We are officially at the business end of the season, where trophies are won, dreams are realised, and some fans and players’ hearts are broken.
The Champions League always seems to satisfy every year, and this year’s Round of 16 matches provided vast amounts of drama. Emerging from those ties unscathed were Arsenal, Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, PSG, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
The tournament comes alive at this competition stage, with no easy matches.
The quarter-final draw has led to four interesting matches, and predicting who will reach the semifinals looks difficult.
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid vs Dortmund
Real Madrid vs Manchester City
PSG vs Barcelona
Table of Contents
Champions League Quarter-Final Match Preview
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich
For the first time in fourteen years, Arsenal have made it through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
With their last 16 tie against Porto going all the way to penalties, the Gunners held their nerve as David Raya stepped up to be the hero.
Arsenal’s reward for their hard-fought victory is a match against perennial Champions League winners Bayern Munich.
Despite boasting a hugely talented squad, it’s been a poor season by Bayern’s usually lofty standards. Out of both domestic cups, they also find themselves miles off the pace in the Bundesliga.
The Champions League remains the only piece of silverware the German giants can realistically get their hands on.
This is the toughest to predict of all four quarter-finals, and both legs should be exciting.
Arsenal can’t stop scoring, and their home form at the Emirates is hugely impressive.
Bayern could have kept clean sheets, and despite the presence of former Tottenham hitman Harry Kane upfront, it’s at the other end of the pitch where they may come unstuck.
Both teams can advance, but we will back Arsenal to keep their Champions League dream alive.
Atletico Madrid vs Dortmund
One of Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund will be in the semifinals of the Champions League, and there is a chance that both sides will want to stay caught up.
Secretly, both teams will have been delighted with how the draw worked out, and both will be confident of advancing.
Of the two teams, Atletico has the better recent European knockout record.
Beaten finalists under Diego Simeone, the Argentine knows how to set up his team and what it takes to emerge from these tricky-looking contests.
As is usually the case with Dortmund, their squad is packed with young talent, and they won’t have any fears of travelling to the Wanda Metropolitano first.
Of the two, Dortmund will carry the more significant goalscoring threat, but a lack of experience at this level could see them fall just short against this grizzled Atletico Madrid side.
Real Madrid vs Manchester City
At this stage of the Champions League, One match that will be highly anticipated with betting promotions is the matchup between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Real find themselves clear at the top of La Liga, whereas City are firmly locked in a three-way baffle for the Premier League.
Based on last year’s results between the sides, City should start as the overwhelming favourite, but you get a sense that they will find it more challenging this time.
Erling Haaland hasn’t been in the same devastating goalscoring form, and there are question marks over the fitness of Kevin De Bruyne.
With Madrid in flying form, a thrilling match waits in prospect, and both teams will be confident of advancing.
PSG vs Barcelona
PSG and Barcelona are completing this year’s Champions League quarter-finals lineup.
After a few years in the football wilderness, seeing Barcelona on the stage where they truly belong is fantastic.
Although the Spanish giants look unlikely to regain their La Liga crown, they have been impressive in this season’s Champions League. They nonchalantly dismissed Napoli in the previous Round and will be confident they will advance past PSG in this quarter-final.
For the second successive Round, PSG hopes to advance past Spanish opposition. They were too classy for Real Sociedad in the Round of 16 and will hope to power their way past Barcelona.
Unlike in previous seasons, PSG has reached this competition stage, flying under the radar. Despite the losses of both Neymar and Lionel Messi, PSG looks like a much better team, and Kylian Mbappe can win this match almost single-handedly.
It’s hard to look beyond Barcelona, but PSG could pull this off.
