Manchester City and Real Madrid will both be in action when the UEFA Champions League knockout stages begin on Tuesday, and the last two champions of European football’s most prestigious title appear to be the biggest prospects to win it all this season.
Pep Guardiola has been busy downplaying City’s prospects of replicating their incredible treble triumph from last year, when they retained the English Premier League title, won the FA Cup, and won their first Champions League trophy.
“We have a 99.99% chance that we will not win the treble because it has never, ever, ever been done,” Guardiola stated this week when questioned about the chances of retaining all three titles.
However, City appear to be regaining their best form at the perfect time, as they go to Denmark for Tuesday’s last-16 first leg against FC Copenhagen on the heels of a 10-game winning streak in all competitions.
Copenhagen has reached the knockout stage of Europe’s best club competition for only the second time, and the first since 2011.
They held City at home in last season’s group stage and defeated Manchester United 4-3 earlier this season at their Parken Stadium, so the reigning champions may have a difficult task on Tuesday.
But Guardiola’s team will undoubtedly be far too powerful over two legs, and Madrid should have too much for RB Leipzig, whom they face in Germany first.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team, led by Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, is in top form in La Liga despite a slew of defensive injuries.
The draw for the last 16, conducted in December, was slightly uninspiring, even if the meeting between last season’s runners-up Inter Milan and Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid has the makings of a cracker.
It will also be interesting to see how Barcelona performs against Napoli as the Catalans enter their final months under Xavi Hernandez before the renowned former player steps down as coach at the end of the season.
Given Napoli’s problems in following up on their amazing Serie A title win last season, Barcelona will be hoping to reach their first Champions League quarterfinal since 2020.
That year they overcame Napoli in the last 16 before a devastating 8-2 beating by Bayern Munich in Lisbon.
Bayern travel to face Lazio after a 3-0 setback to Bayer Leverkusen, which has made their decade-long Bundesliga title reign appear more shaky than ever.
Harry Kane and his teammates will be hoping that returning to continental competition brings out the best in them, especially as the England star’s maiden season in Germany looks increasingly likely to end without a major title.
PSG’s last chance with Mbappe?
A great quarter-final line-up might be in store if all of the heavyweights avoid shocking defeats in the last 16.
Arsenal should be too strong for Porto, while PSV Eindhoven and Borussia Dortmund meet in a fight of two outsiders.
Then there’s Paris Saint-Germain, who has a history of failing spectacularly in Europe despite its Qatari owners’ excessive expenditures.
PSG has been ousted in the first knockout round in five of the last seven seasons, and it appears that this will be their final chance to win the Champions League with Kylian Mbappe on the roster.
The France captain’s future appears to lay elsewhere, most likely with Real Madrid, given his contract expires after this season.
However, PSG’s form this season under Luis Enrique — the man who led Barcelona to Champions League triumph in 2015 — has been so unimpressive that the possibility of them going all the way in Europe appears remote.
Understandably wary fans of the French club may be dreading the opening leg against Real Sociedad, which takes place in Paris on Wednesday.
The Basque side enters the match in bad form and with significant injury issues, but the focus will be entirely on PSG.“If you want to get to the final you have to play against the best teams,” said Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil as he reflected on the draw.
“That is their objective, to get to the final. Imagine what a bombshell it would be if we eliminated them.”