After a box office draw put Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain together and gave us a rerun of last season’s final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, two of the favorites to win the 2022–23 Champions League will fall out at the round of 16 in March.
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With less than two weeks until the start of the 2022 World Cup, the game is starting to center on the premier event in international football. But since the Champions League will start in the middle of February with a number of unfinished matches, there will be no time for a World Cup hangover.
Even though Liverpool-Real and PSG-Bayern are the two most notable matches, there are still other well-matched matches involving AC Milan and Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, and Club Brugge and Benfica.
Aside from RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt, two of the top teams in the group stage are Manchester City and Napoli. Which clubs will advance to the quarterfinals, and how will everything turn out?
Liverpool vs Real Madrid
No one would have preferred the tie. The defending champion Real Madrid, who would have also preferred to avoid Jurgen Klopp’s club at this point, is the biggest opponent Liverpool might face in the round of 16, and they are vulnerable because they didn’t win Group A.
Real are the favorites to maintain their lead over Klopp’s team despite Liverpool’s inconsistent play this year; they have defeated Liverpool in their last three Champions League meetings. In reality, aside from defeating Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid in 2019, Real or Atletico Madrid eliminated Liverpool from the competition in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022, thus the signs are in favor of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad.
Since October 2014, Liverpool has lost five of their past six meetings with Real, but they are capable of snapping that dismal streak. Real, meanwhile, is unbeaten in LaLiga this year and will be the favorite to defeat Liverpool because they are in excellent form and have a game in hand over league leaders Barcelona.
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PSG vs Bayern
a rematch of 2020 final, in which Bayern defeated PSG in Lisbon for the first time in the French club’s history. However, PSG face a difficult task if they are to bounce back against Bayern after being defeated by Real Madrid in the round of 16 last year.
PSG is undefeated after six games thanks to performances from Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Lionel Messi in the competition, while Bayern qualified in a group with Inter Milan and Barcelona thanks to six victories out of six.
The winner might go on to take the trophy in Istanbul in June. It will be a big match over two legs. Bayern is as challenging a rival as PSG could have encountered.
BVB vs Chelsea
The Chelsea combo of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Christian Pulisic will have the opportunity to face their previous club Dortmund in this match, and Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham will face off against one of the numerous clubs interested in acquiring him next summer.
This season, both teams have had trouble maintaining consistency, but they are also loaded with elite experience, so it will come down to whose club has the most players that can handle the pressure. When compared to Chelsea, who has Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, and N’Golo Kante, Dortmund has players like Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, and Niklas Sule.
RB Leipzig vs Man City
City under Pep Guardiola will be heavy favorites to win this match, but Leipzig is a dangerous underdog whose 3-2 victory over Real Madrid in Group F was essential to their advancement to the round of 16.
It is difficult to see past a City victory over the two legs if Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne are healthy, but Marco Rose’s club has quality in their lineup. It all depends on whether they can hold onto players like Christopher Nkunku and Josko Gvardiol during the January transfer window; both players are targets for Chelsea.
Leipzig could pull off a surprise if they can hold onto their finest players and if attacker Timo Werner can heal from the ankle ligament injury that has kept him out of Germany’s World Cup ambitions. Without a doubt, City is strong favorites to advance; they simply need to show respect for this opponent.
ACM vs Tottenham
A fascinating matchup between two teams that have struggled in the Champions League this year but have the potential to advance far in the tournament. There will be a lot of noise on and off the field because it gives Spurs manager Antonio Conte the chance to visit San Siro, where he led Milan’s rivals Inter to the Serie A championship in 2021.
This one might come down to a forwards’ duel. Will Harry Kane and Son Heung-min outperform Milan with their talent, or will Olivier Giroud—a former attacker for Chelsea and Arsenal—come back to haunt Spurs? And does Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 41, still have it in him to score a significant goal?
Inter Milano vs Porto
Inter narrowly defeated Barcelona to go to the round of 16, but Simone Inzaghi’s club enters this match as underdogs.
Inter is in poor form at home, and Inzaghi’s job is in jeopardy as a result of the club’s seventh-place finish after five losses in its last 13 games. Romelu Lukaku’s return on loan from Chelsea hasn’t worked out either, as injuries have only allowed him to make five games since leaving Manchester United.
Sergio Conceicao’s squad, Porto, qualified as group B’s top team after defeating Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, and they have plenty of Champions League experience. Although it will be a close match, Porto is the favorite right now.
Eintrach F. vs Napoli
Two of the most fascinating teams in the Champions League this year, yet runaway Serie A leaders Napoli appear more accomplished than Eintracht, who earned a spot in the tournament by winning the Europa League last year.
Napoli, led by Luciano Spalletti, controlled at Anfield but two late goals condemned them to defeat. Napoli’s opening Group A match against Liverpool saw them devastated 4-1 at home. However, Giovanni Simeone, Victor Osimhen, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia offer Napoli the attacking threat to make life very difficult for Eintracht.
In the Europa League last year, Eintracht under Oliver Glasner displayed amazing energy to defeat Barcelona and West Ham, and they have now advanced to the Champions League. They will score goals and have a quick attack, but Napoli may be too strong for them in February.
Benfica vs Brugge
Two of the Champions League’s most unexpected teams thus far this year. In Group H, Benfica defeated Juventus twice, sending the Italian powerhouses into the Europa League, while PSG’s top spot and placement among the top teams were taken by Maccabi Haifa after a 6-1 victory on Matchday 6.
Brugge, on the other hand, got off to a fast start in Group B with three straight victories and didn’t let up until qualification was guaranteed; this lack of concentration caused them to lose first place to Porto.
Young players like Abakar Sylla are mixed in with more seasoned players in Carl Hoefkens’ squad, including former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and former Benfica attacker Roman Yaremchuk. But because Benfica has more Champions League experience—having been to the quarterfinals in the previous campaign—the Portuguese powerhouses will be favorites.
