Mark Ogden reacts to Manchester City’s Champions League playoff draw against Real Madrid. (2:09)
Real Madrid and Manchester City are now experiencing the charge for the failure of the remodelled Champions League – a Titanic Win-Gold between the last two European champions to claim a spot in the circular of 16. Welcome to the Champions League qualifiers!
After the conclusion of the first scene of the first league in the competition, some of the largest clubs in Europe were discovered in front of a two -touched adjustment to succeed in the 16th circular.
And while the man opposes Real is the indeniable bond of the Ronde, the other heavyweights of Bayern Munich, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and the winners of the Europa League for last season, Atalanta, they will also have to negotiate Sensitive links to start the next round.
With UEFA adopting a new tennis raffle that explodes two different paths (silver and blue) to the last, after the playoff raffle has opened a transparent road to the Ultimate Champions League in Munich at the end of the season.
So what are the playoffs and how are they going to play?
Club Brugge sealed their playoff position with a game to lose after wins over Aston Villa and Sporting CP while holding Juventus to a draw, however, the Belgian club almost stunned Manchester City on Day 8 by taking the lead at the Etihad and closing in on Pep Guardiola’s appearance before losing 3-1.
Brugge will be underdogs against Atalanta, however, with Gian Piero Gasperini’s team becoming one of the most consistent teams in Europe. Their Europa League final win against Bayer Leverkusen last season underlined their quality and they are a team with plenty of goals from Ademola Lookman, Charles De Ketalaere and Mateo Retegui.
Winner: Atalanta
This is the nightmare raffle for the two clubs: the winners of the Champions League 2022 opposed the 2023 champions. On the last 3 occasions, City and Real met in the stadiums with direct elimination, the winners of the FIT no one won This season’s competition.
He is Erling Haaland opposite Kylian Mbappé, Pep Guardiola Pasar opposite Carlo Ancelotti and a draw that can be won through Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, VinÍcius Júnior or Kevin de Bruyne. It’s an epic clash, but Genuine will go on to tie as the favorites. In the most sensible of La Liga and Mbappe are now starting to reach the most sensible form, while the city continues to underperform in the Premier League and probably cannot remain on a blank sheet opposed to the more sensible opposition.
Wait fireworks!
Winners: Real Madrid
Peter Bosz’s PSV proved to be a harmful stranger during the league scene, winning 4 games, adding a victory of game 8 over Liverpool that ended the season of one hundred percent of the Premier League executives for the season of the Champions League. The loss of the most sensible scorer Ricardo Pepi to a knee injury that will excite the USMNT striker of this tie can be decisive. PSV just wants to locate a way to update your purpose of purpose.
Juventus blew hot and without blood until now, its 2-0 victory opposed to Man City in December stressed its risk on one night when Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah left the bank to seal the victory of Juve.
Winners: Juventus
Brest made a stunning start to their first European campaign by going unbeaten in the Champions League until a 3-0 defeat in Barcelona in November, but the wheels have started to fall off for Eric Roy’s team. While their performances have taken a dive, PSG have found form and their qualification was down to two huge wins against Manchester City and Stuttgart in the final two games.
Over two legs, it’s difficult to see anything but a comfortable win for PSG against their fellow French opponents, especially as Luis Enrique’s team sit unbeaten at the top of Ligue 1 — 19 points clear of eighth-place Brest, who have lost nine league games already this season.
Winner: Paris Saint-Germain
Portuguese champions Sporting looked to be cruising towards a top-eight finish when a Viktor Gyökeres hat trick helped seal a 4-1 win against Manchester City on Matchday 4, but coach Ruben Amorim then left for Manchester United and Sporting slid down the table with three straight defeats until Conrad Harder’s late equaliser against Bologna on Matchday 8 saved the team from elimination.
But while Sporting have struggled to overcome Amorim’s departure, Dortmund are also in the midst of a crisis, with Niko Kovac becoming their third coach in less than 12 months after replacing the fired Nuri Sahin this week.
Dortmund arrived at the last last season before wasting Real Madrid, however, they have been deficient locally this season. They will be the favorites, however, that tie can count on the form of Gyokerres and the most sensitive scorer of Dortmund Serhou Guirassy.
Winner: Borussia Dortmund
Bayern will have breathed a massive sigh of relief after being connected with Celtic, knowing that they may just have faced the Scottish champions or Manchester City.
When achieving the play-offs, Celtic exceeded the expectations and the last 7-1 defeat against Borussia Dortmund in Signal Iduna Park will be a precaution of what can go through Brendan Rodgers and his opposite appearance to Bayern.
Celtic can be a tough prospect at Celtic Park, but Bayern will be too strong; Harry Kane & Co. also have the added incentive of knowing that this season’s final will be staged at the Allianz Arena, which could mean Celtic end up routed by the Bundesliga leaders.
Winner: Bayern Munich
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate that the new champions League format has taken a step forward in the competition.
Feyenoord has been one of the groups of wonders in this season’s competition, they seemed that they have controlled to move from the headline of coach Arne to Liverpool last summer. But that tie can count on the final results of Milan’s attempts to point out that of Feyenoord’s the most sensible scorer Santiago Giménez, with conversations at a complex level about the possible movement of the international of Mexico.
Without Giménez, Feyenoord can lack chimney force to overcome Milan, however, Brian Priske’s team will be difficult to overcome in the intimidating Kuip stadium. Milan is undoubtedly the weakest of the 4 remaining groups in Italy in the competition, so Feyenoord can still shoot.
Winners: Feyenoord
Monaco and Benfica finished in the middle of the table, a separate position and only separated through the difference in objectives in favor of the Portuguese team, so this equality is as close as you can imagine. Adolf Hutter’s Monaco are young and incoherent, while Bruno Lage’s Benfica are exciting but subject to defensive errors: they only look at the strengths of their home 5-4 defeat against Barcelona by proof of their strengths and weaknesses.
The experience of World Cup winners Nicolás Otamendi and Angel di Maria is likely to give Benfica the edge in this tie, especially with the second-leg taking place at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
Winner: Benfica