FOUR REASON WHY THIS SEASON CHAMPIONS LEAGUE COULD BE THE BEST. The round of 16 is done and the names that have gone through to the last eight is extraordinary; Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester United fill the spots up. And as if we weren’t excited enough, Friday’s draw came out with some blockbusters with Barcelona vs Atletico, Madrid vs Dortmund, PSG vs Chelsea and United vs Bayern. Group winners This is the first time in the Champions League era that every single group winner had progressed into the quarter finals so as it stands we have the best teams in Europe still in Europe which is magnificent. Usually there are few names that are a surprise to be here, but it really is so hard to call who can win their games. The stand out match is definitely Manchester United against the current holder Bayern Munich. United progressed to this stage on Wednesday night as they came back from 2-0 down in the first leg to win 3-0 at Old Trafford which was inspired by a Robin van Persie hat-trick. And Bayern shrugged off Arsenal a couple of weeks ago to cement their dominance in the competition currently. Underdogs Undoubtedly, the English sides are underdogs amongst the list of teams here but as Chelsea proved two years ago, anything can happen. Chelsea managed to find away both Barcelona and Bayern back then but this season looks as if it has the making of the best yet. The Blues make it to this stage after winning 3-1 on aggregate against Galatasary, and they have one of the ‘easier’ ties against French side PSG. They would have wanted either the French side, Dortmund or United and they managed to pick out one of them. Chelsea never look as if they are really going to win it but always manage to shock everyone by taking it round by round as they continue to win games. The Blues are very strong in Europe and with Jose Mourinho back at the helm, they could potentially go all the way. Both English clubs would have wanted to avoid ‘the big three’; Bayern, Barcelona and Madrid. All Spanish tie A few years ago, Barcelona vs. Atletico would have been a no brainer, but this season Atletico Madrid have lit up La Liga and the European stage. Their striker Diego Costa has been scoring for fun and his side sit second in the table and we are over half way through the season. So don’t expect Barcelona to walk all over them one bit and actually, we will be in for one hell of a game there. Repeat Real Madrid played Dortmund last year and it was the German side to go through to the final. Everybody remembers the first leg when Robert Lewondowski managed to net four past Madrid in that special 4-1 win that ultimately sent them through. Madrid though look dominant this season with the arrival of Gareth Bale and now Carlo Anchelotti in charge. Dortmund are considerably weaker due to the loss of Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich. But whatever happens in these four massive ties, expect all out action and they will be matches that the whole world will want to see.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 08:29:21 +0000
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