This week sees the first four sides earn their spot in this season’s UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, with the next four being confirmed in the matches next week.
The Champions League has been a source of huge drama, suspense, and surprises throughout its history, and we anticipate more excitement in the upcoming matches this week.
Read on as we pick our top four talking points ahead of this week’s UCL fixtures:
1 – Bayern must win to stem their disappointing season
A disappointing season for Bayern Munich so far has seen them drop to 10 points behind current Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen, while they have also already been knocked out of the DFB Pokal by third-division side Saarbrucken.
They now come into this second leg of their UCL round of 16 tie trailing 1-0 to Lazio after a Ciro Immobile penalty gave the Italian side victory in Rome. This leaves Bayern staring down the barrel of Champions League elimination, seeing them fail to make the quarter-finals for just the second time in 13 seasons.
Bayern’s form at the Allianz Arena has been extremely strong this season though, losing on just a single occasion and they are currently on a 13-game unbeaten streak at home in the Champions League. This should give them the confidence they need to go on and win this game as they look to stem any further disappointment in this already poor season.
2 – Real Sociedad rely on home advantage
Real Sociedad put up a noble performance against PSG in the first leg with it taking just under an hour for the French side to finally break the deadlock through a Kylian Mbappe goal.
Sociedad will be looking to replicate their first-half performance at the Parc des Princes where they were able to stand firm against PSG’s wealth of attacking talent, but they will have to create more from an attacking sense if they are to get back in the tie.
With the game taking place at Sociedad’s home ground, the Reale Arena, the Spanish side will be hoping the home advantage can play a big part in their potential turnaround of the tie. If this is to happen then the home crowd will have to help push their side on to victory, much like Newcastle United’s did in their 4-1 home victory over the Parisians in the group stage.
3 – Manchester City to extend their dominance
Manchester City look to be as good as through in their matchup with Copenhagen, taking a 3-1 lead from the first leg to their home ground for the second game.
City come into the game on the back of a 19-game unbeaten run in all competitions, while they are yet to lose a game at the Etihad Stadium all season. Despite already leading, Pep Guardiola will likely put out a strong side as he looks to make a statement to the rest of the teams remaining in the competition that Manchester City are favourites to win the Champions League for the second time and extend their European dominance.
4 – RB Leipzig must do more of the same
RB Leipzig vs Real Madrid provided one of the most entertaining games in the entire round of first legs last month despite only ending 1-0 to the Spanish side.
The game saw 29 shots split between the two sides in an encounter that RB Leipzig would have felt unlucky to not take a victory from, with Andriy Lunin producing an impressive nine saves and Brahim Diaz scoring a wonder goal to win Madrid the game.
While Leipzig now face the tough task of turning around a one-goal deficit against the 14-time Champions League winners at the Santiago Bernabeu, they must keep their hopes high and produce more of the same football that they played in the first leg. If they are capable of doing this then the goals will surely come, leaving this match with the potential to be an edge-of-your-seat encounter.
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