English clubs aim to avoid Champions League wipeout with Bodø/Glimt on brink of quarterfinals

English teams are playing this week to avoid a wipeout in the Champions League round of 16, with the reputation of the Premier League at stake.

All six English clubs — a record entry for any country in the competition — failed to win a first-leg game last week and only Premier League leader Arsenal is now clearly favored to advance.

Arsenal hosts Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday with the teams tied 1-1 and shapes as the most likely to represent Europe’s richest league in the quarterfinals.

A hat trick of three-goal losses — albeit all on the road against high-class opponents — had many commentators using a famous saying credited to Michel Platini about the tiring English season.

English soccer is “lions in the winter, lambs by the spring,” Platini said while UEFA president from 2007-15, quoting a phrase that seems to have come from the former Yugoslavia decades ago.

On Tuesday, Manchester City will start 3-0 down at home to Real Madrid and Chelsea faces a 5-2 deficit against defending champion Paris Saint-Germain.

Tottenham trails 5-2 at home to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, when Liverpool will hope the aura of its Anfield home can help overcome a 1-0 loss in the first leg at Galatasaray. Newcastle goes to Barcelona tied at 1-1.

In the two games without an English team, the remarkable Norwegian underdog Bodø/Glimt takes a 3-0 lead to Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday and Bayern Munich is up 6-1 hosting Atalanta on Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the round of 16 picture:

Ten years ago, Real Madrid promoted a former player from within the club in January as a largely untested first-team coach after giving his storied predecessor just a few months until firing him.

It worked out well for Zinedine Zidane. He won that season’s Champions League title — and the next two after that — on replacing Rafa Benitez, who had himself once lifted the trophy with Liverpool.

A decade on, Álvaro Arbeloa is Madrid coach in the same circumstances as Zidane, who he played for just rarely in that 2015-16 season.

Arbeloa passed his biggest coaching test last week against Man City, two months since being the surprise internal choice to replace Xabi Alonso. The latter, another former Madrid star, had been lured last year from a hugely successful job at Leverkusen.

Inspiration for the win against Pep Guardiola’s Man City was captain Fede Valverde, who scored a stunning first-half hat trick thriving in a team that was without injured superstars Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham.

Mbappé is set to return to action from his left knee injury in Manchester, at a stadium where he scored one goal in each of the three times he played there for Monaco, then PSG and Madrid.

Bodø/Glimt should have no fear going to Sporting’s 52,000-seat José Alvalade Stadium that is more than six times bigger than its home stadium.

Coach Kjetil Knutsen's team already won this year in front of bigger crowds and intense atmospheres at Atletico’s Metropolitano Stadium and the San Siro against Inter Milan.

Glimt’s shocking 2-1 win at Atletico in the last round of league-phase games in January meant squeezing into the 24-team knockout phase placed 23rd in the 36-team standings. A 2-1 win in Milan completed a 5-2 scoreline in the knockout playoffs round in February.

Both teams should be fresh in Lisbon after skipping scheduled domestic league games at the weekend to help them prepare.

Before kickoff at Stamford Bridge, many eyes will be on Chelsea’s players to see if they try to do another team huddle around the center spot.

It provoked a bizarre image Saturday when Premier League referee Paul Tierney was encircled by Chelsea huddling before a 1-0 loss to Newcastle. The widespread reaction across English soccer was derision for the huddle and Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior’s claim his players wanted to show “respect for the ball.”

In Paris last week, Chelsea huddled before kickoff in both halves and was booed by PSG fans the second time.

The positioning of Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić will be keenly watched Tuesday.

If Bodø/Glimt goes through then Arsenal or Leverkusen will be next to visit the 8,000-seat Aspmyra Stadium inside the Arctic Circle for the first leg on April 7 or 8.

Real Madrid and Bayern are on course to meet in the knockout phase for the 11th time in the Champions League era that started in 1992.

Despite combining to be European champion 21 times, record 15-time winner Madrid and six-time winner Bayern never met in the final in the competition’s 71-season history. They have clashed in eight semifinals.

Their half of the draw also includes PSG, Chelsea, Liverpool and Galatasaray who will make up one of the quarterfinals.

The other quarterfinal looks likely to see Atletico play Barcelona or Newcastle.

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Chelsea players prepare for the second half of the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, in Paris, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Bodo/Glimt's Ole Didrik Blomberg, right, scores their side's second goal of the game during the Champions League soccer match between Bodo/Glimt and Sporting Lisbon, in Bodo, Norway, Wednesday March 11, 2026. (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Arsenal's Kai Havertz, center, celebrates reserved beside Arsenal's Declan Rice, right, and Arsenal's Martin Zubimendi, left, after scoring a penalty against his former club during the Champions League round of 16 first leg soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal FC in Leverkusen, Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola reacts during a first leg round of 16 Champions League soccer match between Real Madrid and Manchester City in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. ((AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, center, celebrates after scoring during a first leg round of 16 Champions League soccer match between Real Madrid and Manchester City in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway's first-quarter profit more than doubled as the value of its investments grew and most of its businesses improved.

The conglomerate that Warren Buffett built released its earnings report Saturday as thousands of shareholders streamed into an arena in Omaha, Nebraska, for the annual meeting. Berkshire said it earned $10.1 billion, or $7,027 per Class A share. That's up significantly from last year's $4.6 billion, or $3,200 per A share.

This year's meeting is the first one that Buffett won't lead from the stage after Greg Abel was promoted to CEO in January. Attendance at the meeting is expected to be down somewhat this year.

The paper value of Berkshire’s investments always has a major impact on its bottom line even though it hasn’t sold most of its stocks, but it did record a $5.8 billion gain on the stocks it did sell during the quarter. The value of the portfolio did slip to just over $288 billion.

Berkshire’s massive cash pile continues to grow, and it hit $397.4 billion at the end of the first quarter.

Buffett has long encouraged investors to pay more attention to the company’s operating earnings that exclude investments to get a better idea of how its companies are performing. The operating earnings grew to $11.3 billion, or $7,889.44 per Class A share, from last year’s $9.6 billion, or $6,703.41 per Class A share. The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted earnings of $7,611.35 per A share.

Berkshire said its profits got a $249 million boost from its foreign currency holdings because of the exchange rate. A year ago, Berkshire recorded a $713 million loss on foreign currencies.

Most of Berkshire's varied businesses reported better operating earnings this year. The insurance unit that includes Geico and a number of other companies reported an underwriting profit of $1.7 billion, up from $1.34 billion last year. Profits also grew somewhat at BNSF railroad and Berkshire's utility and manufacturing companies.

Author and former Omaha World-Herald reporter Steve Jordan signs copies of his book at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders event on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Josh Funk)

A Berkshire Hathaway shareholder takes a selfie in front of a Pilot truck stops semi truck with pictures of Berkshire's top two executives behind the wheel: new CEO Greg Abel and Chairman Warren Buffett on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Josh Funk)

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders stand in line to purchase Squishmallows versions of the company's top executives: CEO Greg Abel, Chairman Warren Buffett and former Vice Chairman Charlie Munger on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Josh Funk)

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders line up to buy products at the Pampered Chef booth behind a cutout of longtime CEO Warren Buffett who stepped down in January on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Josh Funk)

Shareholders line up to take pictures with depictions of Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO Greg Abel and Chairman Warren Buffett on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Josh Funk)