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| The trophy everyone's eyes are on |
Barcelona-Manchester City
This
appears to be the most interesting tie of the round by a fair margin. Manuel
Pellegrini’s team is having a great season in the EPL where they’re 3 points
behind Chelsea with a match in hand and they have a terrific record at home
having 11 of the 12 matches they played. In the last match of the group stage
they beat Bayern Munich 2-0 and ended their 10 match winning streak in the
competition, which went back to the R of 16 last year, when they lost to
Arsenal at home. Unfortunately for them Sergio Aguero, arguably their best
player this season, will miss the first match due to an injury he picked up in
January but will be back for the second match.
They were definitely the runner up every group winner wanted to avoid
and weren’t seeded in the group stage only due to the poor seeding system from
Uefa.
Barcelona
got off to a great start this season with seven wins a row but the team
declined a bit the second half of the season and looked particularly vulnerable
in defense. They’re still battling the league with both Madrid teams and will
face Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final, but an elimination this early from
the competition would make the season a failure undoubtedly. Barcelona have
reached at least the semi finals in the Champions League every year since 2008,
winning it twice, in 2009 and 2011 (beating Manchester United in the final in
both occasions) and have been the best team in the competition in recent times.
-Prediction: Barcelona 3 Manchester City 2
Bayer Leverkusen-Paris Saint Germain
Bayer
Leverkusen-Paris Saint Germain is arguably the weakest match up in the round. The
German side advanced despite receiving 9 goals combined in the two matches
against group leaders Manchester United. They were able to take advantage of
the weakest group of the competition and beat Real Sociedad and Shaktar Donetsk
for a place in the second round. In the Bundesliga they are in second place but
far below Bayern Munich who have the title pretty much secured despite a big
part of the tournament has to be played yet.
PSG had
a comfortable first round but they didn’t face any big opposition (their rivals
were Benfica, Olympiakos and Anderletch). Last year they gave Barcelona a run for
their money and were close to causing the upset in the quarter finals. The
squad has improved now and they’re leading the Ligue 1 with only one loss
during the whole season and only with Monaco offering some challenge. They’re
definitely the favorites to advance and equal the stage they reached the past
season.
-Prediction: PSG 4 Bayer Leverkusen 1
Galatasaray-Chelsea
The
match between Chelsea and Galatasaray is another one that has a clear favorite
on paper. The Londoners had an easy first round despite two shocking loses
against Basel and had no trouble advancing to the second round, making amends
for last season’s fiasco when they became the first defending champions being
eliminated in the first round. After a slow start they’re leading the Premier
League ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal in a thrilling race that looks as
it will be the closest one in recent times in the league. Mourinho hasn’t lost before
the semi finals of the Champions League in his last four participations (one
with Inter, three with Real Madrid) and will be looking to reach the final for
the first time at Chelsea.
Galatasaray advanced despite only
earning 7 points in the first round (only team that advanced with fewer points
was Zenit, with 6). They were easily outclassed by Real Madrid in both matches
and even lost to Copenhaguen, one of the worst teams in the competition, but a
late goal from Sneidjer in a very controversial match vs Juventus where they
pitch was unplayable gave them the win they needed to secure a place in the
last 16.
-Prediction: Chelsea 4 Galatasaray 1
Atlético Madrid-AC Milan
Atlético were one of the most
impressive sides in the first round only dropping two points with 5 wins and a
draw. They only received 3 goals in 6 matches which speaks largely about the
quality of their defense (and scored a not too shabby figure of 15 goals).
Under Simeone they built a team that’s arguably the best they had since 1996 when
they won the domestic double. Not only they were impressive so far in Europe,
but in la Liga they look stronger than ever and for the first time in ages
there’s team outside Barcelona and Real Madrid battling for the title and with
a serious chance of winning it. During the winter transfer season they brought
on a loan the midfielder Diego Ribas, who shined in the team that won the
Europa League in 2012. After winning said title in 2010 and 2012, now they want
to go for the top prize in Europe.
Milan on the other hand has one
of their weakest sides in quite a while. They’re having a horrible season in
Serie A, where they’re only a few points away from relegation and far away from
European positions. Despite that they were able to advance to the second round
of this year’s Champions League, but not without a struggle. They had a hard
time against Ajax in the last match and were only able to get a goalless draw
in the last match when a defeat would’ve sent them home. After Allegri was sacked the team improved a
bit with Clarence Seedorf on the bench but not enough to consider the team the
favorite against Atlético.
-Prediction: Atlético 3 Milan 2
Zenit-Borussia Dortmund
Zenit is undoubtedly the biggest
surprise of the competition so far. Despite only collecting 6 points in the
first round they managed to advance to the knockout stages and send Porto to
the Europa League. Despite Dortmund has
struggled a bit compared to recent seasons it’s hard to imagine they can offer
a strong resistance, but they already proved to be capable of surprises in 2008
when they won the Uefa Cup and after that beat Machester United in the European
Super Cup.
Dortmund finished 1st
in their group but they were only minutes away of going to the Europa League
until a late goal from Grosskreutz gave them the win vs Marseille in
France. Dortmund, Arsenal and Napoli all
finished with 12 points in the “group of death”, but the Germans got the top
position because of goal difference. The season has been a nightmare for them
in terms of injuries which have caused them to be relegated from the
championship battle in the Bundesliga (even failed to win a match two months in
a row in December and January). In the
Champions league they looked strong nonetheless and are looking to repeat last
season’s performance when they lost the final in a very close match with Bayern
Munich.
-Prediction: Borussia Dortmund 4 Zenit 1
Bayern Munich-Arsenal
Bayern Munich is probably the
biggest favorite for the title this season. After being close to glory in 2010
and 2012, losing in the final in both occasions, they were finally able to win
their 5th Champions League title last season when they beat Borussia
Dortmund 2-1 in the final. Nobody defended the title since the new format was
introduced in 1993, but they have the squad and consistency to be the first
team ever to do so. After Heynckes left the coaching role after winning the
treble there were doubts about how the team would respond, but those were
quickly buried by Guardiola. A title in the European Supercup against Mourinho’s
Chelsea, another title in the Club World Cup and a devastating showing so far
in the Bundesliga where the team is cruising to the title. The team is pretty
much the same side that won everything last year with a few new faces, mainly
Mario Gotze who came from rivals Borussia Dortmund and Thiago Alcantara, whom
Guardiola coached before at Barcelona.
Arsenal has been one of the most
improved sides this season. They’re battling for the Premier League and had a
great performance in the first round of the UCL. They’re looking to finally end
the title drought that goes back to 2005, when they won the F.A Cup. The draw hasn’t been kind to them as most of
the recent occasions. They had to face Barcelona twice when they were at their
peak of their powers, in 2010 and 2011, and now they have to face Bayern for
the second year in a row when they’re undoubtedly the best team in the world. A
win would certainly give them a huge boost to reach the final, stage they
hadn’t reached since their lonely appearance in 2006, when they lost to
Barcelona, but a loss this early would probably be better than one in the QF or
SF as they’ll have the chance to focus all their energy on winning the EPL and
end the aforementioned drought. They lack a world class striker but they have
one of the strongest midfields in the world in terms of quality and quantity
with the likes of Cazorla, Rosicky, Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere and Arteta. The
crushing 5-0 defeat to Liverpool a week ago hurt the team moral but this is a
golden opportunity to restore it.
-Prediction: Bayern Munich 4 Arsenal 2
Olympiakos-Manchester
United
Manchester
United is having a very disappointing season so far in England but that hasn’t
been the case in the Champions League. They dominated the group with ease and
won it without losing a match (Though it has to be said none of their rivals
could’ve really been a serious threat to them).
After 27 years in charge, Alex Ferguson left the club last summer and Moyes
replaced him. The poor showing in the league so far, where they are in 7th
place and outside UCL qualification, earned him harsh criticism but the team’s
performance in Europe so far has been what United is used to. They reached the final 3 times since 2008 but
only one it once, in 2008, losing against Barcelona in the other two occasions,
2009 and 2011.
Olympiakos
struggled to advance to the 2nd round; they needed a win in the last
match and hope that the goal difference would be better than Benfica’s. A
convincing 3-1 victory at home versus Anderletch was enough for that. They’re
one of the weakest time left in the draw and although United aren’t at his best
this season it still hard to imagine the may lose this tie.
-Prediction: Manchester United 4 Olympiakos 1
Real Madrid-Schalke
04
After they conquered the UCL
in 2002 with that historical volley from Zidane it looked like it was only a
matter of time before they’d win their 10th Champions League title,
but since that it’s been frustration after frustration for the Spanish giants
in the competition. From 2005 to 2010
they were never even able to even reach the quarter finals and after that they
had three straight heartbreaking defeats in the SF against Barcelona, Bayern
Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively.
Now they have in Carlo Ancelotti a specialist in this competition, with
Milan he won it twice in 2003 and 2007 and reached another final in 2005.
The
last few years have been very successful for Schalke, with great showings in
the Bundesliga and qualifying consistently for European competitions. In 2011 they were the biggest surprise in the
Champions League and reached the semi finals beating Valencia and
Internazionale in the way, before losing to Manchester United. They are having a solid season so far and
consolidated themselves in the TOP 4 in the Bundesliga but it’s unlikely they’ll
have a shot of winning this tie.
-Prediction: Real Madrid 5 Schalke 2
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