The Munich road is defined. The 16 teams still standing in the Champions League were fired on Friday, the 29 games still playing in the competition promising all kinds of dramas before the new champions of Europe were crowned. With the path of each team to the final, now, what better time could there be to take our best assumption on who will be in the final on May 31? Let’s go.
Round of 16
Confirmed links
- Paris Saint-Germain against Liverpool
- Brugge club against Aston Villa
- Real Madrid vs.atletico Madrid
- PSV against Arsenal
- Feyenoord against Inter
- Bavaria Munich against Bayer Leverkusen
- Borussia Dortmund vs. Lille
- Benfica vs. Barcelona
Let’s start by eliminating what seems to be the obvious. The Brugge club has just been absolutely silent by Atalanta, but came out victorious in a way. Unless they have found a way to transform each shot into a goal, you should assume that Aston Villa will see them.
Likewise, Arsenal, hampered in the attack, too, Blitza PSV in the group phase of last season. As long as their defense resists, everything is fine. The same goes for Inter against Feyenoord. Benfica obviously has the quality to push Barcelona all the time, but Hansi Flick will surely learn the lessons of his team 5-4 victories in the Estadio da Luz, for example, not asking Wojciech Szczesny to cover so much space like a Balayeur goalkeeper.
Based on their meetings this season, you think there is nothing to separate Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. However, there is the latter’s tendency to freeze when they see Whites on the European scene. It may not be necessary anyway. Carlo Ancelotti’s men are really in the form recently. They should do it.
This leaves three games a little tighter to call. Borussia Dortmund and Lille are the least sexy of these, the European experience of the old has nothing for nothing, but Lille was probably the best team this season. As for the big boys, in good shape, there is a convincing case to do so that PSG is able to eliminate Liverpool. The ideal version of this tie is that where Ousmane Dembele and Mohamed Salah fight to prove themselves the best attacker in the world. If this happens, you trust that the difference manufacturers through the tie may well be the Liverpool defenders.
The equality of the round is probably played across Germany. Bayern Munich has the higher attack, but Xabi Alonso found a way to repress this in their last match, holding Harry Kane and Al with only two shots. So often in the Champions League, it comes down to a question of defense in which you trust. It will undoubtedly be that of Leverkusen. Mark them like dark horses for a deep race.
Finalist quarter: Liverpool, Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Inter, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Barcelona
Quarter final
Predicted links
- Liverpool vs Aston Villa
- Real Madrid vs arsenal
- Barcelona vs. Lille
- Inter vs Bayer Leverkusen
You would fear the worst for Lille against Barcelona, ​​for all the obdurability of DOGUES Against Real Madrid and Liverpool, it would surely be too far away. The other unbalanced tie seems to be Liverpool against Aston Villa. Since the height of the strangeness of locking -ball – 7-2 victory at Villa Park – everything has been Liverpool in this match with a record of six victories and three draws. In these matches, they scored 19 and conceded new, released the competitions in terms of XG on average by 0.89.
Arsenal’s trip to the Bernabeu Santiago would be rich in account, especially for Thierry Henry and, unfortunately for the faithful of the Emirates stadium, William Saliba. You can already see how he has two exceptional games to return the Dizzy of Madrid Press and it is really not enough. If a defense could slow down Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe’s is arsenal’s. The problem is at some point during the 180 minutes that they should surpass the Fab Four. Unless Bukayo Saka returns and is immediately his old self And Gabriel Martinelli returns his Self 2021-22, it is difficult to see this happen.
Inter and Bayer Leverkusen played enough in the league phase – at least until last -minute Neverluse stuff – but the Serie A contenders are another team so as not to obtain real joy from this rear line. Alonso seems to have a team that is tailor -made for the Champions League. They bring possession, they do not give up at the other end (except this strange night against Liverpool) and they can get a moment or two of their attackers for a moment or two. It will also be relevant to the semi-final.
Semi-finalists: Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayer Leverkusen
Semi-final
Predicted links
- Liverpool vs Real Madrid
- Barcelona vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Now it’s the right thing. At the moment, Liverpool seems to be the best team in Europe, and throughout the compensation, it should be noted that they were much higher when they met Real Madrid in November. The trajectory of these two teams seems quite different now and comes the spring, it should really be too close to call. In such cases, it is rarely a bad idea to simply choose Madrid, but it is worth offering a little more ballast to vibrations.
If this game was played at the moment, Liverpool would feel that he had the best striker on the field, but what happens if Salah is injured or not even the frontrunner Clear Ballon d’Or? If something happened to one of the first four of Madrid, however, you would feel that they could resist the storm. After all, this team has just won the Champions League without Mbappe.
This means that the Clasico final is activated. I would love to offer you this. I would really do it. It’s just you and I know that Alonso’s style of play works very well against the heavy transition, any energy style that Flick has implemented in Barcelona. We know that an elite level defense tends to be well rewarded in the Champions League. We know that Bayer Leverkusen has the thing they do in the 90th minute.
Finalists: Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen
Final
Anyway, this final is quite full of discussion points. A revival of 2002 means that you will not be able to escape this Zinedine Zidane volley. Xabi Alonso colliding with the team he may well manage in the near future. Two teams that do not know when they are beaten, it would be a thriller.
And yet, Madrid would look like the obvious winners, surely? There is a risk of over-indexing their excellence against the postrime Manchester City during the fortnight of the last fortnight, but there are no more known products in the major European finals than Real Madrid. There would be no player on this field who knows what it is to see White’s team losing this match. Madrid knows how to win the biggest games and this group of players already taste for that. If they go so far, it is difficult to see what stops them.
Winner: real Madrid
