Original title: Champions League focus battle two consecutive hits: Barca have the advantage to fight Paris again, Liverpool may extend the losing streak
The Champions League battle is about to reignite, with a number of big clubs playing this week, including Paris and Barca's old rivals meeting in the first round of knockout rounds, which will bring this week's Champions League competition to a climax. In addition, the recent poor Liverpool and the Bundesliga second-placed Leipzig meeting, has also become the focus of this round of the Champions League, let's follow Xiaojin to take a look at the preview of these two matches.
Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain
The match between Barça and Paris is completely a Champions League final-level matchup. Barca's skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and although Barça have not reached the final since winning the title in the 14/15 season, and lost 2-8 to Bayern last season, the team's super strength and superstars like Messi are still the strongest contenders for the Champions League. Messi has been in great form lately, scoring in three consecutive league games and contributing excellent statistics of 2 shots and 1 pass in the last round, and his partner Griezmann has gradually taken on the burden of scoring.
And Paris, as runners-up last season, have never won the Champions League and their desire for the title is extremely strong. The team enjoyed a winning streak after a change of coach and came out on top in the league to return to second place in the league. The match between Barca and Paris is a quick reminder of the magical battle between the two sides in 2016/17, and although this round of matchups is unlikely to repeat the shocking reversal of the last time, with the excellent attacking players of both sides, there should be no less goals in this game.
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Barca have some advantages over Paris, as Paris' ace star Neymar will miss the game due to injury, replaced by Icardi who will be given a chance and Di Maria will also be on the line. Barca's side is missing Coutinho, Fati and others, but from the current league situation, Barca has adapted well to the absence of these players, and Pique is also a major benefit to Barca. Not only Barca's advantage is reflected in the neatness of personnel, compared with the previous record, Barca also slightly occupies some advantages, at least in terms of mentality, the record is superior and sitting at home, and the mentality is more relaxed.
Leipzig vs Liverpool
The Champions League match will be played on a neutral venue in Hungary, which is somewhat detrimental for Leipzig, but Leipzig's form has been a brave form, with four consecutive wins and a firm second place in the Bundesliga, and still holding on to Bayern in front of them. The team's youthful approach not only allowed new stars to rise, but also the team itself played its own characteristics.
The opposite is true for Liverpool, where while they started the season continuing their excellent form and occupying the top spot, three consecutive defeats in recent rounds have sent Jurgen Klopp's side all the way down to sixth place in the league, and Klopp himself admits that there is little hope of defending their title this season. To be honest, a large part of Liverpool's defeat was due to the team's continuous injury, Van Dijk's injury allowed Klumpp to try different central defender combinations, but none of them were satisfactory, so this round opponent Leipzig's central defender Yu Pamecano has been the signing they wanted, but the French central defender was still snatched by Bayern.
Not only is Leipzig better in terms of form, but according to German media reports, Leipzig offered the team a winning bonus of 2.5 million euros, which also raised the team's confidence and enthusiasm to a higher level. In this case, it remains to be seen whether the in-form Leipzig wins or Liverpool's all-European trident wins.