It's a Champions League week, with Liverpool vs Inter Milan, and Bayern Munich vs RB Salzburg facing off tomorrow and Real Madrid vs PSG, and Manchester City vs Sporting Lisbon on show on Wednesday.
We've taken a look at the recent form of these sides to help you decide who you think might be going through to the quarter-finals.
Liverpool - Inter
Liverpool
The Reds are in a great place right now. They’re in the midst of a 12 game winning streak, and haven’t lost since December. The bookies have them at joint second favourites to win this year’s Champions League, which would add to the League Cup they won nine days ago.
In the battle for the Premier League title, they’ve certainly ‘made a game of it’ with Man City, whose bid to retain their title was looking like a foregone conclusion around Christmas time. Liverpool players make up the top three spots in the league’s goal scoring charts, while their side has also scored the most goals overall, and they have the third best defence in terms of goals conceded.
They hold a 2-0 advantage over Inter Milan going into tomorrow’s round of 16 clash at Anfield, and it would be a rather large upset if Inter were to knock them out. The Italian side may be hoping that they might be too comfortable or cocky given their recent form, but this is unlikely with an experienced team and Jurgen Klopp at the helm keeping his side grounded.
Inter
Inter Milan, despite being second in Serie A with a game in hand, do not look likely to pull off a miraculous win and overturn a two goal deficit to Liverpool away from home.
Bayern Munich v RB Salzburg
Munich’s tie with RB Salzburg has the potential to be the most intriguing tie of this round of the Champions League. Both sides share a lot of similarities in terms of their league dominance this season. Bayern have won the last nine Bundesligas, while Salzburg have win the last eight Austrian Bundesligas. The two sides also shared the spoils in the first leg, playing out a 1-1 draw in Austria.
Munich, although still strong favourites to progress to the next round, may have a few doubts creeping into their camp. They were held at home this weekend by Bayer Leverkusen, and suffered an uncharacteristic loss to Vfl Bochum in mid-February, on top of the aforementioned draw with Salzburg.
Regardless, they are joint second favourites for the Champions League title, and should progress.
RB Salzburg
Salzburg have the best chance of the three to cause an upset, especially after giving Munich problems in their 1-1 draw in the first leg. If Salzburg were to go through, penalties may be on the cards.
Manchester City v Sporting
Although their Premier League lead has been slashed, they still remain in imperious form most weeks. Their only loss since a defeat from RB Leipzig in December has been to their bogey team Spurs.
Currently bookies favourites for the Champions League title, a 5-0 advantage over Sporting Lisbon, home advantage as well, and coming off the back of a dominant 4-1 over Manchester United yesterday, there is close to zero chance that they won’t be going through to the quarters.
Much tougher days lie ahead for Pep and his side.
Inter Milan, despite being second in Serie A with a game in hand, do not look likely to pull off a miraculous win and overturn a two goal deficit to Liverpool away from home.
Real Madrid v PSG
Real Madrid
Madrid, while they lead the La Liga by eight points, don’t feel as if they have the form of the first three teams in our guide. It’s been a relatively weak year in Spanish football with Barcelona in the midst of a rebuild, and Atletico performing well below their usual standards.
However, they are coming off the back of a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Saturday, and will have home advantage over PSG on Wednesday. With the away goals not in effect this could go a long way to deciding the tie.
Whatever the outcome, it is shaping up to be the tie of the round with a host of the world’s best in Benzema, Messi, Modric, Mbappe, Neymar, Vinicius, all in line to play.
PSG
It’s always difficult to gauge just how strong PSG are given the perceived weakness of Ligue 1. They hold a 13 point lead at the top of league over Nice, but have also suffered three losses since January 30th. The last of these losses came on Saturday where they were beaten 1-0 away from home by Nice.
This is the toughest game to call out of the four Champions League fixtures this week. The question is what will be more valuable, PSG’s 1-0 lead, or Real’s home advantage?
Sporting Lisbon did well to make it this far into the competition after suffering three losses in the group stages. Thankfully, Dortmund also suffered three losses and Lisbon managed to scrape through, nine points behind group winners Ajax. The gulf between themselves and City is enormous, not to mention the 5-0 deficit.
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