It was something of a surprise that three Spanish clubs made it to the last eight of the Champions League. La Liga is generally regarded as in decline and none of the three sides left after the group stage won its first leg. But all three won the second leg, two of them away from home, and all three face-tested connections in a quarter-final that brought no single-country conflicts.
Of the three English sides, Chelsea is possibly the toughest test against Spanish league leader Real Madrid in a clash of the defending champions and the most successful side in European history. Last year runners-up Manchester City will face Atlético Madrid, while Liverpool felt it was lucky to draw a Benfica team that was extremely happy to eliminate Ajax. In the only quarter-final without an English side, Villarreal face Bayern Munich.
The draw also paved the way for the final: Chelsea-Real Madrid winner Tie will face Manchester City-Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals, while Villarreal-Bayern and Benfica- winners Liverpool and the hit.
Here we look forward to the four quarter finals.
Chelsea vs. Real Madrid
Friday’s deadline for offers from potential owners is the first step to finding out what Chelsea’s will look like in the future, but for now, there is a sense of disjunction between the player’s side and the rest of the club. While Thomas Tuchel seems to have handled the chaos as well as any coach could have done, elements of the board and fan base still seem to lie in denying about the scale that Chelsea are hiding. every game has been won and despite changes in travel arrangements, the mood of the moment seems to be the setting that is shrinking in uncertainty.
Tuchel’s approach has so far proved to be ideal for European competition. Chelsea beat Real Madrid more comfortably in the semi-finals of last season than the 3-1 overall score says. Madrid may be 10 points clear in La Liga, but this is an aging side that is still dependent on aging stars. Luka Modrić and Karim Benzema have both scored in the last 16 victories over Paris Saint-Germain, but the sense remains that this is a team that can be bullied by faster and stronger opponents.
Forecast: Chelsea wins
Manchester City vs. Atlético Madrid
It says a lot about the financial differences in modern football and how brilliant Manchester City was under Pep Guardiola that the current form of form counts as something that could be a wobble. The city have lost just two of their last 27 games, one of which was a dead gum at the end of the Champions League group stage. It drew just three of those 27 – with one of those coming up against Sporting in the last 16 after convincingly winning the first leg. And yet, a Premier League lead that seemed insurmountable has been reduced to a point while the failure at Crystal Palace has marked, at least in part, the resurgence of the central striker’s need for debate. .
But the biggest question, of course, concerns Guardiola and his tendency to switch tactics in major Champions League games at once. That will cost him in particular against Liverpool in 2018, against Lyon ’20 and against Chelsea in the final last season. The pattern, presumably, began after his Bayern team’s defeat to Atlético in the ’16 semi-final, a hardly credible Atlético smash-and-grab.
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Forecast: Manchester City wins
Villarreal vs. Bayern Munich
For all the jealous remarks that some fans in the Bundesliga throw at his ownership model, it has produced a one-sided league that is so dominated by Bayern that the only right way to judge it is in major European relations, an environment in which its 34-year-old coach Julian Nagelsmann has not yet been baptized. A handful of injuries have provoked a recent wobble in the league – just 17 points from their last nine games – and have reopened a vague possibility of a title race. Leon Goretzka and Corentin Tolisso should both return at the end of the month, but until they do, Joshua Kimmich will remain the only natural defensive midfielder in the squad. Alphonso Davies, who suffered heart problems after COVID-19, may be out a little longer. Without the quick left back, Nagelsmann opted for a back-three against RB Salzburg in the last 16 and, although Bayern won 8-2 overall, they sometimes looked extremely vulnerable to balls played through the channels were.
Villarreal are a massive underdog, but Unai Emery has repeatedly shown how adept he is at setting up teams to win knockout connections against supposedly better opponents, as he did in the last round against Juventus.
Predict: Bayern win
Benfica vs. Liverpool
Liverpool have played 18 games this year, winning 14 of them. Of the other four, one was a scoreless draw in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final before Liverpool went on to win the tie. One was the final of the Carabao Cup, which won it on penalties. The only defeat was 1-0 against Inter, who had already won the first leg 2-0, leaving a 2-2 league draw against European champions Chelsea. As a form of form it is quite unimpeachable and it has given the title race new life. With Luis Díaz joining the forward line in January, Jürgen Klopp, understandably, described this as the greatest squad he has ever managed. If Liverpool can keep that form for a few more months, it could be considered the biggest side Liverpool have ever had.
If there is any doubt, it is that the high line can sometimes be taken out – Chelsea, Inter and West Ham have all threatened to exploit that in recent weeks without quite finishing it. In this sense, the pace of Rafa Silva represents probably the biggest Benfica threat.
Forecast: Liverpool win
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