One hundred and four days: that is the precise gap between the last kick of the Champions League group stage on 2 November and the start of the knockout stage this Tuesday. An unusually long period, in which Lionel Messi inspired an Argentinian World Cup triumph in Qatar and club football came to a standstill.
Since the resumption of the domestic game, there have been mixed fortunes for the teams who made it through in the autumn. Napoli, the 20-goal top scorers of the group stage, continue to fly high at the Serie A summit, for instance, but other sides have suffered a splutter or two since returning to action.
When Real Madrid made a stumbling return, coach Carlo Ancelotti immediately referenced the World Cup effect – and the question of that tournament’s toll, physical as well as mental, will remain pertinent till the season ends. The holders have already had their powers of endurance tested, playing 13 games since 30 December – more than any other Champions League contender. This number includes the Club World Cup final, won last weekend against Al-Hilal in Rabat, and a Spanish Super Cup final lost against Barcelona in Riyadh.
Overall, Los Blancos have won eight of their 13 games since the World Cup, albeit their two losses in six Liga outings have left them 11 points behind Barcelona in the domestic standings.
Madrid’s last-16 opponents Liverpool won five straight games in the group stage, but this has been a miserable winter for last season’s Champions League runners-up. The reasons for their slump have been much-discussed – and include the sense of a side running on empty after their 63-game 2021/22 campaign. Recent results certainly make bleak reading: five defeats in ten matches since 22 December, including exits from both of the domestic cup competitions they won last term.
All of which makes them the underdogs going into their latest encounter with Madrid, the team who did not just break their hearts in the final last May but also eliminated them from the competition in 2020/21 with a 3-1 quarter-final success.
Liverpool are not the only English contenders struggling, mind you: Chelsea, visitors to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have won just one of their last eight in all competitions. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday was the fourth reverse in eight league fixtures since Boxing Day, before the team travel to the San Siro to take on AC Milan on Tuesday.
Even Manchester City have been in patchy form, with four wins and three defeats from their last seven games in all competitions. Quite a contrast with the formidable flow they achieved when winning 18 of 20 games prior to the round of 16 a year ago. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men will visit Leipzig on 22 February with history on their side, having won their first-leg match in the round of 16 in each of the past seven seasons.
If England’s Champions League participants have had their ups and downs, it has been plain sailing for Borussia Dortmund with six victories in a row in all competitions since the Bundesliga resumed in late January.
English eyes will inevitably be drawn to Jude Bellingham, outstanding for Gareth Southgate’s team at the World Cup, when they take on Chelsea. That said it was another young English player, 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who opened the scoring in their 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
As for the other German hopefuls, Bayern München, the only team to take maximum points in the group stage, began the second half of the season with a trio of draws – a stumble by their lofty standards – but have since won their past three matches and remain unbeaten since 17 September, ahead of their visit to Paris Saint-Germain (of which more below).
Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig have been in decent form too but suffered their first losses of 2023 at the weekend, Eintracht tasting defeat for the first time since October at Cologne, while Leipzig’s home loss to Union Berlin was their first reverse since September.
You suspect that Eintracht, last year’s Europa League winners, will need the full backing of their supporters in next week’s home first leg against Napoli, a side who shrugged off a post-Christmas loss at Inter by winning six on the bounce in Serie A.
Of the other Italian teams, Serie A’s second-placed Inter are also in good health having won two derbies in the past month – one of them in Riyadh to lift the Italian Super Cup. Their beaten neighbours Milan have had it less good; a 1-0 victory over Torino on 10 February ended a run of four straight defeats for a team who face Tottenham having lost their past six Champions League fixtures against English opponents.
Over in Portugal, Inter’s last-16 opponents Porto are unbeaten this year, their run of six league wins in seven including a 2-1 triumph at Sporting on Sunday. Benfica are in fine fettle too having won five of seven league games since the World Cup; add a seven-match unbeaten run in the Champions League (last season included) and they should be full of confidence for Wednesday's assignment against a Club Brugge team who have won just one of their past eight league games, drawing six. For Scott Parker, the manager who replaced Carl Hoefkens on New Year's Eve, this first Champions League game as a coach looks like it could be the proverbial baptism of fire.
Competing on opposite sides, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé illuminated the World Cup final in December and together they are fundamental to Qatari hopes of a first Champions League crown for PSG.
The question ahead of Tuesday, though, is whether one or both of these key men will be fit to start against Bayern, given the pair’s absence from the weekend loss at Monaco. If Paris are to get past the team who beat them in the 2020 final, you suspect at least one of them will be needed in the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Even without Mbappé, scorer of 21 goals in his past 20 Champions League appearances, you’d get long odds on a stalemate on Tuesday night. After all, Bayern have only failed to score in one of their past 38 Champions League matches, while PSG have found the net in their past 14 Champions League matches – and only managed two clean sheets in their past 22. For good measure, we’ll throw in a head-to-head record that shows the teams have never drawn in 11 previous encounters.
Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal when he last faced English opposition, with France’s second in their 2-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over England. And he has a winning goal against Tottenham on his CV too, albeit from a decade ago now.
It was on 1 September 2013 that the centre-forward scored the only goal of a north London league derby at the Emirates; it was one of three league goals he hit against Spurs as an Arsenal and Chelsea player. At 36, he has not lost his scoring touch – as underlined by the header against Torino that ended Milan’s seven-game winless run on Saturday. Spurs beware.
One hundred and four days: that is the precise gap between the last kick of the Champions League group stage on 2 November and the start of the knockout stage this Tuesday. An unusually long period, in which Lionel Messi inspired an Argentinian World Cup triumph in Qatar and club football came to a standstill.
Since the resumption of the domestic game, there have been mixed fortunes for the teams who made it through in the autumn. Napoli, the 20-goal top scorers of the group stage, continue to fly high at the Serie A summit, for instance, but other sides have suffered a splutter or two since returning to action.
When Real Madrid made a stumbling return, coach Carlo Ancelotti immediately referenced the World Cup effect – and the question of that tournament’s toll, physical as well as mental, will remain pertinent till the season ends. The holders have already had their powers of endurance tested, playing 13 games since 30 December – more than any other Champions League contender. This number includes the Club World Cup final, won last weekend against Al-Hilal in Rabat, and a Spanish Super Cup final lost against Barcelona in Riyadh.
Overall, Los Blancos have won eight of their 13 games since the World Cup, albeit their two losses in six Liga outings have left them 11 points behind Barcelona in the domestic standings.
Madrid’s last-16 opponents Liverpool won five straight games in the group stage, but this has been a miserable winter for last season’s Champions League runners-up. The reasons for their slump have been much-discussed – and include the sense of a side running on empty after their 63-game 2021/22 campaign. Recent results certainly make bleak reading: five defeats in ten matches since 22 December, including exits from both of the domestic cup competitions they won last term.
All of which makes them the underdogs going into their latest encounter with Madrid, the team who did not just break their hearts in the final last May but also eliminated them from the competition in 2020/21 with a 3-1 quarter-final success.
Liverpool are not the only English contenders struggling, mind you: Chelsea, visitors to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have won just one of their last eight in all competitions. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday was the fourth reverse in eight league fixtures since Boxing Day, before the team travel to the San Siro to take on AC Milan on Tuesday.
Even Manchester City have been in patchy form, with four wins and three defeats from their last seven games in all competitions. Quite a contrast with the formidable flow they achieved when winning 18 of 20 games prior to the round of 16 a year ago. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men will visit Leipzig on 22 February with history on their side, having won their first-leg match in the round of 16 in each of the past seven seasons.
If England’s Champions League participants have had their ups and downs, it has been plain sailing for Borussia Dortmund with six victories in a row in all competitions since the Bundesliga resumed in late January.
English eyes will inevitably be drawn to Jude Bellingham, outstanding for Gareth Southgate’s team at the World Cup, when they take on Chelsea. That said it was another young English player, 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who opened the scoring in their 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
As for the other German hopefuls, Bayern München, the only team to take maximum points in the group stage, began the second half of the season with a trio of draws – a stumble by their lofty standards – but have since won their past three matches and remain unbeaten since 17 September, ahead of their visit to Paris Saint-Germain (of which more below).
Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig have been in decent form too but suffered their first losses of 2023 at the weekend, Eintracht tasting defeat for the first time since October at Cologne, while Leipzig’s home loss to Union Berlin was their first reverse since September.
You suspect that Eintracht, last year’s Europa League winners, will need the full backing of their supporters in next week’s home first leg against Napoli, a side who shrugged off a post-Christmas loss at Inter by winning six on the bounce in Serie A.
Of the other Italian teams, Serie A’s second-placed Inter are also in good health having won two derbies in the past month – one of them in Riyadh to lift the Italian Super Cup. Their beaten neighbours Milan have had it less good; a 1-0 victory over Torino on 10 February ended a run of four straight defeats for a team who face Tottenham having lost their past six Champions League fixtures against English opponents.
Over in Portugal, Inter’s last-16 opponents Porto are unbeaten this year, their run of six league wins in seven including a 2-1 triumph at Sporting on Sunday. Benfica are in fine fettle too having won five of seven league games since the World Cup; add a seven-match unbeaten run in the Champions League (last season included) and they should be full of confidence for Wednesday's assignment against a Club Brugge team who have won just one of their past eight league games, drawing six. For Scott Parker, the manager who replaced Carl Hoefkens on New Year's Eve, this first Champions League game as a coach looks like it could be the proverbial baptism of fire.
Competing on opposite sides, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé illuminated the World Cup final in December and together they are fundamental to Qatari hopes of a first Champions League crown for PSG.
The question ahead of Tuesday, though, is whether one or both of these key men will be fit to start against Bayern, given the pair’s absence from the weekend loss at Monaco. If Paris are to get past the team who beat them in the 2020 final, you suspect at least one of them will be needed in the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Even without Mbappé, scorer of 21 goals in his past 20 Champions League appearances, you’d get long odds on a stalemate on Tuesday night. After all, Bayern have only failed to score in one of their past 38 Champions League matches, while PSG have found the net in their past 14 Champions League matches – and only managed two clean sheets in their past 22. For good measure, we’ll throw in a head-to-head record that shows the teams have never drawn in 11 previous encounters.
Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal when he last faced English opposition, with France’s second in their 2-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over England. And he has a winning goal against Tottenham on his CV too, albeit from a decade ago now.
It was on 1 September 2013 that the centre-forward scored the only goal of a north London league derby at the Emirates; it was one of three league goals he hit against Spurs as an Arsenal and Chelsea player. At 36, he has not lost his scoring touch – as underlined by the header against Torino that ended Milan’s seven-game winless run on Saturday. Spurs beware.
One hundred and four days: that is the precise gap between the last kick of the Champions League group stage on 2 November and the start of the knockout stage this Tuesday. An unusually long period, in which Lionel Messi inspired an Argentinian World Cup triumph in Qatar and club football came to a standstill.
Since the resumption of the domestic game, there have been mixed fortunes for the teams who made it through in the autumn. Napoli, the 20-goal top scorers of the group stage, continue to fly high at the Serie A summit, for instance, but other sides have suffered a splutter or two since returning to action.
When Real Madrid made a stumbling return, coach Carlo Ancelotti immediately referenced the World Cup effect – and the question of that tournament’s toll, physical as well as mental, will remain pertinent till the season ends. The holders have already had their powers of endurance tested, playing 13 games since 30 December – more than any other Champions League contender. This number includes the Club World Cup final, won last weekend against Al-Hilal in Rabat, and a Spanish Super Cup final lost against Barcelona in Riyadh.
Overall, Los Blancos have won eight of their 13 games since the World Cup, albeit their two losses in six Liga outings have left them 11 points behind Barcelona in the domestic standings.
Madrid’s last-16 opponents Liverpool won five straight games in the group stage, but this has been a miserable winter for last season’s Champions League runners-up. The reasons for their slump have been much-discussed – and include the sense of a side running on empty after their 63-game 2021/22 campaign. Recent results certainly make bleak reading: five defeats in ten matches since 22 December, including exits from both of the domestic cup competitions they won last term.
All of which makes them the underdogs going into their latest encounter with Madrid, the team who did not just break their hearts in the final last May but also eliminated them from the competition in 2020/21 with a 3-1 quarter-final success.
Liverpool are not the only English contenders struggling, mind you: Chelsea, visitors to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have won just one of their last eight in all competitions. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday was the fourth reverse in eight league fixtures since Boxing Day, before the team travel to the San Siro to take on AC Milan on Tuesday.
Even Manchester City have been in patchy form, with four wins and three defeats from their last seven games in all competitions. Quite a contrast with the formidable flow they achieved when winning 18 of 20 games prior to the round of 16 a year ago. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men will visit Leipzig on 22 February with history on their side, having won their first-leg match in the round of 16 in each of the past seven seasons.
If England’s Champions League participants have had their ups and downs, it has been plain sailing for Borussia Dortmund with six victories in a row in all competitions since the Bundesliga resumed in late January.
English eyes will inevitably be drawn to Jude Bellingham, outstanding for Gareth Southgate’s team at the World Cup, when they take on Chelsea. That said it was another young English player, 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who opened the scoring in their 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
As for the other German hopefuls, Bayern München, the only team to take maximum points in the group stage, began the second half of the season with a trio of draws – a stumble by their lofty standards – but have since won their past three matches and remain unbeaten since 17 September, ahead of their visit to Paris Saint-Germain (of which more below).
Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig have been in decent form too but suffered their first losses of 2023 at the weekend, Eintracht tasting defeat for the first time since October at Cologne, while Leipzig’s home loss to Union Berlin was their first reverse since September.
You suspect that Eintracht, last year’s Europa League winners, will need the full backing of their supporters in next week’s home first leg against Napoli, a side who shrugged off a post-Christmas loss at Inter by winning six on the bounce in Serie A.
Of the other Italian teams, Serie A’s second-placed Inter are also in good health having won two derbies in the past month – one of them in Riyadh to lift the Italian Super Cup. Their beaten neighbours Milan have had it less good; a 1-0 victory over Torino on 10 February ended a run of four straight defeats for a team who face Tottenham having lost their past six Champions League fixtures against English opponents.
Over in Portugal, Inter’s last-16 opponents Porto are unbeaten this year, their run of six league wins in seven including a 2-1 triumph at Sporting on Sunday. Benfica are in fine fettle too having won five of seven league games since the World Cup; add a seven-match unbeaten run in the Champions League (last season included) and they should be full of confidence for Wednesday's assignment against a Club Brugge team who have won just one of their past eight league games, drawing six. For Scott Parker, the manager who replaced Carl Hoefkens on New Year's Eve, this first Champions League game as a coach looks like it could be the proverbial baptism of fire.
Competing on opposite sides, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé illuminated the World Cup final in December and together they are fundamental to Qatari hopes of a first Champions League crown for PSG.
The question ahead of Tuesday, though, is whether one or both of these key men will be fit to start against Bayern, given the pair’s absence from the weekend loss at Monaco. If Paris are to get past the team who beat them in the 2020 final, you suspect at least one of them will be needed in the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Even without Mbappé, scorer of 21 goals in his past 20 Champions League appearances, you’d get long odds on a stalemate on Tuesday night. After all, Bayern have only failed to score in one of their past 38 Champions League matches, while PSG have found the net in their past 14 Champions League matches – and only managed two clean sheets in their past 22. For good measure, we’ll throw in a head-to-head record that shows the teams have never drawn in 11 previous encounters.
Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal when he last faced English opposition, with France’s second in their 2-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over England. And he has a winning goal against Tottenham on his CV too, albeit from a decade ago now.
It was on 1 September 2013 that the centre-forward scored the only goal of a north London league derby at the Emirates; it was one of three league goals he hit against Spurs as an Arsenal and Chelsea player. At 36, he has not lost his scoring touch – as underlined by the header against Torino that ended Milan’s seven-game winless run on Saturday. Spurs beware.
One hundred and four days: that is the precise gap between the last kick of the Champions League group stage on 2 November and the start of the knockout stage this Tuesday. An unusually long period, in which Lionel Messi inspired an Argentinian World Cup triumph in Qatar and club football came to a standstill.
Since the resumption of the domestic game, there have been mixed fortunes for the teams who made it through in the autumn. Napoli, the 20-goal top scorers of the group stage, continue to fly high at the Serie A summit, for instance, but other sides have suffered a splutter or two since returning to action.
When Real Madrid made a stumbling return, coach Carlo Ancelotti immediately referenced the World Cup effect – and the question of that tournament’s toll, physical as well as mental, will remain pertinent till the season ends. The holders have already had their powers of endurance tested, playing 13 games since 30 December – more than any other Champions League contender. This number includes the Club World Cup final, won last weekend against Al-Hilal in Rabat, and a Spanish Super Cup final lost against Barcelona in Riyadh.
Overall, Los Blancos have won eight of their 13 games since the World Cup, albeit their two losses in six Liga outings have left them 11 points behind Barcelona in the domestic standings.
Madrid’s last-16 opponents Liverpool won five straight games in the group stage, but this has been a miserable winter for last season’s Champions League runners-up. The reasons for their slump have been much-discussed – and include the sense of a side running on empty after their 63-game 2021/22 campaign. Recent results certainly make bleak reading: five defeats in ten matches since 22 December, including exits from both of the domestic cup competitions they won last term.
All of which makes them the underdogs going into their latest encounter with Madrid, the team who did not just break their hearts in the final last May but also eliminated them from the competition in 2020/21 with a 3-1 quarter-final success.
Liverpool are not the only English contenders struggling, mind you: Chelsea, visitors to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have won just one of their last eight in all competitions. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday was the fourth reverse in eight league fixtures since Boxing Day, before the team travel to the San Siro to take on AC Milan on Tuesday.
Even Manchester City have been in patchy form, with four wins and three defeats from their last seven games in all competitions. Quite a contrast with the formidable flow they achieved when winning 18 of 20 games prior to the round of 16 a year ago. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men will visit Leipzig on 22 February with history on their side, having won their first-leg match in the round of 16 in each of the past seven seasons.
If England’s Champions League participants have had their ups and downs, it has been plain sailing for Borussia Dortmund with six victories in a row in all competitions since the Bundesliga resumed in late January.
English eyes will inevitably be drawn to Jude Bellingham, outstanding for Gareth Southgate’s team at the World Cup, when they take on Chelsea. That said it was another young English player, 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who opened the scoring in their 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
As for the other German hopefuls, Bayern München, the only team to take maximum points in the group stage, began the second half of the season with a trio of draws – a stumble by their lofty standards – but have since won their past three matches and remain unbeaten since 17 September, ahead of their visit to Paris Saint-Germain (of which more below).
Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig have been in decent form too but suffered their first losses of 2023 at the weekend, Eintracht tasting defeat for the first time since October at Cologne, while Leipzig’s home loss to Union Berlin was their first reverse since September.
You suspect that Eintracht, last year’s Europa League winners, will need the full backing of their supporters in next week’s home first leg against Napoli, a side who shrugged off a post-Christmas loss at Inter by winning six on the bounce in Serie A.
Of the other Italian teams, Serie A’s second-placed Inter are also in good health having won two derbies in the past month – one of them in Riyadh to lift the Italian Super Cup. Their beaten neighbours Milan have had it less good; a 1-0 victory over Torino on 10 February ended a run of four straight defeats for a team who face Tottenham having lost their past six Champions League fixtures against English opponents.
Over in Portugal, Inter’s last-16 opponents Porto are unbeaten this year, their run of six league wins in seven including a 2-1 triumph at Sporting on Sunday. Benfica are in fine fettle too having won five of seven league games since the World Cup; add a seven-match unbeaten run in the Champions League (last season included) and they should be full of confidence for Wednesday's assignment against a Club Brugge team who have won just one of their past eight league games, drawing six. For Scott Parker, the manager who replaced Carl Hoefkens on New Year's Eve, this first Champions League game as a coach looks like it could be the proverbial baptism of fire.
Competing on opposite sides, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé illuminated the World Cup final in December and together they are fundamental to Qatari hopes of a first Champions League crown for PSG.
The question ahead of Tuesday, though, is whether one or both of these key men will be fit to start against Bayern, given the pair’s absence from the weekend loss at Monaco. If Paris are to get past the team who beat them in the 2020 final, you suspect at least one of them will be needed in the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Even without Mbappé, scorer of 21 goals in his past 20 Champions League appearances, you’d get long odds on a stalemate on Tuesday night. After all, Bayern have only failed to score in one of their past 38 Champions League matches, while PSG have found the net in their past 14 Champions League matches – and only managed two clean sheets in their past 22. For good measure, we’ll throw in a head-to-head record that shows the teams have never drawn in 11 previous encounters.
Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal when he last faced English opposition, with France’s second in their 2-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over England. And he has a winning goal against Tottenham on his CV too, albeit from a decade ago now.
It was on 1 September 2013 that the centre-forward scored the only goal of a north London league derby at the Emirates; it was one of three league goals he hit against Spurs as an Arsenal and Chelsea player. At 36, he has not lost his scoring touch – as underlined by the header against Torino that ended Milan’s seven-game winless run on Saturday. Spurs beware.
One hundred and four days: that is the precise gap between the last kick of the Champions League group stage on 2 November and the start of the knockout stage this Tuesday. An unusually long period, in which Lionel Messi inspired an Argentinian World Cup triumph in Qatar and club football came to a standstill.
Since the resumption of the domestic game, there have been mixed fortunes for the teams who made it through in the autumn. Napoli, the 20-goal top scorers of the group stage, continue to fly high at the Serie A summit, for instance, but other sides have suffered a splutter or two since returning to action.
When Real Madrid made a stumbling return, coach Carlo Ancelotti immediately referenced the World Cup effect – and the question of that tournament’s toll, physical as well as mental, will remain pertinent till the season ends. The holders have already had their powers of endurance tested, playing 13 games since 30 December – more than any other Champions League contender. This number includes the Club World Cup final, won last weekend against Al-Hilal in Rabat, and a Spanish Super Cup final lost against Barcelona in Riyadh.
Overall, Los Blancos have won eight of their 13 games since the World Cup, albeit their two losses in six Liga outings have left them 11 points behind Barcelona in the domestic standings.
Madrid’s last-16 opponents Liverpool won five straight games in the group stage, but this has been a miserable winter for last season’s Champions League runners-up. The reasons for their slump have been much-discussed – and include the sense of a side running on empty after their 63-game 2021/22 campaign. Recent results certainly make bleak reading: five defeats in ten matches since 22 December, including exits from both of the domestic cup competitions they won last term.
All of which makes them the underdogs going into their latest encounter with Madrid, the team who did not just break their hearts in the final last May but also eliminated them from the competition in 2020/21 with a 3-1 quarter-final success.
Liverpool are not the only English contenders struggling, mind you: Chelsea, visitors to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have won just one of their last eight in all competitions. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday was the fourth reverse in eight league fixtures since Boxing Day, before the team travel to the San Siro to take on AC Milan on Tuesday.
Even Manchester City have been in patchy form, with four wins and three defeats from their last seven games in all competitions. Quite a contrast with the formidable flow they achieved when winning 18 of 20 games prior to the round of 16 a year ago. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men will visit Leipzig on 22 February with history on their side, having won their first-leg match in the round of 16 in each of the past seven seasons.
If England’s Champions League participants have had their ups and downs, it has been plain sailing for Borussia Dortmund with six victories in a row in all competitions since the Bundesliga resumed in late January.
English eyes will inevitably be drawn to Jude Bellingham, outstanding for Gareth Southgate’s team at the World Cup, when they take on Chelsea. That said it was another young English player, 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who opened the scoring in their 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
As for the other German hopefuls, Bayern München, the only team to take maximum points in the group stage, began the second half of the season with a trio of draws – a stumble by their lofty standards – but have since won their past three matches and remain unbeaten since 17 September, ahead of their visit to Paris Saint-Germain (of which more below).
Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig have been in decent form too but suffered their first losses of 2023 at the weekend, Eintracht tasting defeat for the first time since October at Cologne, while Leipzig’s home loss to Union Berlin was their first reverse since September.
You suspect that Eintracht, last year’s Europa League winners, will need the full backing of their supporters in next week’s home first leg against Napoli, a side who shrugged off a post-Christmas loss at Inter by winning six on the bounce in Serie A.
Of the other Italian teams, Serie A’s second-placed Inter are also in good health having won two derbies in the past month – one of them in Riyadh to lift the Italian Super Cup. Their beaten neighbours Milan have had it less good; a 1-0 victory over Torino on 10 February ended a run of four straight defeats for a team who face Tottenham having lost their past six Champions League fixtures against English opponents.
Over in Portugal, Inter’s last-16 opponents Porto are unbeaten this year, their run of six league wins in seven including a 2-1 triumph at Sporting on Sunday. Benfica are in fine fettle too having won five of seven league games since the World Cup; add a seven-match unbeaten run in the Champions League (last season included) and they should be full of confidence for Wednesday's assignment against a Club Brugge team who have won just one of their past eight league games, drawing six. For Scott Parker, the manager who replaced Carl Hoefkens on New Year's Eve, this first Champions League game as a coach looks like it could be the proverbial baptism of fire.
Competing on opposite sides, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé illuminated the World Cup final in December and together they are fundamental to Qatari hopes of a first Champions League crown for PSG.
The question ahead of Tuesday, though, is whether one or both of these key men will be fit to start against Bayern, given the pair’s absence from the weekend loss at Monaco. If Paris are to get past the team who beat them in the 2020 final, you suspect at least one of them will be needed in the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Even without Mbappé, scorer of 21 goals in his past 20 Champions League appearances, you’d get long odds on a stalemate on Tuesday night. After all, Bayern have only failed to score in one of their past 38 Champions League matches, while PSG have found the net in their past 14 Champions League matches – and only managed two clean sheets in their past 22. For good measure, we’ll throw in a head-to-head record that shows the teams have never drawn in 11 previous encounters.
Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal when he last faced English opposition, with France’s second in their 2-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over England. And he has a winning goal against Tottenham on his CV too, albeit from a decade ago now.
It was on 1 September 2013 that the centre-forward scored the only goal of a north London league derby at the Emirates; it was one of three league goals he hit against Spurs as an Arsenal and Chelsea player. At 36, he has not lost his scoring touch – as underlined by the header against Torino that ended Milan’s seven-game winless run on Saturday. Spurs beware.
One hundred and four days: that is the precise gap between the last kick of the Champions League group stage on 2 November and the start of the knockout stage this Tuesday. An unusually long period, in which Lionel Messi inspired an Argentinian World Cup triumph in Qatar and club football came to a standstill.
Since the resumption of the domestic game, there have been mixed fortunes for the teams who made it through in the autumn. Napoli, the 20-goal top scorers of the group stage, continue to fly high at the Serie A summit, for instance, but other sides have suffered a splutter or two since returning to action.
When Real Madrid made a stumbling return, coach Carlo Ancelotti immediately referenced the World Cup effect – and the question of that tournament’s toll, physical as well as mental, will remain pertinent till the season ends. The holders have already had their powers of endurance tested, playing 13 games since 30 December – more than any other Champions League contender. This number includes the Club World Cup final, won last weekend against Al-Hilal in Rabat, and a Spanish Super Cup final lost against Barcelona in Riyadh.
Overall, Los Blancos have won eight of their 13 games since the World Cup, albeit their two losses in six Liga outings have left them 11 points behind Barcelona in the domestic standings.
Madrid’s last-16 opponents Liverpool won five straight games in the group stage, but this has been a miserable winter for last season’s Champions League runners-up. The reasons for their slump have been much-discussed – and include the sense of a side running on empty after their 63-game 2021/22 campaign. Recent results certainly make bleak reading: five defeats in ten matches since 22 December, including exits from both of the domestic cup competitions they won last term.
All of which makes them the underdogs going into their latest encounter with Madrid, the team who did not just break their hearts in the final last May but also eliminated them from the competition in 2020/21 with a 3-1 quarter-final success.
Liverpool are not the only English contenders struggling, mind you: Chelsea, visitors to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have won just one of their last eight in all competitions. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday was the fourth reverse in eight league fixtures since Boxing Day, before the team travel to the San Siro to take on AC Milan on Tuesday.
Even Manchester City have been in patchy form, with four wins and three defeats from their last seven games in all competitions. Quite a contrast with the formidable flow they achieved when winning 18 of 20 games prior to the round of 16 a year ago. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men will visit Leipzig on 22 February with history on their side, having won their first-leg match in the round of 16 in each of the past seven seasons.
If England’s Champions League participants have had their ups and downs, it has been plain sailing for Borussia Dortmund with six victories in a row in all competitions since the Bundesliga resumed in late January.
English eyes will inevitably be drawn to Jude Bellingham, outstanding for Gareth Southgate’s team at the World Cup, when they take on Chelsea. That said it was another young English player, 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who opened the scoring in their 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
As for the other German hopefuls, Bayern München, the only team to take maximum points in the group stage, began the second half of the season with a trio of draws – a stumble by their lofty standards – but have since won their past three matches and remain unbeaten since 17 September, ahead of their visit to Paris Saint-Germain (of which more below).
Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig have been in decent form too but suffered their first losses of 2023 at the weekend, Eintracht tasting defeat for the first time since October at Cologne, while Leipzig’s home loss to Union Berlin was their first reverse since September.
You suspect that Eintracht, last year’s Europa League winners, will need the full backing of their supporters in next week’s home first leg against Napoli, a side who shrugged off a post-Christmas loss at Inter by winning six on the bounce in Serie A.
Of the other Italian teams, Serie A’s second-placed Inter are also in good health having won two derbies in the past month – one of them in Riyadh to lift the Italian Super Cup. Their beaten neighbours Milan have had it less good; a 1-0 victory over Torino on 10 February ended a run of four straight defeats for a team who face Tottenham having lost their past six Champions League fixtures against English opponents.
Over in Portugal, Inter’s last-16 opponents Porto are unbeaten this year, their run of six league wins in seven including a 2-1 triumph at Sporting on Sunday. Benfica are in fine fettle too having won five of seven league games since the World Cup; add a seven-match unbeaten run in the Champions League (last season included) and they should be full of confidence for Wednesday's assignment against a Club Brugge team who have won just one of their past eight league games, drawing six. For Scott Parker, the manager who replaced Carl Hoefkens on New Year's Eve, this first Champions League game as a coach looks like it could be the proverbial baptism of fire.
Competing on opposite sides, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé illuminated the World Cup final in December and together they are fundamental to Qatari hopes of a first Champions League crown for PSG.
The question ahead of Tuesday, though, is whether one or both of these key men will be fit to start against Bayern, given the pair’s absence from the weekend loss at Monaco. If Paris are to get past the team who beat them in the 2020 final, you suspect at least one of them will be needed in the first leg at Parc des Princes.
Even without Mbappé, scorer of 21 goals in his past 20 Champions League appearances, you’d get long odds on a stalemate on Tuesday night. After all, Bayern have only failed to score in one of their past 38 Champions League matches, while PSG have found the net in their past 14 Champions League matches – and only managed two clean sheets in their past 22. For good measure, we’ll throw in a head-to-head record that shows the teams have never drawn in 11 previous encounters.
Olivier Giroud scored the winning goal when he last faced English opposition, with France’s second in their 2-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over England. And he has a winning goal against Tottenham on his CV too, albeit from a decade ago now.
It was on 1 September 2013 that the centre-forward scored the only goal of a north London league derby at the Emirates; it was one of three league goals he hit against Spurs as an Arsenal and Chelsea player. At 36, he has not lost his scoring touch – as underlined by the header against Torino that ended Milan’s seven-game winless run on Saturday. Spurs beware.
