy as Mbappe brought his Champions League tally this term to 12 goals with a clinical back-post header on the half-hour.

But next it was Madrid who were made to pay for over-confidence as the Portuguese side caught them desperately short on the counter six minutes after their opener.

– Unlikely hero –

Raul Asencio was the only navy-shirted player in the Madrid half as Benfica launched into a counter, but the Spaniard was left slipping and sliding on the turf as Pavlidis went past him and centred for Schjelderup to nod home.

Schjelderup then passed up a golden opportunity to flip the match on its head three minutes later after Amar Dedic found the Norwegian with the goal at his mercy, only for his effort to be blocked by the retreating Fede Valverde.

However, the home side eventually got the lead their performance deserved after Aurelien Tchouameni was penalised for a shirt pull on Nicolas Otamendi from a corner and Pavlidis stroked the resulting spot-kick straight down the middle five minutes into stoppage time.

Alvaro Arbeloa’s side got a hold of the ball after half-time but Benfica still posed a threat as Pavlidis won possession back high up the pitch but fired straight at Courtois when well-placed.

Madrid continued to move the ball but again Benfica won it back and sprang forward on 54 minutes, with Schjelderup this time supplying another clinical finish after cutting past Asencio on the edge of the box.

Rodrygo Goes replaced the ineffectual Franco Mastantuono in the immediate aftermath and the Brazilian combined out wide with Guler to set up the unmarked Mbappe, who unerringly fired home from 15 yards in the 58th minute.

Georgiy Sudakov hammered wide after the ball broke to him in the away side’s box as the clock ticked into the final 20 minutes with everything still in the balance and Benfica’s presence in the knockout play-offs fluctuating with results elsewhere in Europe.

Aided by Madrid going down to nine as Asencio and Rodrygo received late dismissals, Benfica looked set for heartbreak as they were sitting in 25th place level on nine points with Marseille but with fewer goals scored.

The Estadio da Luz then erupted deep in injury time as Trubin turned the unlikeliest of heroes as he nodded in from a free-kick to send Benfica through.

Six English clubs, one huge night – all to play for in Champions League

Wins for Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs last time out in the Champions League kept them each in the hunt for a top-eight finish

BySam Drury

BBC Sport journalist

• Published21 January 2026

Updated 5 hours ago

A blockbuster final day of games in the Champions League’s league phase in rich in dramatic potential, with 30 teams waiting for their fate to be decided.

Six English clubs are eyeing top-eight spots, while there are notable familiar faces looking to get the better of their former employers.

Arsenal are safely through to the last 16, where they will be joined by Bayern Munich, but just about everybody else still has work to do and major targets to aim for in a congested 36-team table.

The table-topping Gunners have been predicted as being best-placed to win the competition for the first time, with Opta ranking their chances at 31%, ahead of Bayern on 16.9%

Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle United and Chelsea are the other Premier League sides occupying a top-eight spot, and staying there would mean they avoid the play-offs and go straight into the last 16.

Manchester City – currently in a play-off spot – are behind seventh-placed Newcastle and eighth-placed Chelsea only on goal difference. The English trio feature among eight teams on 13 points heading into Wednesday’s final round of games, with all 18 matches kicking off at 20:00 GMT.

There have never been six clubs from one country in the competition before, never mind in the knockout stages.

England primed for series win after Brook’s 57-ball hundred in 3rd Sri Lanka ODI

Harry Brook bludgeoned a whirlwind century off just 57 balls to put England firmly in the box seat in the series-deciding third ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, as the tourists piled up a commanding 357 for three.

The England captain was in a league of his own at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium after England elected to bat first.

He finished unbeaten on a brutal 136 off 66 balls in an exhibition of clean hitting that left the home attack gasping for air, and the 4,000-strong English contingent of supporters in raptures.

Brook’s 11 fours and nine sixes was power hitting with a surgeon’s precision — a blend of muscle and timing that turned the contest into a one-sided affair

Brook had walked into the series under the microscope following revelations that he was fined £30,000 after a nightclub altercation in New Zealand last October.

But he looked to have put the incident behind him in posting his third ODI hundred.

The platform was laid by an unbroken 191 run stand with former skipper Joe Root for the fourth wicket, a partnership that gave England total control.

With 130 runs scored in the last 10 overs, England turned a strong total into a mountainous one.

Root’s own milestone — his 20th ODI hundred — was overshadowed by Brook’s masterclass.

The former captain remained unbeaten on 111, continuing his role as Sri Lanka’s chief tormentor after half-centuries in the first two ODIs.

Earlier, a 126-run stand between Root and Jacob Bethell for the third wicket had set the stage for the late innings carnage.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers simply had no answers.

It was England’s highest score against Sri Lanka in ODIs.

The total also stands as the fourth highest score at the venue, where anything north of 300 is usually a match-winning one.

Sri Lanka’s five-year unbeaten home ODI series record now hangs by a thread.

US ICE agents to support security at Winter Olympics, stirring anger in Italy

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel will help protect US delegations at the Winter Olympics in Italy, a US embassy source said on Tuesday, confirming local media reports and prompting anger among some Italian politicians.

ICE and Border Patrol agents have come under heavy criticism in the United States over their enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown after two U.S. citizens were shot dead in separate incidents this month in the state of Minnesota.

The embassy source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division would back up the U.S. State Department’s security service at the February 6-22 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

The HSI agents will not carry out any immigration enforcement activity while in Italy but will rather aim to “mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations”, the source said, without elaborating.

“All security operations remain under Italian authority,” the source added.

HSI has been present at major sport events in both the U.S. and abroad in the past, including previous Olympic Games, as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking, one former official said.

Spokespeople for ICE did not immediately respond to questions about the operation in Italy. A State Department spokesperson said that, as in past Olympics, multiple federal agencies would be helping with security, including HSI.

ITALIAN POLITICIANS CALL FOR ICE TO BE BANNED

Despite assurances that there is nothing unusual about the HSI deployment, Italian politicians criticised the involvement of ICE in next month’s Games, highlighting how the image of the United States has been tarnished in recent months.

“It seems sheer idiocy to me,” Maurizio Lupi, leader of a small centrist party in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition, told la Repubblica daily.

The left-leaning mayor of Milan, one of the cities co-hosting the Olympics, called ICE “a militia that kills”.

Speaking to RTL 102.5 radio, Giuseppe Sala said: “It’s clear that they’re not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it.”

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for a measured response. “We’re not talking about the (ICE people) who were out on the streets of Minneapolis… It’s not as if the (Nazi) SS are arriving,” he told reporters at a Holocaust memorial event.

While many ICE agents in the U.S. have been detailed to support routine immigration enforcement, HSI’s mission is to focus on transnational crime.

But Italia Viva, a centrist opposition party led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said agents affiliated with ICE did not represent Italian values and should be barred entry.

The hard-left USB trade union said it would hold an “ICE OUT” rally in central Milan on February 6, to coincide with the opening ceremony.
 

Rybakina stuns Swiatek to reach semifinals

Fifth seed Elena Rybakina stunned world number two Iga Swiatek to race into the Australian Open semi-finals Wednesday and deny the Polish star in her latest bid to win a career Grand Slam.

The Moscow-born Kazakh bounced back from early serving issues to down the second seed 7-5, 6-1 and will meet either Jessica Pegula or Amanda Anisimova for a place in Saturday’s final.

Rybakina has made the Melbourne final once before, in 2023 when she lost in three tough sets to Aryna Sabalenka. She had not been past the last eight in Melbourne since then.

But the 2022 Wimbledon champion has been one of the tour’s form players in recent months, now winning 18 of her last 19 matches with her only loss in the Brisbane quarter-finals this month.

She is into her fourth career Slam semi and first since Wimbledon in 2024.

“Really pleased with the win,” said the 26-year-old. “We know each other pretty well and I was just trying to stay aggressive.

“I feel like in the first set for both of us, the first serve was not really working, so just trying to step in on the second serve, put pressure on each other.

“I think in the second set I just started to play more freely and served better.”

Defeat denied Swiatek a career Grand Slam of all four majors.

She has won four French Opens, the US Open and Wimbledon, but a title at Melbourne Park remains elusive.

Swiatek and Rybakina had met 11 times before, including five last season, with the Pole holding a narrow 6-5 edge.

But Rybakina won the last encounter at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Swiatek forged a break on Rybakina’s opening serve, with the Kazakh getting only one of her first serves in, but she struck back immediately to keep the match level.

Rybakina’s serve was misfiring and the Pole worked another three break points in the next game, but all were saved as the fifth seed hung on.

The Kazakh made some adjustments and her serve finally started to hit the mark.

There was little to split them until Swiatek served to stay in the set at 5-6 with Rybakina going for her shots and converted on the second set-point opportunity.

The writing was on the wall for Swiatek with Rybakina winning her last 21 matches after taking the first set, and she pounced early with a sizzling forehand return earning a break to love.

She consolidated for 3-0 and when two straight aces made it 4-1 there was no way back for the Pole.

ICC’s ‘unfair’ schedule hits Bangladesh U-19s

Bangladesh’s early exit from the ICC U-19 World Cup was sealed after a lacklustre performance against England in their opening Super Sixes fixture on Monday. While inconsistent performance and miscalculations during rain-affected fixtures played a major role, officials have also criticised the team’s heavy travel schedule, which they deemed as “unfair”.

“More than the approach, I think our calculations were lacking [against England and India]. But this [travel schedule] is something I want to highlight, even if people think I’m making excuses,” game development coordinator Habibul Bashar told The Daily Star yesterday.

The Junior Tigers left for Zimbabwe on January 6 for the 16th edition of the tournament and were required to play their two warm-up matches at different venues — Masvingo and Harare — against Pakistan and Scotland on January 10 and 13 respectively. Masvingo is nearly a four-hour drive from Harare, meaning the team had to travel back and forth within a short span.

This year, the ICC prohibited domestic air travel during the tournament, requiring teams, officials, and staff to move by bus

The long journeys did not end there. Bangladesh travelled from Harare to Bulawayo – a nearly nine-hour bus ride during monsoon season — for their opening Group B matches on January 17 and 20. Considering the importance of the fixtures, the BCB arranged and funded an internal flight on their own for the matches against India and New Zealand.

“To avoid the boys getting too tired before the India match, the BCB actually paid for an internal flight out of its own pocket because the bus journey was too long and direct flights were scarce,” Bashar informed.

After those games, Bangladesh returned to Harare by bus for their match against the USA on January 23 before heading back to Bulawayo again by bus for the Super Six clash against England on January 26. Following that match, the team once again travelled to Harare to prepare for their final game against hosts Zimbabwe on January 31.

It is understood that both players and team management repeatedly expressed frustration over the hectic schedule. Even head coach Naveed Nawaz appeared worn down by the constant travel. When contacted on Tuesday while the team was en route from Bulawayo to Harare, he replied briefly: “Nine hours in the bus.”

India, meanwhile, stayed in Bulawayo for all their matches and practice games. Similarly, several major teams had far lighter travel burdens.

Australia played all their warm-up and group matches in Windhoek, Namibia, travelling to Harare only for their final Super Six fixture against the West Indies. England played their warm-ups in Harare and Bulawayo but had all their group matches in Harare, with a four-day gap before their Super Six games in Bulawayo.

Pakistan also played their group matches and opening Super Six fixture in Harare and will only travel to Bulawayo for their final Super Six match against India.

“The schedule was very unfair to us,” Bashar said. “During the initial schedule, we were supposed to play two of our warm-up matches in Masvingo and travel to Bulawayo, which is a four-hour drive, for our opening two group-stages matches. Later, they [ICC] suddenly changed the schedule, and it meant we had to play two of our warm-up games at different venues, travelling back and forth.

“We notified them [of the travel burden] before the tournament started. We asked them to move our practice games to avoid the back-and-forth travel, but they didn’t listen. Once the tournament starts, you can’t really change these things.”

As Bashar’s account highlights, the contrast between Bangladesh’s burden and the lighter schedules of other teams draws attention to long-standing concerns over tournament planning — a debate the ICC may now find impossible to ignore.

Brook’s WWE-inspired celebration showed ‘no malice,’ says Root

Joe Root said he hopes England captain Harry Brook’s WWE-inspired celebration after a blistering century against Sri Lanka on Tuesday will not be misinterpreted, as he attempts to rebuild trust following last year’s nightclub incident.

Brook smashed 136 off just 66 deliveries, bringing up his ton in 57 balls before celebrating by removing his gloves and smashing them together, mimicking former WWE wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s signature beer can celebration in the ring

Brook walked in with England at 166-3 and built an unbeaten 191-run stand with Root (111 not out) to guide England to 357-3, eventually winning by 53 runs.

The captain confirmed it was a tribute to Austin but insisted the celebration was simply about “celebrating tonight with the boys” as England clinched the ODI series 2-1.

“Like I said the other day in my press conference, I’ve got to try and gain that trust back with the lads,” Brook said.

“The way I wanted to do that was perform, play well and lead from the front.”

Brook had previously acknowledged he was lucky to be England captain after apologising for an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand last year.

Root defended his teammate’s celebration, saying there was “no malice” behind the gesture and hoped it would be taken in the right spirit.

“I think you can work it out if you’ve ever watched wrestling, but that’s his way of doing that, trying to show that he wants that approval from the group is through humour,” Root said.

“That’s another area of why I think he’s going to be a great leader because he has that side to him as well. He showed his calmness and his clarity under pressure, but he also showed humour as well in doing that.

“Hopefully, it’s received in the right way because there’s definitely no malice behind it or anything other than him just trying to have a bit of a joke with his teammates.”

England will now face Sri Lanka in three Twenty20 matches before beginning their T20 World Cup campaign next month.