We’re up and running already in the UEFA Champions League of 16. After a bit of a lengthy vacation from Europe’s top flight, sixteen teams from all walks of the world’s equatorial continent privileged to have made it through the preliminaries contested in what served as the first leg of the competition’s last 16.
You can view all second round previews here!
Eintracht Frankfurt vs SSC Napoli
Where Things Stand
It was of course eventful in every way. RB Leipzig held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at home ground in Germany, Inter Milan secured a 1-0 home victory over Portuguese FC Porto, Bayern Munich came out on top against Paris Saint German in arguably the ‘biggest, colossal tie of the season’, Chelsea fell to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.
Is Erling Haaland the best player in the world?
Yes
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Club Brugge conceded a 2-0 loss to Benfica, Milan were victorious over Tottenham Hotspur, their Italian counterparts and Serie A leaders, Napoli posted a 2-0 away win over Eintracht Frankfurt. And last but not the least, in fact the greatest, Real Madrid pulled big rabbits out of their hats to defeat Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool 5-2 at the Anfield Stadium.
All sixteen teams have a short break to take. Some have to get their backs into grinding hard for a spectacular result if progression into the quarter-finals of the competition is anything to go by. Some, speaking of clubs like Madrid, simply have to defend a stellar first-leg result, play out a decent game. But phase-two would be upon us in less than a week’s time. Liverpool make the return trip to the magical, spell binding Santiago Bernabeu. Messi, Mbappe and the rest of the PSG pack touch down in Munich as they look to write their home errors wrong and keep their Champions League hopes alive.
We’re trusting this to be more scintillating, intriguing and exhilarating than it was in the first. And so, we delve into, half hastily, half detailedly, the match-ups slated for the next two weeks and how exactly we see them pan out.
BIG DISCLAIMER: The predictions are not to be taken score for score, verbatim. They’re just meant to give a picture of the final outcome we expect in the match-ups.
Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint Germain
There seems to be hoodoo, some ill luck and mischance hanging in the air, hovering over the sky in Paris. For we definitely are running out of explanations as to why Paris Saint Germain have not landed a UCL trophy despite the heavy investment into the French capital in the past couple of years.
Christopher Galtier’s men have got everything. They boast a solid defence, a decent midfield and the most dangerous attack, a frontline that’s second to none in Europe and by implication, the world. Yet, they keep coming up short when it matters. PSG’s artillery doesn’t fail them when they toggle to domestic matters, but it’s always a different ball game when they’re out there in Europe.
Les Parisiens can be remembered as having bottled a 4-0 lead to Barcelona back in 2017, eventually losing out 6-5 on aggregate. Albeit, some will say, with a pinch of injustice meted out to the French.
Then, of course, in 2018, they fell victim to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid. And then, despite holding a 2-0 away win over Manchester United the next season, they stumbled to a 3-1 comeback on home ground. Even though they looked promising in the delayed 2019/20 season, they came up short against Bayern in the finals(courtesy of Kingsley Coman’s winner, the same reason they’re a step behind in this season’s tie) and there is the saddening moment Manchester City and Madrid dumped them out of the 20/21 and 21/22 UCL campaigns in the semi-finals and last 16 respectively(Lionel Messi missing a crucial penalty in the latter).
Paris Saint Germain don’t need an additional signing. That’s for sure. They’ve got all they need in terms of talent. They just need to improve their technical know-how of the UEFA Champions League, how they play the game. They’re already one goal behind Bayern and you can tell that the Bavarians are not going to go easy on their French opponents when they host them at the Allianz Arena on March 8. Definitely not Julian Naglesmann’s Bayern.
Bayern have got a 100% home record this season, just two defeats overall, a perfect-21 record in the Champions League(a three to add to their perfect-18 in the group stages), six clean sheets out of seven games in the Champions League. They’re in top form and may prove too tough for Messi and the rest of the team to handle. Paris Saint Germain would however bring the fight to Allianz Arena, we expect them to turn on the heat. It’s going to be amazing.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 3-3 Paris Saint Germain
Players to watch:
Bayern Munich: Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala
Paris Saint Germain: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar
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