The 2017/18 European football season has been anything but captivating as far as the big five domestic title races are concerned.
Mercifully, the battle for Italy’s scudetto is still very much alive as Juventus and every neutral’s favourite Napoli continue to slug it out, victory for victory, at the summit of the Serie A table. Elsewhere, though, let’s face it, the races are already run – and have been for some time.
Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and even a slightly stuttering Barcelona are all unchallenged champions-in-waiting who, free of domestic concerns, can now focus fully on their principal objective for the season – dethroning Real Madrid as the kings of Europe.
The UEFA Champions League is back this week, with four of the eight round of 16 ties taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The knockout phase of the world’s No1 club competition is European football at its pinnacle, and this season it holds particular appeal for English followers, with no fewer than five Premier League teams involved – and, what’s more, the current top five in the country.
No nation has ever had five clubs participating at this stage of the competition, although England did take four teams into the quarter-finals in both 2007/08 and 2008/09 – and three into the semis three seasons running from 2006/07 to 2008/09. Given that just one English side made it through to the quarter-finals last season – and none of the current quintet (it was Leicester City, lest you forget) – it’s been quite a revival for the oft-trumpeted ‘best league in the world’.
There have only ever been ten English clubs involved in the Champions League proper (can you name them?), and, remarkably, half of that number are still in contention this season. But getting through the group stage is one thing. Now, with Europe’s elite lying in ambush, comes the tricky bit.
Here’s a preview of this week’s four fascinating first-leg encounters – complete with reputation-on-the-line scoreline predictions:
Tuesday – JUVENTUS v TOTTENHAM
Spurs, historically the lowest-ranked of the 16 remaining Champions League participants, had the best record of all 32 teams in this season’s group stage (16 points out of 18). They also boast an in-form world-class striker in Harry Kane, whose 101st Premier League goal did for Arsenal at Wembley on Saturday. But can they – and he – breach the seemingly impregnable rearguard of a Juve side that have conceded just one goal – yes, just the one – in their last 16 matches in all competitions, winning each of the last 11?
It’s a daunting task, especially when you stir into the mix the fact that the Bianconeri have lost only once in the 31 European matches played in their new stadium. Furthermore, Juve have an in-form striker of their own in Gonzalo Higuaín (six goals in his last four games).
Kane, for all his consistent brilliance, is overdue some creative assistance from Dele Alli, who has been misfiring all season and had another frustratingly unproductive afternoon against Arsenal on Saturday (from a neutral standpoint the ovation from the Spurs fans on his withdrawal was utterly bewildering). Fortunately, Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min are both in fine fettle, but even without Leonardo Bonucci (now at AC Milan) that Juventus defence remains as ridiculously hard to break down as last season, when they kept clean sheets in five successive knockout games en route to the final.
Prediction: Tottenham to defend stoutly but threaten little and concede one scrappy goal that gives Juve the edge in the tie. 1-0
Tuesday – BASEL v MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City will be wary of the fact that Basel have a fine record against English clubs in this competition and beat Manchester United 1-0 at the St Jakob Park in the autumn to help them reach the knockout phase for the third time. But, as their Premier League position testifies, Pep Guardiola’s side are on a different level to José Mourinho’s and they should coast through this game – and the tie – free of care and concern.
Not long back from their winter break, the Swiss side were actually beaten at home, by Lugano, in their first game of the year and must chase down Young Boys Berne if they are to claim a ninth successive Super League title. City, on the other hand, as they proved once again at home to Leicester on Saturday, are in imperious form, with Sergio Agüero’s four goals and Kevin De Bruyne’s three assists embellishing another five-star performance from the Premier League’s runaway leaders.
Prediction: Unlike at the eerily quiet Etihad Stadium, the St Jakob Park atmosphere will be electric – but only at the start as City take control and canter to victory. 1-3
Wednesday – PORTO v LIVERPOOL
Liverpool are in the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in nine years and will start as favourites to knock out fellow former European champions Porto, but which version of Jürgen Klopp’s team will turn up? In the image of their charismatic but occasionally unhinged German coach, the Merseysiders have been a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous on all fronts this term, their path to Champions League progress featuring two 7-0 wins against Maribor and Spartak Moscow and the surrender of a 3-0 lead at Sevilla.
While Premier League signing of the season Mo Salah is already well on the way to becoming a club legend after just six months at Anfield – he added another assist and goal to his copious haul at Southampton on Sunday – the Egyptian may have to share top billing at the Estádio do Dragão with his fellow African attackers Moussa Marega and Vincent Aboubakar (if fit – the Cameroonian missed the 4-0 weekend win at Chaves), whose goals (16 and 15 respectively) have driven Porto to the top of the Portuguese Primeira Liga, in which they remain unbeaten after 21 matches.
Prediction: Goals at both ends as Liverpool go ahead twice but allow Porto to equalise on both occasions thanks to a couple of unforced defensive errors. 2-2
Wednesday – REAL MADRID v PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
For all the English interest in the competition, this is unquestionably the tie of the round. Real Madrid have given up on the defence of their Spanish title and have gone out of the Copa del Rey, so being crowned champions of Europe three years running is all Cristiano Ronaldo and co have left to play for.
Standing in their way are another team for whom only the Champions League matters. Paris Saint-Germain, who struck a record 25 goals in the group stage, already have Ligue 1 wrapped up and, with an amazing 38 domestic cup wins on the trot, look set to retain both the Coupe de la Ligue – in which they have already reached the final – and Coupe de France.
PSG’s last trip to Spain still haunts them – that fearful 6-1 capitulation to Barcelona (with the help of a Luis Suárez dive and a benevolent German referee, let’s not forget) in last season’s round of 16 following a masterful 4-0 win in Paris. Fortunately, the architect of their Camp Nou collapse, Neymar, is now playing for, rather than against, them, and after breaking the world record transfer to acquire the brilliant Brazilian last summer, France’s finest must hope that he – plus fellow new recruit Kylian Mbappé and house marksman Edinson Cavani – will make the difference against a Madrid side whose illustrious French coach, Zinédine Zidane, a Marseille man, will in all likelihood need to eliminate the Parisians if he is to keep his job.
Prediction: Ronaldo scored in all the group games – the first player ever to do so – and he will be on target again here in a win; crucially, though, PSG will score too. 2-1
I shall be reviewing these four matches on Thursday, but before that please check out my Europa League round of 32 first leg preview on Wednesday.
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