Champions League Night of Surprises: Newcastle’s 6-1 Breakthrough, Inter Crumples in Norway, and Brugge-Atletico Deliver a 3-3 Thriller
18 February 2026
Strong results surface in the early Champions League ties
On Wednesday, the first legs of the play-off round produced decisive results for several clubs.
Newcastle United traveled to Qarabag's stadium and surged to a convincing 6-1 victory for the visitors.
Anthony Gordon struck four times, with Malik Thiaw and Jakob Murphy adding the rest for the visitors.
Qarabag's lone strike came from Elvin Dzafarquliyev.
Inter faced a tough night in Bodø as they slipped 3-1 at Bodø/Glimt's Aspmyra Stadium.
Sondre Vit opened the scoring for the hosts, Francesco Bayo Esposito equalized, and the away side added two more, with Yens Peter Hauge and Kasper Hoeg on target.
In Brugge, Club Brugge staged a dramatic 3-3 draw with Atletico Madrid; Julian Alvarez opened for Atletico from a penalty, then Ademola Lookman doubled the lead.
Rafael Onyideka and Nicolò Tressoldi replied for Brugge while Joel Ordonez own goal briefly gave Atletico the edge, until Christos Tzolis equalized.
Olympiakos failed to claim the home win against Bayer Leverkusen at Karaiskakis, as Patrick Schick struck twice to seal a German victory.
With these results, the second legs will decide who advances, while chatter grows about comebacks and outcomes.
Still, these results set up dramatic duels, forcing teams to rethink tactics; punchline one: football is serious until a boot trips, punchline two: the net can't stop laughing.
