FOOTBALL DAILY: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINALS
After a trying and competitive Round-of-16, Chelsea, Villareal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Benfica and Bayern Munich were able to progress into the quarter-final.
The Round-of-16 was a very interesting round, filled with a lot of unexpected events and turns of events. From Villareal trashing Juventus to a 4:1 defeat on aggregate, to Real Madrid coming back from a 2-goal deficit against PSG. This is what the Round-of-16 looked like:
- Chelsea 4 : 1 Lille (First Leg 2 : 0)
- Villareal 4 : 1 Juventus (First Leg 1 : 1)
- Sporting CP 0 : 5 Manchester City (First Leg 0 : 5)
- PSG 2 : 3 Real Madrid (First Leg 1 : 0)
- Inter Milan 1 : 2 Liverpool (First Leg 0 : 2)
- Atletico Madrid 2 : 1 Manchester United (First Leg 1 : 1)
- Benfica 3 : 2 Ajax (First Leg 2 : 2)
- RB Salzburg 2 : 8 Bayern Munich (First Leg 1 : 1)
Looking at the Round-of-16 fixtures, it is evident that the winning teams put in a lot of effort to get through. Villareal is a perfect example because they were never favourites to qualify but they were able to pull through. The Quarter Final fixtures are scheduled to take begin today at 7 PM GMT. This is what the fixtures look like:
Manchester City vs. Atletico Madrid
Benfica vs Liverpool
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
Villareal vs Bayern Munich
For me, the most anticipated fixture is the one between Chelsea and Real Madrid. Real Madrid wants to take revenge on Chelsea and show them and the world that they are the All-time European Champions; Chelsea is also up for the challenge. During the press conference for tomorrow's fixture, Thomas Tuchel emphasized how prepared was to face the opponents and he sounded very convincing.
Chelsea although have not been in the right state, after their owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, they kept a good standing amidst all of this and I don't think they would fold. But there is only one way to find out, so let's wait.