The Champions League quarter-final draw in Nyom on Friday threw up a series of tantalising ties which should have fans of the continental game salivating ahead of the last-eight bouts.
Manchester City were drawn against newly crowned French champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Real Madrid received a more favourable draw and will be confident of advancing ahead of Bundesliga heavyweights Wolfsburg.
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid meet in an all-Spanish tie, while Bayern Munich will surely fancy their chances of seeing off Benfica to make the semi-finals, as Pep Guardiola keeps alive his dream of ending his time in Bavaria with a Champions League winner’s medal.
Complete Champions League quarter-final draw
How has the quarter-final draw changed the prospects of the eight sides still alive in this year’s competition?
In this article, we rank the chances of the remaining UCL contenders.
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- Benfica: The Portuguese heavyweights held their nerve to see off Zenit St. Petersburg in the round of 16, but were perhaps fortunate to catch the Russian heavyweights at a time when they were just coming off the back of their winter break. They will struggle against Bayern, particularly if Guardiola’s side play as they did in the second half against Juventus!
- Wolfsburg: Could have sneaked into the semi-finals if the draw had been kinder, but their weaknesses at the back were exposed in the first leg against Gent, and you sense they may be found out when Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and co. come to town.
- Atletico Madrid: Demonstrated their defensive resolve once again in the double-header against PSV Eindhoven, and having conceded only one goal in their last eight matches, it’s hard to rule them out. However, a double-header against Barcelona’s magnificent MSN strikeforce will test them to their limits, and Diego Godin’s injury comes as a concern.
- Manchester City: The draw certainly hasn’t been ideal, and PSG will take confident from the way they dispatched another English side, Chelsea, in the round of 16. Manuel Pellegrini will need to be at his best to shake the Citizens from their Premier League lethargy.
- Paris Saint-Germain: They will fancy themselves to see off the Sky Blues, particularly considering that—with Ligue 1 already wrapped up—they can focus almost entirely on continental competition. However, should they advance to the semi-finals—and nothing is guaranteed—how will they stack up as they enter uncharted territory?
- Bayern Munich: The Bavarians’ weaknesses were exposed during two concerning halves against Juventus—the second half of the first leg and the first of the second—and the presence of Borussia Dotmund in the Bundesliga (only five points behind Guardiola’s reigning champions) means that the Bavarians cannot entirely focus on the UCL.
- Real Madrid: Admittedly, rookie coach Zinedine Zidane has never experienced the kind of touchline pressures that he will come under as the Merengues advance further in this year’s competition, but the Blancos’ squad and wealth of options means they cannot be ruled out. We’re plumping for the 10-time winners ahead of, say, Bayern, because they are almost certainly out of the running for the Spanish title—sitting 12 points behind Barcelona at the time of writing—and can feasibly turn their full attentions to winning number eleven.
- Barcelona: It’s hard not to tip Barcelona to win this year’s competition—and retain the title—despite a testing quarter-final draw against Atletico Madrid. They dispatched Arsenal in the last 16 with some aplomb, are currently on a 38-game unbeaten run and have won their last 12 in La Liga. In Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, they also possess perhaps the most menacing attacking line in history and, perhaps most importantly, they’ve been there and have the experience of winning Europe’s premier club competition.