Lamine Yamal struck from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw for Barcelona at Newcastle United in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Liverpool slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Galatasaray in Istanbul, the second time this season the Turkish champions have beaten the Premier League side at home.
Atletico Madrid compounded Tottenham Hotspur’s struggles with a 5-2 victory in a miserable night for visiting goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, while Bayern Munich moved to the brink of the quarterfinals after hammering Atalanta 6-1 in Italy.
At St. James’ Park, Newcastle looked set for a memorable win when Harvey Barnes struck in the 86th minute, turning in a cross from Jacob Murphy for his sixth Champions League goal of the campaign. But Barcelona had the final word when Yamal converted a dramatic late penalty to snatch a draw and leave the tie finely poised ahead of the return leg in Spain.
Barcelona were awarded the penalty deep in injury time when Dani Olmo was tripped by Malick Thiaw. Yamal, largely quiet throughout the match, stepped up and converted with the final kick in the 96th minute.
The result leaves Newcastle facing a daunting task ahead of next Wednesday’s return leg at Camp Nou as they aim to reach the quarterfinals.
“There’s hope, of course there is. We believe in ourselves, we believe in our capabilities. I think we’ve shown that today,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said.
The winners of that tie are likely to face Atletico in the quarterfinals after Diego Simeone’s side tore apart Spurs at the Metropolitano Stadium, with Julian Alvarez scoring twice.
It was a dreadful night for struggling Tottenham and especially for their Czech goalkeeper Kinsky, whose only previous appearances this season had come in the League Cup.
His slip while attempting to clear allowed Marcos Llorente to slot in Atletico’s sixth-minute opener, and Antoine Griezmann then took advantage of a Micky van de Ven mistake to score again for the hosts.
The game was only 15 minutes old when Kinsky made a complete mess of a first-time pass, gifting the ball to Alvarez to make it 3-0.
The 22-year-old’s misery continued when coach Igor Tudor substituted him, but replacement Guglielmo Vicario could not prevent Robin Le Normand from heading in Atletico’s fourth midway through the first half.
Pedro Porro pulled one back, but Alvarez ran half the length of the pitch following a superb Griezmann layoff to score Atletico’s fifth early in the second half.
Dominic Solanke struck in the 76th minute to make it 5-2, perhaps giving Spurs a faint glimmer of hope for the return leg.
It is difficult to see how Tottenham can halt a slump that has now seen them lose all four games under new coach Tudor, and six in a row overall.
“Unfortunately, it happened in this big game, these mistakes. So we paid for this start of the game. It was too much for us,” Tudor said, adding he substituted Kinsky to “preserve” him.
“I’ve been coaching for 15 years. I’ve never done this. It was necessary to preserve the player and preserve the team.”
Earlier, Liverpool again fell by a single goal to Galatasaray, just as they had when the teams met in Turkey during the league phase.
Mario Lemina scored the only goal for the Turkish league leaders, heading in from close range after Victor Osimhen nodded down a corner.
Osimhen had the ball in the net again in the second half, but an offside decision came to Liverpool’s rescue.
Liverpool will need a far stronger display if they are to overturn the deficit in next week’s second leg at Anfield.
“It’s already a difficult place to come to, but when you’re 1-0 down it makes it even harder,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said.
Bayern confirmed their status as one of the leading contenders for the title by crushing Atalanta in Bergamo, with Michael Olise in inspired form.
Harry Kane played no part as Josip Stanisic tapped in an early opener and Olise added a superb finish to make it 2-0 midway through the first half.
Olise then set up Serge Gnabry for Bayern’s third before halftime, with Gnabry also striking the crossbar late in the opening period.
Nicolas Jackson made it four early in the second half, and the outstanding Olise curled in Bayern’s fifth, his 15th goal of the season.
Jamal Musiala added the sixth, leaving Atalanta with little hope of a comeback despite Mario Pasalic pulling one back in stoppage time.
