The UEFA Champions League returned for its first round of 16 fixtures last week, with the second set of four taking place throughout this week.
Despite being just the first leg of the round of 16, drama has already been displayed in the four games to have been played so far. We expect more is to come with some huge clashes taking place this week.
With this, read on as we pick out five talking points ahead of this week’s UCL matches:
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1 – Diego Simeone’s reaches a century
Tuesday night marks a special occasion for Diego Simeone for a multitude of reasons. Not only will he match up tactically with his former teammate Simone Inzaghi, but Simeone will also be returning to the San Siro as manager having previously been a player there for two seasons.
The long-term Atletico Madrid coach is also set to become just the ninth manager to manage his side in 100 Champions League games, putting him in the company of some of the greatest coaches in the Champions League era.
2 – Inter to hit 300 European goals?
Diego Simeone will not be the only one making history in this matchup between Inter and Atletico Madrid though, with Inter looking to reach a landmark of their own.
Last season’s runners-up are just two goals away from scoring a total of 300 goals in the European Cup/Champions League and with the way they have been playing this season, they will be confident of reaching this milestone in this game.
3 – In-form matchup
Despite not being one of the ties with the glamorous attraction of involving one of Europe’s perceived super teams, PSV Eindhoven vs Borussia Dortmund could prove to be one of the best matchups of the round of 16.
PSV have been simply superb this season, enjoying a league campaign that sees them currently unbeaten while drawing just two of their 22 games so far. They have only taken two losses across the entirety of all competitions this season, coming in the form of a 4-0 loss to Arsenal in the Champions League group stage and 1-0 in the KNVB Beker to Feyenoord.
Borussia Dortmund, while not quite as impressive as PSV across the season, come into the game with no losses in their last nine competitive games. These games have seen Dortmund score plenty of goals with them netting 17 goals in this time.
4 – Arsenal to change their European fortunes?
Arsenal made their first appearance in the Champions League this season for the first time since the 2016/17 campaign, a year in which they exited in embarrassing fashion. A 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich in the round of 16 saw Arsenal crash out of the Champions League for the seventh successive time at this stage of the competition.
The Gunners will be coming into this one hoping they can finally change this abysmal run. While many will deem that Arsenal have been given a favourable draw, Porto are unlikely to be easy opponents and could be yet another stumbling block for North Londoners in Europe.
5 – Out-of-form league champions to meet
Last season’s Serie A and La Liga champions have put up rather disappointing defences of their titles this time around. Barcelona are in third place and eight points adrift of league leaders Real Madrid, while Napoli are faring even worse sitting in ninth after 24 games.
Both sides will likely be looking to the Champions League to try and recover their poor campaigns, and this could be the perfect start for either of these sides to begin the salvaging of their seasons. Napoli will be boosted by the return of Super Eagle star Victor Osimhen.
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