This week’s UEFA Champions League quarter-finals are held in exceptional circumstances.
The 8 successful groups at this level will travel to Lisbon, where they will play the rest of the tournament in a single-match, World Cup-style knockout format, a departure from the same two-stage round-trip structure. due to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
So, if this level of the festival was in the past an exciting and unpredictable roller coaster, things accelerated thanks to a new, more intense and unknown frame.
This serves as a preview of each quarter-final match, where we analyze the 4 matches, decide how and why they will be and will offer a prediction for each.
Atalanta vs Paris Saint-Germain
When this playoff was announced, our collectives were stunned by the idea of two high-octane attacks taking face-to-face position for 90 thrilling minutes.
But the pre-game occasions messed things up a little bit; Looks like we’re in a position to miss a long list of players due to injuries and non-public issues.
Atalanta can do without the striker josip Ilicic and the defensive pillar José Luis Palomino, while the starting goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini has been officially eliminated. For PSG, Kylian Mbappé and Marco Verratti are hesitation and Angel Di Maria is sanctioned, while Thilo Kehrer and Layvin Kurzawa are injured, through the goal. For God’s sake, even manager Thomas Tuchel took a hit the other day!
However, we will see Neymar and Papu Gómez lead exciting and tactically intriguing teams, able to score a lot of goals on Wednesday, which maintains the prestige of this game to watch.
The absences that PSG will face will probably require a variety of cautious midfielders from two Marquinhos, Leandro Paredes and Idrissa Gueye, or perhaps even all three. This is not what they would do in an ideal world, but it can help them combat Atalanta’s love for replacing games from one aspect to another. If they can break this and save you the rear service in space, this may be only the first step in stopping one of Europe’s main attacking forces.
If La Dea works the ball consistently, creating the three-on-two overloads for which they are and bringing the ends inward to the surface, the PSG will have problems. There is the argument that a 3-4-3 form, corresponding to Atalanta, is a smart plan here; would give numbers to the PSG on all sides and help the wide duo (John Bernat and Colin Dagba, at this rate) to deal with what is being thrown at them.
Marquinhos in Gomez between the lines is a key battle, as is Atalant deployed to prevent Neymar from taking over at the other end. PSG would probably have to line up (at least from the beginning) without Mbappé, but they still have the most productive player in this game; for once, Neymar’s shape and shot at this level of competition, and his teammates show adulthood and the game’s control ability they have lacked over the years.
Prediction: Atalanta 1-2 PSG
RB Leipzig – Atletico Madrid
Predicting a clash between a team that hasn’t played for a month and a team that hasn’t played for two weeks, in an empty stadium, is quite difficult. However, this becomes more confusing with the news that Atletico Madrid has filed two cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours and has had to implement self-isolation measures. The club announced on Monday (h/t Dermot Corrigan from The Athletic) that the two players are Angel Correa and Sime Vrsaljko.
This interruption of arrangements may have returned the pendulum to RB Leipzig a little after advances in recent months have sometimes served Atletico: despite everything, they discovered their purpose after the blockade, the format of the eighth finals suits them and their wasting war parts Timo Werner (a 34-purpose striker) adjusts the face of this playoff.
It is an assembly between one of the most productive urgent groups in Europe and one of the most productive low-block defensive groups in Europe. Leipzig will lack the competitive acuity needed to press for 90 minutes and more, so they will possibly pass to the throat early, because the longer the game lasts, the more it will conform to Athletic’s technique and fitness levels.
At Werner, Leipzig lost one of the most productive in the game to sniff opportunities in the area, a vital trait to breaking Atletico’s compact defensive style. The lost ball in the area is possibly the total sum of the opportunities you can create in front of them.
The Atleti’s headquarters, led by Philip, will appreciate the offer of physical forwards Yussuf Poulsen and Patrik Schick, and after winning those duels, it will be the vertical pass of the innermost midfield to turn the defense into a face attack. Array If Thomas Partey is fit, it’s big, his incisive passes can open groups, in a different way, one of Saul Niguez or Koke will have to take the torch.
The atleti’s open-air footballs can be either Diego Costa, Alvaro Morata, Joao Félix and Marcos Llorente, and everyone will offer something different. The conversion of Llorente into a support striker in recent months (after being a defensive midfielder) has added thrust and aggression to the strike line when Costa is not playing (or playing well).
Leipzig will play a top defensive line that can be exploited, but the explanation for why it does is that Dayot Upamecano’s recovery speed is mind-blowing. The quality of his patrols on the starting line is part of the Leipzig equation, the other is what Christopher Nkunku can evoke in attack to update Werner’s departure.
Prediction: Leipzig 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich
It is to head to the Champions League quarter-finals between two of the European Titans, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, only to convince himself that this draw ends in one direction: a Bayern victory.
This is the Barcelona, twice the winner in the last decade, owned by the world’s most productive player, Lionel Messi. How do we get to the point where they’re steamed?
But the more you consult it, review it, and rationalize it again, the more meaningful it becomes. Comparing the oldest and slowest team on Barca opposite the device that is Bayern can only lead it to a conclusion, unless, of course, Messi fills Messi and makes a decision on its own.
If he produces the sort of performance he did against Napoli on Saturday, when he put the game out of reach for the Partenopei, Barca may ride his coattails to victory.
But Barca’s willingness to cede ownership to the Italians was a little alarming, giving them the chance to return, and the lack of tension off the ball in the most sensible ones allowed their war-ed parties to build attacks.
Without a constant effort of 11 players opposed to Bayern Munich, they will be separated. And if you only look at Messi, you may find it harder to handle the ball when you face defenders like Alphonso Davies and David Alaba, who have a diversity of defensive acumen and unwavering speed.
It’s this war that’s going to coincide. If Alaba and Davies (with the help of the midfielder) can keep Messi at 50% of their capacity, Bayern will beat Barca in all other places and win the match. Robert Lewandowski is on fire, Thomas Muller is back at his most productive moment and the speed presented through Die Roten on the flanks will be too much for a blue team that can’t pass up and down the field for 90 minutes.
Prediction: Barcelona 1-3 Bayern Munich
Manchester City v Lyon
Lyon provided the 16-way run by beating Juventus in home goals. They survived what was intended to be an attack and some other remarkable functionality through Cristiano Ronaldo with, whispering, a relative ease.
Yes, two goals were conceded, but one was a penalty prank and the other a long-range howitzer from Ronaldo. Very few coordinated passing moves interrupted them, as their 3-5-2 defensive form erased the centers and closed the area incredibly well outside the penalty area.
Houssem Aouar, Bruno Guimaraes and Maxence Caqueret (21.3 years on average) made great adjustments in the middle, preventing Adrien Rabiot and Rodrigo Bentancur from controlling, haggling or being creative.
They cleared their lines to Memphis Depay and Karl Toko Ekambi, two direct runners with speed and strength, which gave them an advantage in the counterattack, which Moussa Dembele added from the bank.
That’s exactly what Man City will face on Saturday. There will be no surprises or fit replacements. Lyon has settled on this taste and will go out to win Operation Turin three more times and lift the trophy.
Pep Guardiola’s men will have to paint incredibly hard to locate the gaps and the area to mark in front of them, and it’s not that it’s going to be devoted to seven. He himself has hardened his technique on the European stage, Rodrigo and Ilkay Gundogan in the middle of the field, enjoying the additional security that gives to the striker of Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte in defence.
If there are spaces to find, they will be on the flanks, behind the rear fins. If the City can maintain the breadth of its game (which Guardiola preaches) and slide behind Maxwell Cornet and Leo Dubois, there’s joy. Federico Bernardeschi almost achieved a sensational solo purpose by doing just that on Friday.
Lyon will be transparent for a long time in the face of the tension of the City, eager for a stage by Raphael Varane, who will skip the midfield and face Laporte and Fernandinho directly opposed to the fast forwards. Who wins this war is a component of how this game will be decided; the other is the power with which Raheem Sterling and Co. they can locate spaces in Lyon’s design to separate them.
Prediction: Man City 2-1 Lyon
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