Liverpool and Barcelona risk missing automatic qualification to the Champions League round of 16

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Liverpool and Barcelona are leaving it late to secure automatic qualification to the Champions League round of 16.

With just two rounds remaining, the defending champions of England and Spain currently sit outside of the top eight spots that will advance automatically.

Teams placed from nine to 24 enter a two-legged playoff.

Liverpool topped the league phase last year but then faced the daunting task of playing eventual winner Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16. Arne Slot's team is going about it differently this time and may have to navigate a playoff to advance.

Liverpool is at Marseille on Wednesday and could be boosted by the return of Mohamed Salah from the Africa Cup of Nations. He was put straight back into Liverpool's starting lineup after he headed off to represent his country last month with doubts hanging over his future.

Salah was unhappy with his lack of game time and aired his views in an explosive interview. But manager Arne Slot immediately recalled him for the crunch trip to Marseille.

Barcelona was runner-up to Liverpool during the league phase last year and progressed to the semifinals before losing to Inter Milan.

Now it is playing catch up as it heads to Slavia Prague.

Chelsea's new coach Liam Rosenior takes charge of his first Champions League game with the club hosting Pafos.

Rosenior replaced Club World Cup-winning coach Enzo Maresca this month after leading Chelsea's sister club Strasbourg to the top of the third-tier Conference League standings.

Bayern Munich — one of this season's favorites — hosts Union Saint-Gilloise.

Tiny Qarabag is making a big impression in the competition and picked up its third win in the league phase after Bahlul Mustafazade scored deep into stoppage time on to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2.

The Azerbaijani team edged closer to securing a place in the playoffs with just one game remaining thanks to its late comeback, which also confirmed Frankfurt's elimination.

Camilo Duran had put the home team ahead in the fourth minute, but Frankfurt responded through Can Uzun and Fares Chaibi. Duran leveled the game in the 80th before Mustafazade's winner in the 94th.

A Marcos Llorente own goal denied Atletico Madrid victory as the Spanish team drew 1-1 at Galatasaray. Giuliano Simeone scored early for Atletico before Llorente's own goal in the 20th.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Qarabag's Camilo Duran, right, holds the Player of the Match award after the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Qarabag and Eintracht Frankfurt in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo)

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Burnley in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Barcelona's Marcus Rashford in action during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot enters to the pitch prior to the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Burnley in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

AL-HOL, Syria (AP) — The U.S. military said Wednesday it has started transferring detainees from the Islamic State group being held in northeastern Syria to secure facilities in Iraq.

The move came after Syrian government forces took control of a sprawling camp, housing thousands of mostly women and children, from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which withdrew as part of a ceasefire. Troops on Monday seized a prison in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh, where some IS detainees escaped and many were recaptured, state media reported.

The Kurdish-led SDF still controls more than a dozen detention facilities holding around 9,000 IS members, but is slated to hand the prisons over to government control under a peace process that also is supposed to eventually merge the SDF with government forces.

U.S. Central Command said the first transfer involved 150 IS members, who were taken from Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakeh to “secure locations” in Iraq. The statement said that up to to 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.

“Facilitating the orderly and secure transfer of ISIS detainees is critical to preventing a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander.

CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement that during a call with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Cooper had urged Syrian forces to adhere to the ceasefire and “expressed expectations for Syrian forces as well as all other forces to avoid any actions that could interfere” with the transfer of prisoners.

U.S. troops and their partner forces detained more than 300 IS operatives in Syria and killed over 20 last year, the U.S. military said. An ambush last month by IS militants killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in Syria.

The Iraqi army confirmed that the first batch of prisoners had arrived and said others would arrive in numbers to be determined later "with the aim of containing the threat posed by these individuals, who are considered first-tier leaders within terrorist organizations.”

An Iraqi intelligence general told The Associated Press that an agreement was reached with the U.S. to transfer 7,000 detainees from Syria to Iraq. He said that Iraqi authorities received the first batch of 144 detainees Wednesday night, after which they will be transferred in stages by aircraft to Iraqi prisons.

The general, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the IS members who will be transferred to Iraq are of various nationalities. He said they include around 240 Tunisians, in addition to others from countries including Tajikistan and Kazakhstan and some Syrians.

"They will be interrogated and then put on trial. All of them are commanders in ISIS and are considered highly dangerous,” the general said. He added that in previous years, 3,194 Iraqi detainees and 47 French citizens have been transferred to Iraq.

The IS group was defeated in Iraq in 2017, and in Syria two years later, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries. The SDF played a major role in defeating the IS.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. envoy to Syria, said in a statement on Tuesday that the SDF’s role as the primary anti-IS force “has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities.”

He added that the “recent developments show the U.S. actively facilitating this transition, rather than prolonging a separate SDF role.”

Syria's Foreign Ministry welcomed the transfer of detainees, calling it “an important step to strengthen security and stability.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a convoy of armored vehicles with government forces moved into the al-Hol camp following two weeks of clashes with the SDF, which appeared closer to merging into the Syrian military, in accordance with government demands.

At its peak in 2019, some 73,000 people were living at al-Hol. Their number has since declined with some countries repatriating their citizens.

The camp is still home to some 24,000, most of them women and children. They include about 14,500 Syrians and nearly 3,000 Iraqis. Some 6,500 others, many of them loyal IS supporters who came from around the world to join the extremist group, are separately held in a highly secured section of the camp.

An AP journalist visited the camp on Wednesday as scores of soldiers guarded the main entrance.

“Go inside and see the chaos that is happening. There are no clinics, no running water, no bread and no vegetables,” an Iraqi woman living in the camp said, after SDF fighters left the area. The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, called on the Iraqi government to repatriate her.

Another Iraqi woman, who also refused to give her full name out of fear of reprisal, said her brother and uncle were being held in jails in northeast Syria and called on authorities to release them so that they can all return home.

The Syrian government and the SDF announced a new four-day truce late Tuesday after a previous ceasefire broke down.

A drone attack on Wednesday killed seven soldiers and wounded 20 while they were inspecting a weapons depot abandoned by SDF fighters in the northeastern town of Yaaroubiyeh, the Defense Ministry said, blaming the Kurdish forces. The SDF said the blast was triggered by soldiers moving the ammunition.

The SDF and the government traded blame over the escape Monday of IS members from the Shaddedeh prison on the border with Iraq. Under a deal announced Sunday, government forces were to take over the control of the prisons but the transfer did not go smoothly.

The largest detention facility, Gweiran Prison, now called Panorama, has held about 4,500 IS-linked detainees and was still in SDF hands.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Hassan Abdul-Ghani said in televised comments Tuesday that the government “was and still is in direct confrontation” with the IS. He added that authorities are ready to take over prisons with IS members.

Mroue reported from Beirut and Abdul-Zahra from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.

Syrian government soldiers sit atop a vehicle as they patrol inside the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People stand inside the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Local youth play atop of a damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at the site of clashes with Syrian government forces in the village of al-Hol in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government forces patrol inside the al-Hol camp as smoke rises from an arms depot explosion in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Sundus al-Hassan, 10, poses for a picture inside the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government soldiers light a small fire as they wait to enter the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government soldiers lie on the ground as they wait with others to enter the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government forces with their luggage wait to enter the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government forces in armored vehicles enter the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government troops stand guard at the entrance to the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)