By David Lee Wheatley
The Champions
League quarter-final draw handed Manchester United a mighty difficult task in
order to overcome holders Bayern, while the other remaining English
representatives Chelsea will undoubtedly fancy their chances against French
league leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
An
all-Spanish tie between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid appears almost too close
to call, with both sides separated by just one point in La Liga at time of
writing. Meanwhile, Real Madrid make up an extremely powerful trio of clubs from
that country and would seem heavy favourites to sweep opponents Borussia
Dortmund aside.
United woke
up from their season-long slumber when defeating Greek side Olympiakos 3-0 at
Old Trafford on Wednesday, thus coming back from a 2-0 first-leg deficit. The
first 60 minutes of that second-leg clash were played at a frantic pace from the
off and saw the home side cruising thanks to an impressive Robin van Persie
hat-trick. However, they had to survive a sprinkling of shaky moments before
finally seeing out the game and dumping the plucky Greeks out of the
tournament.
Their prize
for struggling through is a daunting meeting with current holders Bayern
Munich, with United hosting the Bundesliga giants first of all. The only way David
Moyes’ men will survive in the competition is by establishing a lead to take to
Germany; otherwise it is curtains for the fading Manchester giants. However,
even getting their noses in front will prove easier said than done and would be
a major turn-up for the books in itself given the Red Devils shocking league form overall this campaign.
Bayern have
swept all before them domestically once again, while seeing off the challenge
of Arsenal with great ease at the last-16 stage in Europe. Despite the draw pitting
them against three-time European champions United, the Bavarian bulldozer seems
set to roll on regardless under the canny guidance of renowned tactician Pep Guardiola.
The former Barcelona captain is looking to secure his third Champions’ League
crown as a coach and won’t be fazed by the prospect of facing up to a team evidently
shorn of confidence and possibly the services of the injured van Persie.
Chelsea never
left second gear when putting Galatasaray to the sword in the last round
against a side with an aging Didier Drogba leading the line against his beloved
former club, plus the ineffective Wesley Sneijder in midfield; a once-feted
footballer whose star has fallen alarmingly since his apparent peak four years
ago under Jose Mourinho at Inter. It was oh-so-easy for the Blues to dissect
the Turks’ defence in winning by a comfortable 3-1 aggregate margin and that
victory will give 2012 champions Chelsea a great boost as they size up their
next assignment.
Led by
talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paris Saint-Germain are eleven points clear at the
top of Ligue 1 and demolished Bayer Leverkusen 6-1 over two legs, with an
especially one-sided 4-0 victory coming their way in Germany. Though they possess
a fearsome strike-force and a commanding lead domestically, they will find the
Stamford Bridge outfit a much tougher nut to crack; wily old Mourinho is a
master at stifling opposition strengths, while exposing their weaknesses at
will. Additionally, he and the majority of his squad hold the invaluable experience
of claiming continental trophies over a number of years and collectively they form
a formidable obstacle for the Parisian artisans to successfully negotiate.
It’s likely that
Barcelona will be slight favourites going into battle against compatriots
Atletico, but only marginally so. In fact, with ten matches left to play, Madrid’s
so-called second side sit one point above their more illustrious rivals in La
Liga following a fantastic season so far. They underwent a slight wobble when
managing just one triumph in four fixtures, including surprise losses to
minnows Almeria and Osasuna, but bounced back by securing two league wins on
the trot most recently and knocking a severely demoralised Milan out of the
Champions’ League.
Atletico will
feel they have a strong chance of conquering their fellow title contenders from
Catalonia, but must play both legs at the very height of their powers if they
wish to progress. Barcelona have also suffered two unusual defeats in the last
four games against Real Sociedad and Valladolid, thus falling four points behind
leaders Real Madrid and giving Atletico hope. However, they swatted away widely-touted
pretenders to their throne Manchester City without much fuss in the round of 16
and are seasoned campaigners at the top table of European competition in
comparison with Diego Simeone’s men. It’s likely to be a tight fixture between
the two Spanish clubs and will probably be won by the odd goal either way.
Last year’s
runners-up Borussia Dortmund squeaked past Zenit in making their way to the
quarter-finals, but they will go into their match-up with Real Madrid with a
measure of trepidation. The legendary Galacticos
have not lost a La Liga game since 26th October, a defeat which
arrived in the last El Clasico, and
look odds-on to lift the league championship trophy come the end of the campaign.
Of course, the second instalment of Real-Barca takes place tomorrow evening and that
could determine the destination of the title.
Complimentary
to their sparking domestic displays, Real also thrashed Schalke 9-2 on aggregate to
make it into the last-eight and will aim to do a similar job on a Dortmund side
that don’t appear quite as strong as they were during 2012/13. The 1997 winners
are miles behind Bayern in the Bundesliga – as they found themselves last campaign
– and also looked decidedly porous at the back in leaking a total of four goals
to the beleaguered Russians, who sacked manager Luciano Spalletti on 11th
March after a run of one victory in eleven matches. A 5-4 aggregate advantage for the
side from Germany's industrial heartland is hardly the stuff of potential European kings.
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