When FC Bayern came out of the hat in today’s Champions League quarterfinal draw in Switzerland, there was almost an air of inevitability when Paris Saint-Germain appeared next to face the German champions.
It’s a replay of the 2020 final when ex-PSG star Kingsley Coman scored the only goal to hand the trophy to Bayern. Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG are determined to go one better, but to do that they’ll need to beat the very best.
Manchester City was the first team drawn out of the hat and they were pitched against Borussia Dortmund and the prolific Erling Braut Haaland, who could be a City target in the summer.
The semifinals have been drawn too. The winner of Bayern Munich and PSG will face City or Dortmund in the semifinals, and that too will be a cracker! Can PSG beat both the Bavarians and the Citizens?
Neymar and Kylian Mbappe believe they can!
In the other half of the draw, Real Madrid play Liverpool and the winners of that game will meet whichever team emerges from the final tie between Porto versus Chelsea.
Los Blancos might fancy their chances of reaching the final, but Liverpool will have plenty to say about that and they will be eyeing an all-English semifinal against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea.
There are no easy ties at this stage of the competition but the Blues might just have drawn the plum of the round, and the way they ruthlessly dispatched Atletico Madrid in the previous round makes them genuine contenders.
So there’s plenty to look forward to when the quarterfinals take place on April and you’re rest assured here at SBOTOP that we’ll be back with all the very latest Champions League 2021 news and updates as the games approach.
Now that we have the draw, let’s take a look at how the eight standing teams made it to the business end of the competition.
Round of 16 Highlights
Porto sprung the surprise of the Round of 16 when they dumped Juventus out on away goals, winning 2-1 at home and losing 3-2 in Turin after going down to 10 men. Sergio Oliveira scored twice as Porto progressed to the quarterfinals at the expense of Cristiano Ronaldo and co.
Away from Porto’s heroics, there were some monumental clashes. But with respect to the Portuguese club, the quarterfinals lineup is completed by seven European giants.
The two tournament favourites, according to the Champions League 2021 betting odds, both made it through at a canter as Manchester City defeated Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 on aggregate and FC Bayern have beaten Lazio 6-2 over two legs.
The Bavarians’ Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund came through a testing tie with La Liga side Sevilla. Erling Braut Haaland scored twice in each leg as Die Schwarzgelben ran out 5-4 winners.
In the highest profile tie of the round, 2020 finalists Paris Saint-Germain beat Barcelona. They’ve blown the Catalans away with a devastating first leg lead of 4-1 as Kylian Mbappe scored a brilliant hat-trick.
The Blaugrana started the second leg at break-neck speed but could only keep the scores level as their home tie finished 1-1 and Lionel Messi and co. bowed out.
La Liga is represented by Real Madrid who came through their tie against Serie A sharp shooters Atalanta with flying colours, 4-1 on aggregate.
And the eight is made up by Liverpool, who beat Red Bull Leipzig 4-0, and Chelsea who beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 as Tuchel’s impressive start as head coach at Stamford Bridge gathered pace.
So that leaves us with three English sides – two from Germany, and one from Spain, France and Portugal.
Race for the Golden Boot
Haaland has been on fire throughout this tournament and has streaked ahead in the race for top scorer with 10 goals so far. He’s four clear of a group of players on six which includes Mbappe and Neymar from PSG and Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud.
One goal back on five is the ominous name of Robert Lewandowski — who is a man that has a hat-trick in him every time he crosses the white line — playing for a team which is full of goals.
And Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah along with Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema will have high hopes of adding a few more.
If Borussia Dortmund make it past Manchester City and Haaland can bag another goal, then the Norwegian hitman might just be uncatchable.
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