With the conclusion of the long-running group stage of the Champions League, the last 16 tournament is set to begin to see who advances into the quarter-finals. The matchups have been drawn, and the teams that are set to face off are as follows;
Club Brugge vs. Aston Villa
Real Madrid vs. Atlético Madrid
PSV vs. Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund vs LOSC Lille
Feyenoord vs. Inter Milan
Bayern Munich vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Benfica vs. Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool
The previous stage was dominated by Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, and Inter Milan, where each team only lost one of their eight matches. Soccer fans were also shocked by the fact that the 2023 final winners and dominant English team, Manchester City, did not qualify for the next round of the tournament. Real Madrid, unfortunately, knocked them out in 2 matches that concluded with a final score of 6 – 3 so they could advance themselves.
Real Madrid is looking to jump out of their drought, as they have only won one of their last five matches in the Spanish league La Liga. Their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, had this to say following their recent match on Saturday: “If we play like this, we’re not going to win on Tuesday, that’s quite clear. Hopefully this game will wake us up. It seemed to me that the team had been more organised and compact recently, and today we weren’t like we were in previous games” (New York Times). The in-form Atletico Madrid team will surely be a tough test for Ancelotti’s team.
Senior Aydin Ajdinovski made his tournament prediction, saying, “Arsenal are making it to the final and bringing it home.” This is quite a bold statement from him, given that English club Arsenal has never won the final and only made one appearance in 2006, when they lost to Barcelona.
The upcoming elimination matches include lots of stories within themselves. Who will win the Madrid derby? Real or Atletico? In Germany, will Bayern or Leverkusen advance? The former German finalists from last year, Borussia Dortmund, also have a favorable matchup against the lower-ranked LOSC from France. The expectations are high for powerhouse teams like Liverpool and Real Madrid, and pressure is beating down on the underdogs such as Leverkusen and Benfica.
Each matchup is set to play two games, and the total of the two will determine the winner and who advances to the quarterfinals. The first match between Club Brugge and Aston Villa is set to begin at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4th. This year’s Champions League is sure to bring an exciting showing for fans all over the globe.
