Harry Kane is a Ballon d'Or dark horse! Winners & losers from Champions League last-16 as Bayern Munich frontman makes big statement and Marco Asensio-led Aston Villa sparkle - but Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid blow it again

After PSG's 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on October 1, for which Barcelona flop Ousmane Dembele was dropped for after an argument with Luis Enrique, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that the French giants were on course for yet another season of European disappointment. PSG also lost to Bayern and Atletico in the league phase, compounding an underwhelming start to the post-Kylian Mbappe era.

But Luis Enrique never doubted himself, or the potential of his young squad, and his patience has paid off. Now, PSG suddenly look like the best team in Europe. They were incredibly unfortunate to lose the first leg of their last-16 tie after battering runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool, and outplayed them again at Anfield, eventually emerging victorious after a dramatic penalty shootout.

Dembele is flying as the focal point in a frightening front-three alongside Bradley Barcola and January signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; Vitinha is proving to be a massive upgrade on Marco Verratti; Marquinhos and Willian Pacho have formed a rock-solid centre-back partnership, and Gianluigi Donnarumma has been almost faultless between the sticks. It's Luis Enrique who deserves most of the credit, though, because in the space of just four months, he's transformed PSG into something they've never been before: one of the genuine favourites to win the Champions League.

Before Tuesday, you'd have been hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't view Mohamed Salah as the frontrunner for the 2025 Ballon d'Or. Liverpool's 'Egyptian King' had 53 goal contributions to his name from 41 appearances in all competitions this season, including seven in the Champions League, and the expectation was he would continue his march towards a maiden Golden Ball by masterminding PSG's downfall at Anfield.

But after 120 minutes of pure frustration, the picture looks far less rosy for Salah. Nuno Mendes pocketed the 32-year-old at Parc des Princes and repeated the trick on Merseyside, albeit after an early burst from Liverpool that saw Salah spurn two golden opportunities.

Salah, who was visibly emotional after the final whistle, will surely be replaying those moments in his head for weeks to come. It doesn't matter how many more records Salah goes onto break en route to his second Premier League title, the Ballon d'Or is almost certainly out of his reach now, because his main rivals have all made it through to the latter stages of the Champions League.

The Liverpool talisman has blown his chance at being crowned the world's best player. Even if he ends up signing a new contract at Anfield, it's very difficult to imagine him repeating his superhuman exploits of this term. Salah has turned up on the biggest stage more than any other Liverpool player over the last seven years, but he'll pay a steep price for going missing against the Ligue 1 champions.

Bayern stormed into the quarter-finals with a 5-0 aggregate victory over domestic rivals Bayer Leverkusen, and Kane grabbed three of the goals to take his overall tally in the Champions League for 2024-25 to 10 in 11 games - the most ever scored by an Englishman in a single season of the competition. Kane also provided the assist for Alphonso Davies to wrap up the 2-0 second-leg win at the BayArena, which saw him become only the second Three Lions player to ever reach 50 goal involvements in the Champions League after a certain David Beckham.

Those are remarkable achievements, and ex-Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany is in no doubt about how important Kane is to his Bayern team. "It helps when you have a top player who wants to run and fight for the team like a youth player," the head coach said on Tuesday. "I played against him as an opponent and he has become better with age."

Indeed, Kane seems to have reached an even higher level than he did at Tottenham. Bayern are still not convincing everyone as a collective, but must be considered genuine Champions League contenders due to Kane's presence alone, with the England captain thriving as more of an out-and-out No.9 under Kompany.

Kane's trophy curse will end in May, because barring a dramatic collapse, Bayern are destined to win back the Bundesliga title, and they will also take some beating in Europe. There are others ahead of Kane in the Ballon d'Or race at the moment, but he's a real dark horse, and will be worth backing if he keeps up his prolific scoring rate.

Xabi Alonso has done a remarkable job at Bayer Leverkusen. He secured legendary status after leading the club to a historic domestic double last season, and showed great loyalty by penning a new contract instead of buying into links with his old club Real Madrid.

But it has been disappointing how easily his side have surrendered the title of Germany's best team back to Bayern. Leverkusen have been unable to match the Bavarians' consistency in the Bundesliga this time around, falling eight points off the pace with only nine games to go, and they have only the DFB-Pokal to play for this term after being taught a harsh lesson in the Champions League.

Leverkusen let the first leg of their last-16 tie get away from them after a red card to Nordi Mukiele, and never looked like staging a comeback in the second. "To get to the next level is not easy. Bayern is a different level in this competition," Alonso admitted after the defeat.

Those words will be tough to swallow for the Leverkusen faithful given the quality Alonso still has at his disposal. This season must be considered a serious failure, and Alonso's inability to keep the team progressing will adversely affect his chances of landing a job at one of Europe's big boys in the near future.

What a signing Marco Asensio has been for Aston Villa! The former Real Madrid man has hit seven goals in his first nine appearances since joining Unai Emery's side on loan, with three of those coming in their Champions League triumph over Club Brugge.

Asensio hit a stunning brace in the second leg to cap a superb all-round performance, leaving Emery delighted. "He took the responsibility to do his task like we planned, scoring goals," said the Villa boss. "His skills, it is in my idea structurally and tactically, how I want to build the team. One player like him is very important."

PSG never saw the best of Asensio, but the three-time Champions League winner is showing that class is permanent in the West Midlands. Asensio is well on his way to earning a permanent move to Villa, and will edge another step closer if he can torment his parent club in the quarter-finals.

Under current UEFA rules, Asensio is eligible to face PSG despite featuring for them in the earlier stages of the competition. It doesn't sound like he will be taking it easy on his employers either, as he told reporters: "[I'm] very comfortable. Very happy with the team-mates, the fans and the city. [But] we want more." If PSG don't keep Asensio under wraps, Villa's fairy-tale Champions League journey could well continue.

Real Madrid knocked Atletico out of the Champions League in four consecutive seasons between 2013 and 2017, getting the better of their local rivals in two finals. Diego Simeone's troops gave everything on each occasion, but Real always made them pay for a lack of risk-taking as their relentless pressure eventually told.

It was the same old story this time around. Real edged the first leg of their last-16 clash 2-1, but Atletico levelled the aggregate scoreline inside the first minute of the second leg, with England international Conor Gallagher crashing home from close range.

Los Blancos were stunned, and Atletico could - and should - have gone for the jugular. However, Simeone let Real off the hook by instructing his players to sit back and look for counters, just as he always does, and the tie went all the way to penalties.

Yes, Atletico were unlucky with the double-contact call against Julian Alvarez in the shootout (the Argentine would have at least been allowed a retake in an ideal world), but penalties are always a lottery. Simeone's negative tactics cost Atletico a place in the quarter-finals, not VAR.

The Argentine manager has received widespread credit for his work in the Spanish capital over the last 14 years, but the whole underdog shtick is getting old now. Atletico have spent a fortune in recent years, but are still very much in Real's shadow. It's easy to imagine a forward-thinking coach getting much more out of this talented Atleti squad, which will also miss out on the La Liga title again if Simeone doesn't alter the habit of a lifetime.

"His finishing has been out of this world; he’s captain of the club and he's been an absolute revelation," Owen Hargreaves told TNT Sports after watching Raphinha inspire Barcelona to a 3-1 second-leg win over Benfica. "I think currently you would say he might be in the lead for the Ballon d'Or." The former Bayern Munich and Manchester United star was spot on in his assessment, except for the word "might".

Raphinha is, without any shadow of a doubt, the favourite for the 2025 Ballon d'Or. The former Leeds and Rennes winger has been the driving force in Hansi Flick's resurgent Barcelona side, racking up 46 goal involvements across all competitions, and he's saved many of his best performances for the Champions League.

Indeed, after hitting two goals against Benfica on Tuesday, Raphinha is sitting top of the Champions League scoring charts ahead of world-class centre-forwards like Kane, his Barcelona team-mate Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland. That's some feat considering the Brazilian isn't even Barca's penalty-taker.

Raphinha can seemingly score from any angle and distance, as evidenced by his sublime long-range winner away at Benfica in the first leg last week. His passing is out-of-this-world, too, and no one in the Barca team puts in more hard yards. Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal might still get more headlines than Raphinha, but he's Barca's main man, and the finest footballer on the planet right now.

PSV pulled off the biggest shock of the knockout stage play-offs by beating Italian giants Juventus 4-3 on aggregate. Peter Bosz's side defended brilliantly and tore Juve to shreds at the other end of the pitch, with Ivan Perisic and Luuk de Jong both rolling back the years while exciting Moroccan star Ismael Saibari pulled the strings in the No.10 role.

The Dutch outfit had also beaten Liverpool and drawn with PSG in the league phase, so being pitted against Arsenal in the last 16 should not have provoked any fear in Bosz's ranks. But almost every player on the pitch for PSV looked scared in their 7-1 first-leg defeat at the Phillips Stadion.

That was an unforgivable result, especially against an Arsenal side missing Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus. Mikel Arteta's makeshift frontline dismantled PSV, with Bosz left furious after the "humiliating and surprising" rollicking his team were given in front of their own fans.

PSV have had to deal with an injury crisis of their own, and American stars Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi were certainly missed, but that's no excuse for such a horrendous performance. They didn't save any face in the second leg either, as Arsenal held PSV to a 2-2 draw despite Arteta making seven changes and fielding an experimental line up.

The chastening 9-3 aggregate loss will go down as one of the darkest moments in PSV's European history, and Bosz could face some uncomfortable questions over his future.