Champions League credentials

By David Lee Wheatley

Quarter-final stage

The draw for the last eight of this season's UEFA Champions League took place yesterday and it threw up some mouth-watering clashes. Here, I assess the clubs involved and their chances of European glory.

Paris St-Germain (France)
French league leaders PSG topped group A, before knocking Valencia out of the competition in round 2. The introduction of Beckham to the squad has given them a lift, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic is banned for the quarter-final 1st leg against Barcelona. Ominously, Barca locked into gear in the 2nd leg of their last-16 tie with Milan, overturning a two-goal away loss with a 4-0 thrashing of the Italians at the Nou Camp; PSG are up against it.

Barcelona (Spain)
Catalan giants Barcelona lead La Liga at a canter, but have suffered an indifferent 2013 on all fronts so far. Winners of group G above Celtic, the draw for the round of 16 paired them with Milan, prompting the bookies to install Barca as favourites to progress. However, the Blaugrana looked disjointed and off-colour in the San Siro as AC Milan punished them 2-0. Barca's demise was widely predicted, but they bounced back with penache in a resounding 4-0 second leg victory. PSG lie in wait in the quarter-finals; the outcome depends on which Barcelona team turns up. The Parisians won't be able to live with their Catalonian foes if they hit top form.

Bayern Munich (Germany)
The Bundesliga is 99% sewn up, so Bayern have no distractions in their quest for Champions League glory. Last year's losing finalists topped their group joint on points with Valencia, then scraped past Arsenal on away goals in the first knockout stage. Much like Barcelona, the Bavarian giants showed two completely contrasting sides to their play with a convincing 3-1 first leg win in London, but stuttered over the line at home when losing 2-0 for a narrow victory by virtue of an extra away goal. Serie A leaders Juventus are up next, providing Bayern with a stern test of their credentials. Munich must perform to the maximum over both legs if they wish to advance.

Juventus (Italy)
Coach Conte still has allegations hanging over him from the ongoing match-fixing investigation in Italy, but there appears to be no let-up from his Juve team domestically or in Europe. They have a healthy lead in Serie A, while they won group E ahead of stiff competition from Shakhtar and Chelsea. The round of 16 threw up a tricky-looking match-up with Glasgow Celtic, but Juve dismissed them with ease. Bayern will be a massive step-up in class for the Turin giants, however it's hard to separate the two evenly-matched teams; it could go either way.

Real Madrid (Spain)
Real may not have been able to keep pace with Barca in La Liga, but they've been looking increasingly strong in recent weeks. Madrid beat deadly rivals Barcelona twice in a week, firstly in the Copa del Rey and then in the league. Real trailed Dortmund in group D, but knocked Manchester United out last round thanks largely to inspiration from former United favourite Cristiano Ronaldo. Next up is surprise package Galatasaray in the quarter-finals. It would be a major shock if Ronaldo and co. fail to reach the last four.

Galatasaray (Turkey)
The Istanbul club slipped through in 2nd spot from group H behind Manchester United and on the same points at minnows Cluj, who just missed out. Drogba and Sneijder came in to bolster Gala in January and it has paid dividends. Schalke got a 1-1 draw in Turkey to put themselves in the driving seat, but dark horses Gala shocked the Ruhr club 3-2 in the 2nd leg. The trio of Drogba, Burak Yilmaz and Sneijder are extremely important to Gala's hopes of progression, but Real should have too much.

Malaga (Spain)
The other surprise quarter-finalists are Andalucians Malaga. Beset by financial problems forcing the sales of top players, the Spanish side have promoted some young guns into the team including the hugely impressive Isco, while signing tried-and-tested experience such as Roque Santa Cruz to supplement the squad. Coach Pellegrini has moulded them into a team capable of beating anyone, as illustrated by their current 4th spot in La Liga. Having qualified top of a group containing Milan and Zenit, the underdogs saw off former champions Porto in round 2. Malaga showed fighting spirit to win 2-0 in the 2nd leg after losing 1-0 in Portugal and they will need all of their battling qualities to brush Borussia Dortmund aside in the last eight.

Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Former winners Dortmund are a distant second in their domestic league, but have displayed fine form in Europe when beating Real Madrid to top spot in group D. It was possibly the toughest group of all, featuring cash-rich Manchester City and total football advocates Ajax of Amsterdam. The reigning Bundesliga champions dismissed the challenge of Mircea Lucescu's Shakhtar in the last-16 and now face stylish Spaniards Malaga. It's another tough tie to predict and both sides have looked very strong in this competition thus far. Dortmund have more experience as a club in the Champions League, but that didn't help Porto in the last round; Malaga might just sneak through.

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