Official Uefa Champions League Podcast

On a night of classic UEFA Champions League drama, Paris survive an Aston Villa fight back to win 5-4 on aggregate and progress to the last four, despite losing 3-2 on the night. Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund give Barcelona a scare winning 3-1 in Germany. However, Barca progress 5-3 on aggregate. We hear from Villa goal scorer Ezri Konsa, as well as Dortmund’s Pascal Gross. Plus, Jude Bellingham looks ahead to the final night of quarter final action, where his Real Madrid team look to come from behind against Arsenal, and Inter defend a 2-1 lead against Bayern heading to San Siro.

It was home advantage in Wednesday’s quarter-finals as both Barca and Paris secured impressive first leg wins against Dortmund and Aston Villa respectively. In Spain, it was Barcelona’s front three that the did the damage with Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski (twice) grabbing the goals as the Catalan club surged to a convincing 4-0 first leg win over Borussia Dortmund. We hear from a very satisfied Barca coach Hansi Flick. In Paris, it was a much tighter affair, with the French champions having to come from behind to secure a late 3-1 first leg victory over Aston Villa. Morgan Rogers put the English side into a surprise lead but three brilliant goals from Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes put Paris Saint-Germain in control of the tie heading into the second leg in Birmingham next week. We hear from two of the scorers on the night, Paris’ Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Villa’s Morgan Rogers. We also look ahead to next week’s quarter-final second legs and hear from Arsenal’s Mikel Ar

On a memorable night in North London, two wondrous Declan Rice free-kicks, plus a fine finish from Mikel Merino saw Arsenal take a 3-0 advantage in their quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid. Meanwhile in Munich, Inter ended Bayern's 22 match unbeaten home run in the UEFA Champions League, thanks to Davide Frattesi's 88th minute winner. That means the Nerazzurri will look to defend a 2-1 lead in the tie at Stadium San Siro in next week’s 2nd leg. In the podcast, we hear from Arsenal's goal-scorers Rice & Merino, plus manager Mikel Arteta, as well as Madrid’s Jude Bellingham. Plus we look ahead to Wednesday's two quarter-finals first legs and hear from Villa manager Unai Emery.

This is Off Pitch: The UEFA Champions League with a beat. Where UCL coverage meets the timeline’s conversations–fueled by music.   Join Culture Cams, Formz and Nieve aka Stunt Peg as they wrap up the UCL Round of 16 and look ahead to the quarter-finals, with the help of their own in-house band.  This week, the team is joined by their first guest, Aston Villa’s very own Amadou Onana.  #UCLOffPitch #UCL #championsleague  

The quarter-final line up was completed in dramatic fashion on Wednesday evening with Real Madrid, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund joining Barcelona, Bayern, Inter and Paris in the last eight.  It went all the way in the Spanish capital, with Real Madrid squeezing past city rivals Atletico 4-2 on penalties after it finished 2-2 on aggregate after extra time – we hear from the winning goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The holders will play Arsenal in the quarter-finals after the London club comprehensively beat PSV 9-3 on aggregate, despite being held 2-2 in London on the night. Gunners manager Mikel Arteta is proud to reach a second successive Champions League quarter-final.  Aston Villa comfortably overcame 10-man Club Brugge 3-0 at Villa Park, to progress 6-1 on aggregate, and set up a tantalising last eight tie with Paris Saint-Germain - we get the thoughts of Villa’s matchwinner, and Paris loanee, Marco Asensio. And in the night’s early Round of 16 second leg, Dortmund recovered from an early Jona

The shock of the night saw Paris Saint-Germain reverse their first leg defeat, beating Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield to take their tie into extra time, eventually prevailing 4-1 on penalties – goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the Paris hero. It was a breathtaking match with 38 shots shared between the two sides despite just the one goal – we hear from the victorious Paris manager Luis Enrique as well as Liverpool’s Arne Slot and Virgil van Dijk.  Elsewhere there were comfortable wins for Barcelona, Bayern and Inter who all progressed to the quarte- finals at the expense of Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen and Feyenoord respectively. We hear from Barca manager Hansi Flick, Bayern striker Harry Kane and Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso. We also look ahead to Wednesday’s Round of 16 second legs, including a finely balanced Madrid derby at the Estadio Metropolitano and Aston Villa’s home tie against Club Brugge, a match Villa manager Unai Emery says he isn’t taking for granted despite holding a 3-1 aggregate lead.

The UEFA Champions League with a beat. Where #UCL coverage meets the timeline’s conversations – fuelled by music. Join Culture Cams, Formz and Stunt Pegg as they wrap up the #championsleague knockout play-off round and look ahead to the round of 16, with the help of their own in-house band. #UCLOffPitch 

Harvey Elliott scores the winner 47 seconds after coming on as a late substitute to secure a 1-0 victory for Liverpool in Paris. We hear from the matchwinner, as well as Player of the Match, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, and boss Arne Slot. Elsewhere, Harry Kane nets twice as Bayern beat German rivals Leverkusen 3-0. We hear from the England striker. Barcelona also secure a 1-0 victory away at Benfica, despite playing for over an hour with ten men. And Inter win 2-0 away at Feyenoord, courtesy of goals from Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez. Inter’s Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij reacts to that result, plus we look ahead to the second legs.  

A stunning start to the last 16 saw 17 goals shared amongst Tuesday’s four first leg encounters. It was a tightly contested Madrid derby with the defending champions edging neighbours Atleti 2-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu thanks to a second half Brahim Diaz winner. Arsenal hit seven in Eindhoven to take full control of their Round of 16 tie against PSV – there were six different goalscorers for the Gunners and we hear from one of them, Dutch defender Jurrien Timber. It was a far tighter affair in Dortmund as Lille came back from a goal down to earn a hard fought 1-1 draw – the scorer of their equaliser and Player of the Match, Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, believes the home crowd could prove pivotal for his side in the second leg in France. And in the day’s early kick off in Brugge, Aston Villa scored two late goals to take a 3-1 first leg advantage back to Birmingham – we hear from their satisfied manager Unai Emery.  We also look ahead to Wednesday’s Round of 16 first legs, including a heavyweight clash a

The final four clubs confirmed their spots in the Round of 16 on Wednesday night. PSV needed extra time to complete the turnaround in the tie, beating Juventus 3-1 on the night, 4-3 on aggregate. In Madrid, the defending Champions put in another fine performance to defeat Manchester City 3-1, 6-3 on aggregate, thanks to a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe. Meanwhile, Paris fired 7 goals past Brest, and although Dortmund were unable to break the deadlock against Sporting, their 3-0 advantage from the 1st leg was enough to see them through.

Tuesday’s Knockout Phase play-off second legs went right down to the wire with red cards, late goals and plenty of drama. It was heartbreak for Celtic in Munich as Bayern equalised deep into injury time to sneak through 2-1 on aggregate thanks to their late goalscoring hero Alphonso Davies. It was raining goals in Lisbon as Benfica and Monaco drew 3-3, the Portuguese side progressing 4-3 on aggregate – we hear from their Player of the Match Orkun Kökçü.   Elsewhere Feyenoord and Club Brugge pulled off the upsets of the night with superb away displays to eliminate Italian sides Milan and Atalanta respectively and reach the Round of 16 – we hear from Feyenoord defender David Hancko. We also look ahead to Wednesday’s second leg encounters with Man City manager Pep Guardiola telling us his side need to be on top of their game to overcome a first leg deficit against Real Madrid.

Bayern claim a 2-1 victory against Celtic on the second night of the knockout phase play-off first legs. Elsewhere, Feyenoord beat Milan 1-0 in Rotterdam, and Benfica win 1-0 away against Monaco thanks to Vangelis Pavlidis’ goal. While in the early match, Club Brugge score a stoppage time winner to beat Atalanta 2-1. We hear from Bayern’s Harry Kane, Milan defender Kyle Walker and Benfica matchwinner Pavlidis.

It was a stunning start to the inaugural night of Knockout Phase play-off football with the first four matches treating us to 14 goals.  It was another Champions League classic between Manchester City and Real Madrid with the holders snatching a dramatic first leg lead with almost the last kick of a five goal thriller. We hear from the match-winner, Jude Bellingham, as well as Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. Elsewhere, Paris and Dortmund both put one foot in the last 16 after convincing 3-0 away wins against Brest and Sporting respectively, whilst Juventus edged PSV 2-1 in Turin. We hear from Paris boss Luis Enrique and midfielder Vitinha, Dortmund coach Niko Kovac and look ahead to Wednesday’s featured match, Celtic v Bayern, with the help of Brendan Rodgers.

A historic night of Champions League football saw the first ever League Phase draw to a dramatic conclusion. All 36 teams kicked off at the same time – with 27 of them still with something to play for. At the top, Liverpool pipped Barcelona to first place despite losing in Eindhoven. It was Arsenal, Inter, Atleti, Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa who also secured a top 8 spot and automatic progression to the last 16. Nine clubs battled it out for the final six knockout phase play-off positions and it was PSV, Paris, Benfica, Man City, Sporting and Club Brugge who were ultimately successful. And elsewhere there were important wins for Real Madrid, Bayern, Dortmund and Benfica. We hear from Pep Guardiola, Cody Gakpo, Nathan Tella, Unai Emery, Jacob Ramsey, Mikel Arteta and Jude Bellingham.

On another night of high drama in the UEFA Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain come from 2-0 down to beat Manchester City 4-2 in the French capital. The result leaves City in the elimination places heading into Matchday 8. Meanwhile, Feyenoord beat Bayern 3-0 in Rotterdam and Arsenal beat Dinamo by the same scoreline in North London. There were also victories for AC Milan, Celtic, Inter, Real Madrid, Shakhtar and Leipzig. We hear from City boss Pep Guardiola, Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez, Leipzig match winner Yussuf Poulsen, and Arsenal’s Declan Rice after scoring his first Champions League goal.

New year but same old drama in the UEFA Champions League as it rained goals on Matchday 7.  Raphinha was the hero for Barcelona as they edged Benfica in a dramatic nine goal thriller in Lisbon to deny Liverpool being crowned League Phase winners after the English club made it 7 wins from 7 against Lille at Anfield. 10-man Atletico left it late to overcome Leverkusen 2-1 in Madrid thanks to a Julian Alvarez double. Elsewhere there were wins for Monaco, Atalanta, PSV, Stuttgart and Bologna as 33 goals were netted across Tuesday's nine matches.  We hear from Liverpool's Mo Salah and Arne Slot, Barcelona Head Coach Hansi Flick, Benfica's hat-trick hero Vangelis Pavlidis, Atalanta midfielder Charles De Ketelaere and Villa defender Tyrone Mings. Plus Pep Guardiola looks ahead to Manchester City's crucial clash with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening.

It took a while to fire into life but part two of Matchday 6 didn’t disappoint. The battle of the entertainers in Dortmund delivered with Barcelona running out 3-2 winners, with all five goals coming in the second half. Juventus saw off a struggling Manchester City side 2-0 in Turin, whilst there were also important wins for Milan, Arsenal, Feyenoord, Atleti, Lille and Stuttgart, who hit five against eliminated Young Boys. We hear from City manager Pep Guardiola, Arsenal duo Bakayo Saka & Myles Lewis-Skelly and Lille match-winner Hakon Arnar Haraldsson.

Real Madrid secured a narrow win against Atalanta in Bergamo as Matchday 6 of the UEFA Champions League began. Elsewhere, Bayern Munchen and Paris secured statements victories away from home, while Liverpool retained their 100% record with a 1-0 win at Girona. Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Brest and Club Brugge also picked up 3 points, as Dinamo and Celtic played out a goalless draw.  We hear from Atalanta striker Ademola Lookman, Madrid talisman Jude Bellingham and Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans. Meanwhile, defender Andy Robertson and boss Arne Slot take us inside the Liverpool camp as the team strengthened their place at the top of the league phase table. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola also looks ahead to his side’s match against Juventus on Wednesday.

Liverpool recorded a famous 2-0 victory over Real Madrid at Anfield on Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League, their first win over the Spaniards for 15 years. Elsewhere, PSV came from 2-0 down to beat Shakhtar in the closing stages, while Benfica also completed a late turnaround against Monaco to edge a five goal thriller. There were also victories for Borussia Dortmund, Lille, Crvena Zvezda and Sturm Graz. We hear from victorious Liverpool duo, goalscorer Alexis Mac Allister and penalty hero goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, as well as Real Madrid’s English midfielder Jude Bellingham. Plus, PSV’s Malik Tillman reacts after his late brace, Celtic captain Callum McGregor speaks after his side’s 1-1 draw with Club Brugge, and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins looks back on his team’s 0-0 draw with Juventus. 

On a night of high drama in the UEFA Champions League, we react to Bayern’s 1-0 victory over Paris, discuss Feyenoord’s recovery from 3-0 down to earn a draw at Manchester City, plus talk about Robert Lewandowski’s moment of history as Barcelona secure three points against Brest. Elsewhere, Inter went top of the league phase with victory over Leipzig, it was a night to remember for Atletico and Atalanta who score six, while Arsenal and Leverkusen hit five. We hear from Feyenoord’s Brian Priske, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, plus Tammy Abraham reacts to AC Milan’s 3-2 victory at Bratislava.