Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni handed provisional one-match ban

Gianluca Prestianni will not be available for Benfica’s Champions League playoff at Real Madrid on Wednesday night after Uefa suspended him following allegations that he racially abused Vinícius Júnior during the first leg. The one‑game ban is a provisional mea­sure as an investigation continues. Benfica have said they will appeal and regret being “deprived” of the winger, but the club admitted they did not expect to be able to prevent the 20-year-old Argentinian from missing the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.

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Gordon bags four goals as Newcastle United demolish Qarabag

Anthony Gordon scored four goals as rampant Newcastle United blew Qarabag away to take control of their last 16 Champions League play-off tie. It took Gordon just two minutes to open the scoring after the latched on to a through ball from marauding centre-back Dan Burn and finished coolly past goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski into the bottom corner. Newcastle did not let up from that moment and lead by five at the interval.

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Pedro brace sees Chelsea dump Napoli out of Champions League

Two sublime strikes from Joao Pedro fired Chelsea into the Champions League round of 16 as they finished sixth in the league phase table after a 3-2 win at Napoli. The Blues found themselves behind in Italy but responded well in the second half to dump Napoli out of the competition while avoiding two additional games in the knockout play-offs.

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Salah returns as Liverpool ease to victory over Marseille

Liverpool coasted past Marseille and put themselves in a strong position to finish in the Champions League top eight on a night where Mohamed Salah returned to the starting XI for Arne Slot’s side. A moment of genius from Dominik Szoboszlai gave Liverpool the lead in the first half, an own goal from goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli doubled their advantage and Cody Gakpo added a third in the 92nd minute.

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Bodø/Glimt stun Manchester City as Rodri sees red

Norwegian debutants Bodo/Glimt claimed one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history by stunning Premier League Manchester City 3-1 in the cold of the Arctic Circle. Played on an artificial surface, Pep Guardiola’s youngsters froze in the -9C temperatures as City suffered another embarrassing loss following Saturday’s derby defeat by Manchester United. Glimt thoroughly deserved their victory, having taken a shock lead in the 22nd minute as Ole Didrik Blomberg’s looping cross to the back post was headed in by Kasper Hogh.

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