Champions League Tuesday: Bayern and Atleti roll, Liverpool falter and Newcastle let off Barcelona

The Champions League's round of 16 kicked off Tuesday, with four first-leg matches taking place across Europe.

Three Premier League clubs were in action, with two suffering defeat. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich showed its title credentials with a rout of Atalanta.

Here are some of the bigger talking points from Tuesday's Champions League action.

Liverpool fall in Turkiye

The Reds played in the early match of Tuesday's slate, losing 1-0 to Galatasaray in Istanbul.

The Turkish side took a seventh-minute lead through Mario Lemina and played smash-and-grab football for the remainder of the match, thwarting every Liverpool attack.

The Reds were able to generate several chances to equalise, especially towards the end of the game as they pushed forward in numbers, but they could not find a moment of quality in front of goal.

Instead, they will head back to Anfield for next week's second leg with a slight deficit to overturn. Liverpool should still be favoured to advance over Galatasaray, given the Anfield factor, but nothing is assured given their recent history together.

Another Tottenham disasterclass

Just when you think Spurs have hit rock bottom, they find a new low.

After going 11 games without a win in the Premier League, including losing their last five, Tottenham were likely welcoming a Champions League midweek fixture as they've inexplicably been quite good in the European competition despite their domestic woes. The London side finished in fourth place in the league phase and seemed ready to make another unlikely deep run through a continental tournament, but Atletico Madrid all but shut down that notion with a 5-2 beatdown in the first leg.

It was a domination from the outset, with Atletico scoring three times inside the opening 15 minutes to chase starting goalkeeper Antonín Kinský from the match in the 17th minute. Kinský made two errors that led directly to goals, forcing Igor Tudor to make the unconventional substitution to try to stop the bleeding.

It was too late, however, as Atletico scored a fourth just minutes after Guglielmo Vicario stepped in between the sticks, and from there the rout was academic despite the visitors getting a pair of consolation goals after the damage was already done.

Tottenham's recent form indicates that there is next to no chance of an incredible reversal of fortunes in next week's second leg, so Tudor and Co. will only have their Premier League relegation battle to focus on for the rest of the campaign.

That's assuming Tudor still has a job with the club, of course.

Bayern (likely) into the quarters already

As lopsided as the Atletico-Spurs match was, it wasn't actually the biggest beatdown of the day.

That honour belonged to Bayern Munich, who travelled to Bergamo and put Atalanta to the sword with a 6-1 victory.

The Germans were relentless in this one, scoring three goals on either side of halftime and putting the tie beyond doubt ahead of the second leg in Munich.

Much was made about Serie A's struggles in this season's edition of the Champions League, with Atalanta the only side from the Italian top flight to advance to the last-16. Fair or not, Tuesday's result will do little to quell fears that Italian sides are falling behind at this level.

Newcastle draw with Barcelona

The Magpies were by far the better team at St. James' Park, with 16 shots to Barcelona's 10 and an overall handle on the match, but they could not turn that dominance into a crucial victory and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the La Liga giants.

Newcastle looked as though they would claim the first-leg win when Harvey Barnes struck a volley off a brilliant Jacob Murphy set-up in the 86th minute, but Malick Thiaw's ill-advised tackle on Dani Olmo in stoppage time led to Lamine Yamal's equalising penalty kick and the teams shared the spoils on the day.

A daunting trip to Camp Nou now awaits the Magpies, who let their opponents off with their lack of finish at home.

Will Newcastle be able to replicate Tuesday's performance in Barça's famous stadium, but with a bit more attacking output to show for it? 

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