{"id":318147,"date":"2026-02-26T10:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/318147\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:41:08","slug":"liverpool-handed-champions-league-rematch-after-var-controversy-football-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/318147\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool handed Champions League rematch after VAR controversy | Football | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" title=\"Liverpool FC\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/liverpool-fc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Liverpool<\/a> fae a rematch against either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray in the <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" title=\"Champions League\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/champions-league\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Champions League<\/a> last 16 next month. The Reds met both teams during the initial league phase, defeating Atletico 3-2 at Anfield on the opening matchday before suffering a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in Istanbul a fortnight later.<\/p>\n<p>The Turkish outfit secured their progression after weathering a significant fright at Juventus in their play-off second leg on Wednesday night. Having triumphed 5-2 at home the previous week, Galatasaray lost 3-2 in extra time, ultimately advancing 7-5 on aggregate.<\/p>\n<p>Juventus were 3-0 in front at the end of regulation time, despite being reduced to 10 men, while only one goal ahead three minutes into the second half. Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/liverpool-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Liverpool<\/a> target Lloyd Kelly was controversially shown red after a VAR check.<\/p>\n<p>Atletico advanced the previous evening when, having been held to a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge last week, they romped to a 4-1 victory against the Belgian outfit in Madrid.<\/p>\n<p> Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=express.co.uk&amp;hl=en_GB\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings.<\/p>\n<p>The draw for the last 16, which takes place in Nyon, Switzerland, from 11am on Friday morning, will also plotLiverpool&#8217;s potential pathway to the final in Budapest on May 30.<\/p>\n<p>Should they reach the quarter-finals, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/arne-slot\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arne Slot<\/a>&#8216;s team will meet one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/chelsea-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea<\/a>, Barcelona, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/newcastle-united-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle<\/a> and Paris Saint-Germain, with the holders having drawn at home to Monaco in Wednesday evening&#8217;s play-off second leg to progress on aggregate.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst the dates for Liverpool&#8217;s round of 16 clash are yet to be confirmed, the first leg is expected to take place on Tuesday, March 10, with the Anfield return scheduled for Wednesday, March 18.<\/p>\n<p>Real Madrid and Atalanta, who remarkably overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to triumph 4-1 at home against Borussia Dortmund, also progressed through the play-offs to join <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/arsenal-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arsenal<\/a>, Bayern Munich, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/tottenham-hotspur-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tottenham<\/a>, Sporting CP, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/manchester-city-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester City<\/a>, Bodo\/Glimt and Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool fae a rematch against either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray in the Champions League last 16 next month.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23072,148330,15013,148332,38357,42,1101,148333,1547,26605,43,40,38,41,39,148331],"class_list":{"0":"post-318147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-atletico-madrid","9":"tag-atletico-madrid-fc","10":"tag-champions-league","11":"tag-champions-league-draw","12":"tag-galatasaray","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-liverpool","15":"tag-liverpool-draw","16":"tag-liverpool-fc","17":"tag-liverpool-news","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-top-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topnews","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-var-controversy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}