Champions League 2019/20: Quarter-final Predictions
This is the first time in history of European football that a team has held the Champions League trophy for more than 365 days. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Liverpool have actually held the title for more than 400 days now.
But the exit of the reigning champions at the hands of Atletico Madrid means there will be a new European Champion this season. With the final of Europe’s biggest footballing event within touching distance of 2 weeks now, only the best of football clubs will sustain henceforth.
A big influence this season will be the fact that all the games starting from the quarter-final round will be played in Portugal. This has been done to extinguish the impact of the global pandemic on the beautiful game, in any matter whatsoever.
The quarter-finals begin on the 12th of August and there are some really big names remaining in the competition. With Real Madrid out of the competition, the Spanish football mantle is being upheld by Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
French football have their representatives in Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon, and this is one of the rare times when Ligue 1 has more teams in the Champions League quarter-final than England and Italy.
Dark horses Atalanta have stunned Europe and find themselves in the running, and English giants Manchester City chase their coach Pep Guardiola’s first European trophy in almost a decade now.
Guardiola’s previous club Bayern Munich are one of the favourites in the competition as they thashed Chelsea 7–1 on aggregate in the round of 16. They are accompanied by RB Leipzig as the German representatives in the Champions League.
Today, we take a look at the predictions for each of the quarter-final games as some of the biggest names in European footballing history clash in the foreign land of Portugal and chase greatness.
Atalanta vs Paris Saint-Germain
After being knocked out in the round of 16 in the past three successive seasons, Paris Saint-Germain find themselves in the quarter-final after a long time. But they face a ferocious Italian side Atalanta who have been one of Europe’s most ruthless teams in front of the goal.
Atalanta broke the Serie A goal-scoring record and ended the Italian campaign with 96 goals to their name, 17 more than second-most Juventus. With no pressure whatsoever on the Serie A club as they have already exceeded expectations, they are sure to go all-out attack in this one.
A big concern for Paris Saint-Germain is the absence of their key personnel — Kylian Mbappe, Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani and Marco Verratti. These are some big names for the Parisiens, and will surely be missed in such an important tie.
This is a clash of a side which is invincible in the goal-scoring department and a side which has a better defensive setup than their counterparts. Considering all the pros and cons in this one, Paris Saint-Germain should be able to edge out their opponents by outscoring them as their defensive line led by Thiago Silva should managed to keep the Atalanta’s frontline at bay.
RB Leipzig vs Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid stunned the Champions League audience when they eliminated Liverpool at Anfield earlier this year. To remind everyone, this was the venue where the Reds had overturned a 3–0 deficit to beat Barcelona 4–0 in the semi-final last season.
With their hometown rivals Real Madrid out of the competition, Atletico should fancy their chances of reaching the final at least this season. But they face a RB Leipzig test next.
Leipzig also took everyone by shock when they beat last year finalists Tottenham in both the legs to set up their quarter-final clash against their Spanish counterparts. But since the resumption of football after the pandemic slowed down, Julien Naggelsmann’s side has looked extremely unimpressive.
The German club are also missing their talisman Timo Werner after the forward’s departure to English club Chelsea. This actually makes the team a lot weaker in the attacking area.
This is a battle of two highly tactical coaches Diego Simeone and Julien Naggelsmann. But the experience of the Argentine coach is something which should turn this game into the Spanish side’s favour. Atletico have been a consistent side In Europe for almost 6 years now, making it through to the knockout stages almost every season.
A superior squad which is experienced in this competition and of course Leipzig missing their attacking impact surely makes Atletico favourites to win this fixture.
Bayern Munich vs Barcelona
Probably the biggest game of the quarter-final round — German Champions Bayern Munich and Champions League veterans Barcelona face off in an epic clash in Portugal.
In any usual season, this game might just be a mouthwatering final of the Champions League. But fate has put these two giants of the game in the same bracket as early as in the quarter-final of the competition.
Bayern Munich have been Europe’s best side this season. Their supremacy was on-show when they destroyed English giants Chelsea 4–1 last week, which made it 7–1 on aggregate to the Bundesliga club.
Each aspect of Bayern’s tactical set-up is perfect in every manner. While the defensive lines are a brick wall with Alaba and Boateng, the flanks are dominated by Alphonso Davies and Joshua Kimmich. Thiago and Goretzka handle the operations in the midfield, while the trio of Muller, Gnabry and Lewandowski is the deadliest front-three in the world right now.
But nothing can compare with the asset that Barcelona possesses. Lionel Messi will lead the Catalans against Bayern and the Argentine has a knack of scoring against his German counterparts over and over again in the last decade.
On Messi’s day, there is no chance even a Bayern Munich side could level up to the Barcelona side.
This season though Barcelona have struggled a lot. Their defense is error-prone, while absence of Brazilian Arthur makes the midfield a concern. Overall, the side is an ageing one and over-relies on Messi to scrape out wins currently.
On a fair ground, the gap between Bayern Munich and Messi’s Barcelona this season is wider than ever. It is the Germans who should conquer their Spanish opposition and make it to the semi-final of the Champions League. Nevertheless though, this should be a really epic encounter between the two sides.
Manchester City vs Lyon
Before the round of 16 of the Champions League had even started, Manchester City faced a big turmoil. The breach of the Financial Fair-Play regulations by the owners of the club meant that the English giants faced a potential ban from the Champions League.
But the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) and now the ex-Champions of England find themselves in the running to win this season’s edition of the European competition too.
City silenced all the critics and stamped their authority by eliminating Real Madrid in the last round. They won both their ties at the Santiago Bernabeu and the Etihad respectively.
Guardiola’s side now faces an unexpected Lyon side. Lyon were tipped to get eliminated in the last round when they faced Juventus, but the French side miraculously won the game on aggregate to seal their berth in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Lyon have the youngest side in the competition but have some serious French talent in their ranks who can decide the game individually. But Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are too complete in all aspects to beat them comprehensively.
There is no doubt Manchester City will win this game, which should see them facing a potential heavyweight tie against Bayern Munich or Barcelona in the semi-final of the competition.