Paris and Liverpool: the venues for the big games to reach the Champions League semi-finals
Can Paris Saint-Germain withstand Bayern Munich's onslaught?
It will be a thrilling knockout round if the two teams play a match similar to the first leg. The team with the better aim will qualify.
In Munich, Mbappé scored two goals and Marquinhos another. Keylor Navas was fantastic. Müller and Choupo Moting scored for Bayern, but they missed countless chances. The absence of Robert Lewandowski was fundamental to the defeat of the Munich team.
The knockout round will be difficult for the Germans because of the bad result in the first leg and the bad atmosphere at the moment. Coach Hansi Flick has a big confrontation, with no possible solution, with sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. One of the two will leave. Former top players such as Lothar Matthäus and Stefan Effenberg believe so.
Managing director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is demanding that they be professional and forget their differences, but the confrontation is too great. It is a pity because Bayern are the current champions and have managed to build a great team that wins titles and plays very good football.
PSG also have an internal conflict with the non-renewal of Kylian Mbappé, but otherwise they are fully focused on their play-offs. The only negative factor will be the absence of their best player in defence, Brazilian Marquinhos, but their approach will be similar to that at the Allianz and they will rely on their two stars: Neymar and Mbappé.
Chelsea, barring a major surprise, will go through to the semi-finals, eliminating a Porto side who have achieved enough this year to reach the last eight.
Wednesday's main event will take place at Anfield. The English team needs a 2-0 win to go through. They did not play well in Madrid and their stars, Salah and Mané, hardly troubled Zidane's team. But Liverpool have a great team and are capable of overturning the knockout round. It will be difficult for them to stop Real Madrid from scoring.
Real Madrid travel to Anfield with Lucas Vázquez missing. Defense is the line that has been the most punished by injuries in the white team. Ramos, Varane and Carvajal are now joined by the Galician. So far, they have passed the last few games with flying colours, including Saturday's game against FC Barcelona.
Should they maintain the level of the last month, Madrid will have no problems in reaching the semi-finals, but they should not be overconfident. Zidane will have to decide who takes Lucas' place. Odriozola would be the logical choice, but the Madrid full-back is not performing at a similar level to the rest of the team and I don't rule out the possibility that the coach will opt to switch Mendy to Marcelo or even Valverde at right-back. This would be showing Odriozola the exit door, but Zidane will have to make the right decision for the team.
The final game is Manchester City-Dortmund with Guardiola's side holding a 2-1 advantage from the first leg. They should not be overconfident in their visit to Signal Iduna Park, especially with Haaland. A 1-0 scoreline qualifies the Germans. It will be very difficult for City not to score and this will make Dortmund's task much more difficult. It will be a similar game to the first leg, even if it is played on German soil. Dortmund will wait at the back to counter-attack and allow Haaland to exploit some space. City will play an attacking game.
Our prediction for the semi-finals is clear: Chelsea and City are strong favourites against their opponents. Real Madrid are also ahead of Liverpool to go through; and the absence of Lewandowski and the presence of Mbappé will be crucial to PSG's qualification.
Tuesday 13: 21:00h PSG - Bayern & Chelsea - Porto
Wednesday 14: 21:00h Liverpool - Real Madrid & Borussia Dortmund - Manchester City
