Tuesday's Champions League results & roundup: Brilliant Bayern win at Bernabeu as Havertz is the hero for Arsenal

The 2025-26 Champions League quarter-finals kicked off on Tuesday night, with the first two of four blockbuster clashes taking centre stage throughout the week.

Real Madrid welcomed Bayern Munich to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu for another edition of the most contested match in the competition's history, while Sporting Lisbon played host to Arsenal at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Real Madrid 1-2 Bayern Munich: Brilliant Bayern win at Bernabeu

Harry Kane scores less than 20 seconds into the second half, and Bayern double their lead ?

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Bayern Munich produced a brilliant performance at the Santiago Bernabeu, beating Real Madrid 2-1 to give them the advantage heading back to Germany for the second leg.

The Bavarians may have struggled against Los Blancos in recent years, failing to win any of the nine meetings prior to tonight's encounter, but they were certainly deserving of their first-leg triumph.

In fact, Vincent Kompany will arguably be disappointed that his side failed to leave with a larger lead, as his side were well on top for large durations of the encounter.

Michael Olise was a particular threat throughout the night, while the likes of Harry Kane, Serge Gnabry, Luis Diaz and Joshua Kimmich all also caused Real Madrid repeated problems.

While Bayern Munich produced a disciplined and coordinated performance, Real Madrid's issues were evident throughout, with every aspect of their showing appearing disjointed and disconnected.

Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe were audibly irritating the Bernabeu crowd with their lack of defensive work and laboured efforts, but their best moments also came via the attacking duo.

Despite a number of promising opportunities, the hosts found themselves 2-0 down in 46 minutes, and deservedly so, as Diaz and Kane both found the net for Bayern Munich either side of half-time.

However, as Real Madrid tend to do time and again in this competition, they pulled themselves back into the tie thanks to a brilliant ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold that was slotted home by Mbappe.

Both teams had opportunities to add to the scoring in the final minutes, but neither were able to make the net ripple, leaving Bayern Munich with the aggregate lead and Real Madrid facing the difficult task of overturning the deficit at the Allianz Arena.

Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Arsenal: Havertz the hero for the Gunners

Kai Havertz proved the hero for Arsenal, handing the Gunners a dramatic late victory over Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Sporting Lisbon had not lost at their home ground in any competition since August 2025, with the Portuguese side also winning all of their last 16 matches on home soil.

Rui Borges' side certainly demonstrated why they have been so formidable at home, taking more shots and creating higher expected goals (0.84xG) than their visitors (0.78xG).

However, as Arsenal have often done this season, Mikel Arteta's side kept yet another clean sheet before stealing the victory at the death thanks to substitute Havertz.

Fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli picked out a clever lofted pass into the run of Havertz inside the Sporting penalty area, and the German showed great composure to finish into the bottom corner in the 91st minute.

While Arsenal's performance was far from inspiring, Arteta will be delighted that his side snapped their two-game losing streak with a vital victory in the first-leg of their quarter-final tie.

Consequently, the Gunners will return home to the Emirates Stadium with the 1-0 advantage, and given Arsenal's fantastic home record, they will be hugely confident of progressing into the Champions League semi-finals.

Sporting did, however, show that they are more than capable of threatening Arsenal, with David Raya called into action on numerous occasions, but they will now have to overcome the deficit on the road in the second leg.