Real Madrid and Manchester City are now experiencing the cost of failure of the Remodeled Champions League: a titanic win-gold confrontation between the last two European champions to claim a place in the round of 16. Welcome to the Champions League qualifiers. !
After the conclusion of the first scene of the first league in the competition, some of the largest clubs in Europe found themselves unexpectedly in front of a two -legged match to reach the round of 16.
And while Man City against Real is the indisputable link of La Ronde, the other heavyweights of Bayern Munich, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and the winners of the Europa League for last season, Atalanta, must also negotiate delicate links for get started in the next round.
UEFA adopting a new tennis draw which exploits two separate paths (Silver and Blue) to the final, the support after the draw of the playoffs opened a clear road to the final of the Champions League in Munich at the end of the season.
So what are the playoffs and how are they going to play?
Silver path
Club Brugge against Atalanta
The Brugge club sealed its place in the playoffs with a match to lose after victories against Aston Villa and Sporting CP while holding Juventus in a draw, but the Belgian club almost shocked Manchester City on day 8 by taking the Before Etihad and going closely to eliminate the Pep Guardiola team before finally losing 3-1.
Brugge will however be outsider against Atalanta, the team of Gian Piero Gasperini becoming one of the most coherent teams in Europe. Their final victory of the Europa League against Bayer Leverkusen last season underlined their quality and they are a team with many goals from ADEMOLA LookmanCharles de Ketalare and Mateo retagui.
Winner: Atalanta
Manchester City against Real Madrid
This is the nightmare draw for the two clubs: the winners of the 2022 Champions League against the 2023 champions. In the last three occasions, City and Real met in the stadiums with direct elimination, the winners of the match No one won this season’s competition.
It is Erling Haaland against. Kylian MbappéPep Guardiola going against Carlo Ancelotti, and a tie that could be won by one of the Stack,, Jude Bellingham,, VinÃcius Júnior Or Kevin de Bruyne. It is an epic confrontation, but real will go into the tie as a favorite. They are sitting at the top of the Liga and Mbappe is now starting to hit the upper shape, while City continues to underform the Premier League and apparently cannot keep a white sheet against the best opposition.
Expect fireworks!
Winners: Real Madrid
Juventus vs. PSV Eindhoven
The PSV of Peter Bosz turned out to be a dangerous foreigner during the League scene, winning four games, including a match victory 8 against Liverpool which ended the season at 100% of the leaders of the Premier League for the season of the Champions League. The loss of top scorer Ricardo Pepi To a knee injury which will exclude that the USMNT in front of this tie could however be decisive. The PSV must simply find a way to replace its threat of objective.
Juventus blew hot and cold so far, but their 2-0 victory against Man City in December underlined its threat to a night when Weston McKennie And Timothy Weah came out of the bench to seal the victory of Juve.
Winners: Juventus
Brest against Paris Saint-Germain
Brest took an astonishing start to his first European campaign by remaining undefeated in the Champions League to a 3-0 defeat in Barcelona in November, but the wheels began to fall for the team of Eric Roy. While their performances plunged, PSG found a form and their qualification was reduced to two huge victories against Manchester City and Stuttgart in the last two games.
More than two legs, it is difficult to see something other than a comfortable victory for PSG against their French opponent colleagues, especially since the Luis Enrique team is undefeated at the top of Ligue 1 – 19 points to the ‘Gap in eighth place Brest, who has lost nine game league already this season.
Winner: Paris Saint-Germain
Blue path
Sports CP against Borussia Dortmund
The Portuguese Champions Sporting seemed to go towards a finish greater than a finish when a Viktor Hat Trick helped seal a 4-1 victory against Manchester City on the day of the match, but coach Ruben Amorim then left for Manchester United and Sporting slipped to the table with three consecutive defeats until Harder conradThe late equalizer against Bologna on day 8 saved the elimination team.
But while Sporting had trouble overcoming the departure of Amorim, Dortmund is also in the middle of a crisis, Niko Kovac becoming their third coach in less than 12 months after replacing the Nuri Sahin licensed this week.
Dortmund reached last season’s final before losing against Real Madrid, but they were poor at the national level this season. They will be the favorites, but this tie could depend on the form of gyker and the top scorer in Dortmund, Serhou Guirassy.
Winner: Borussia Dortmund
Celtic against Bayern Munich
Bayern will have pushed a huge sigh of relief after being associated with Celtic, knowing that they could have faced the Scottish or Manchester City champions.
By reaching the playoffs, Celtic exceeded expectations and defeat of October 7-1 against Borussia Dortmund at the Iduna Park signal will be a warning of what can go wrong for Brendan Rodgers and his team against Bayern.
Celtic can be a difficult perspective for Celtic Park, but Bayern will be too strong; Harry Kane & Co. also has the additional incitement to know that the final of this season will take place at the Allianz Arena, which could mean that Celtic will end up transporting by the managers of Bundesliga.
Winner: Bavaria Munich
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Feyenoord against AC Milan
Feyenoord was one of the surprise teams of this season’s competition, showing that they managed to move from the departure of coach Arne Slot to Liverpool last summer. But this equality could all depend on the result of Milan’s attempts to sign the top scorer in Feyenoord Santiago GiménezWith talks at an advanced stage on the potential transfer of the Mexican international.
Without Gimenez, Feyenoord could lack fire power to beat Milan, but Brian Priske’s team will always be difficult to beat at the intimidating stadium of Kuip. Milan is undoubtedly the weakest of the four remaining teams of Italy in the competition, so Feyenoord could still shoot.
Winners: Feyenoord
Like Monaco against Benfica
Monaco and Benfica finished mid-table, a place apart and only separated by the difference in goals in favor of the Portuguese team, so this equality is as close as you can imagine. The Monaco of Adolf Hutter is young and incoherent, while Benfica de Bruno Lage is exciting but subject to defensive errors: just look at the strengths of their incredible home defeat 5-4 against Barcelona for proofs of their strengths and of their weaknesses.
The experience of World Cup winners Nicolás Otamendi And Angel Di Maria is likely to give Benfica the advantage in this tie, in particular with the second leg which takes place in Estadio Da Luz in Lisbon.
Winner: Benfica
