Real Madrid Manchester City will decide the winner, and Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will face a strong opponent again - a preview of the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals
After a week, the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions League in midweek will usher in the competition, and the semi-finals will be announced soon, so pay attention to the battle of the top three in La Liga!
Atletico Madrid will visit Signa Idona Park to challenge the Hornets Dortmund, can the first-leg winners continue to make persistent efforts to reach the semi-finals? Barcelona will host Paris Saint-Germain, and Barcelona, who won the first leg, will be able to continue to move forward in Europe? Real Madrid and Manchester City finally shook hands after the goal shootout in the first leg, can they take away the victory from the away side?
Borussia Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid
03:00 Beijing time on April 17
After last week's win over Borussia Dort, Atletico Madrid came back from behind to beat Girona in the league to make it three wins in a row in all competitions, and Simeone's side will be hoping to continue their bid to secure a Champions League semi-final spot on the trip to Germany. On Dort's side, with no hope of winning the league title and the German Cup out, the Champions League is the only trophy that the Hornets can compete for, and returning to home will also try to cause problems for Atletico Madrid.
If Atletico advance under Simeone, it will be their fourth Champions League semi-final (2013/14, 2015/16 and 2016/17). Ancelotti has also led Real Madrid to the semi-finals four times before him, while Sir Alex Ferguson is the manager who has led the same team (Manchester United: seven) to the most semi-finals. Borussia Dortmund are unbeaten at home in their last nine Champions League matches (five wins, four draws) and if they don't lose in midweek, it will be the first time Dortmund are unbeaten in 10 consecutive home games in the Champions League.
Dortmund have lost the first leg on the road in eight of their 16 knockout games in major European competitions, most recently in the round of 16 against Benfica in 2016/17 (0-1 away, 4-0 at home). In the Champions League, only one team managed to come back against Atletico Madrid: Juventus lost away in the last 16 of the 2018/19 Champions League and then came back from behind (0-2 away, 3-0 at home).
In terms of the two sides, Borussia Dortmund have lost their last two Champions League games against Atletico Madrid. The Hornets have lost just two of their 13 home games against Spanish sides in the Champions League (five wins, six draws), and are unbeaten in five games against Spanish sides in the knockout stages (three wins, two draws). Atletico Madrid have previously faced German teams away from home in the Champions League, winning just two (one win, seven defeats). In fact, Atletico have lost seven of Simeone's eight games (1-7).
In terms of key players, only Ilkay Gundogan (24) has created more chances than Antoine Griezmann (23) in this season's Champions League. Including an assist for Lino in the first leg, Griezmann's six chances against Borussia Dortmund were the highest number of chances he created in a single game against Atletico (72 appearances).
Borussia Dortmund's Alli has scored 12 goals in just 13 Champions League appearances (11 in eight games for Ajax and one in five for Borussia Dortmund), and his average time spent scoring per goal (72 minutes) is the shortest in Champions League history out of 415 players who have scored at least five goals. His team-mate Jadon Sancho completed 12 dribbles in the first leg against Atletico Madrid, the most of any player in the last 16 of the Champions League this season. Sancho has dribbled more than 12 times in the Champions League on the last three occasions: 13 times for Borussia Dortmund against Zenit St Petersburg in October 2020, 12 times for Manchester United against Atletico Madrid in March 2022 and 12 times in the first leg of this knockout round.
Who do you think will eventually advance to the semi-finals? At 03:00 Beijing time on April 17, let's focus on the Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid match!
Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain
03:00 Beijing time on April 17
Barcelona have been in good form of late, going unbeaten in 13 games in all competitions, and the last meeting was won away from home. The Grand Paris League was smooth sailing, but the last leg of the Champions League was lost at home, and this time in the away game, the French giants had no way back except victory.
Statistically, Barca's progress in this round will be their 13th Champions League semi-final, the first since Ernesto Valverde took charge of Barcelona in 2018/19. Real Madrid are the only team to have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League 16 times (Bayern Munich currently has the same number with Barcelona on 12). If Paris advances, Enrique will become the first former Barcelona manager to knock out a Spanish side in the Champions League. Only two other Spanish coaches have eliminated Barcelona in the knockout stages: Rafael Benitez in 2006/07 with Liverpool in the round of 16 and Bosque in 2001-02 with Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
In terms of the two sides, Barcelona have lost just two of their last nine meetings with Paris Saint-Germain in the knockout stages of the Champions League (four wins, three draws) and are likely to win both of their games against Paris in the same knockout round for the second time, having previously done so in the quarter-finals of the 2014/15 season. Barcelona are unbeaten in the Champions League in their first five home games against Paris Saint-Germain (three wins, two draws), but lost 4-1 in February 2021 (first leg of the round of 16). Only one team has ever beaten Barcelona by more goals on the road: Dynamo Kyiv won 4-0 in the group stage in November 1997.
In terms of key players, Gundogan has created the most chances in this season's Champions League (24), with his 24 chances the most by a Barcelona midfielder in the Champions League since Xavi in 2012/13 (33). In the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain, Cupais was the Barcelona player with the most breakthrough passes (13), and only Saliba (32) has made more breakthrough passes than Cupasi (27) since making his European debut on 12 March.
Mbappe has scored 13 goals in 11 away games in the Champions League quarter-finals, with only Cristiano Ronaldo (23 goals in 39 games) and Karim Benzema (14 goals in 34 games) scoring more in away games in the knockout rounds. In the first leg of the matchup, Vitinha became the first player to score more than 100 touches and no more than two pass errors (82/84) in the knockout stages of the Champions League since Xavi in Barcelona against Celtic in March 2008, when Xavi had 110 touches and 89/91 passes in the game.
At 03:00 Beijing time on April 17, let's look forward to this Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain matchup!
Manchester City vs Real Madrid
Beijing time 03:00 on April 18
The Blues beat Luton Town in the league to move to top of the league, while the Galacticos also beat Mallorca to secure the top spot, the two teams drew the first leg and met again in this round, Real Madrid must win to advance after conceding three away goals.
Real Madrid have only qualified in two of their previous ten Champions League knockout tie matchups without a win in the first leg at home. Both against Manchester United (quarter-finals in 1999/2000 and quarter-finals in 2012/13). This will be City's 200th game in a European competition, with 113 wins so far, exactly the same number as Real Madrid have won in their first 200 matches. A win for Manchester City would see them as the fourth-most wins in the first 200 European matches, behind Ajax (118), Juventus (115) and Liverpool (114).
In terms of the two sides, Manchester City could become the second team to knock out Real Madrid in two consecutive seasons, after AC Milan in 1988/89 (semi-finals) and 1989/90 (quarter-finals). Manchester City have won three consecutive home games against Real Madrid in the Champions League, all three of which have been played under Pep Guardiola (2-1 in 2020, 4-3 in 2022, 4-0 in 2023). The only coach to have won four consecutive home games against Real Madrid in that competition was Heathfield, a feat he accomplished when he was in charge of Bayern Munich between 2000 and 2002 (4 wins).
The last five meetings between Manchester City and Real Madrid in the Champions League have yielded a combined total of 23 goals, an average of 4.6 goals per game. In two of those five games, the first goal was scored within two minutes of the start (De Bruyne in April 2022: 1:34, Bernardo Silva in the first leg this season: 1:49).
In terms of key players, Foden has scored in five consecutive Champions League starts (five goals in total), the longest scoring streak by a Manchester City player in the competition, the same as Sergio Aguero's record between February 2018 and March 2019. Bernardo Silva has scored four goals in seven games against Real Madrid. Toni Kroos has a 95 per cent pass completion rate under pressure in this season's Champions League, the highest among midfielders in the competition. In the first leg against Manchester City, Kroos conceded just one pass under high pressure (22/23).
In terms of coaching, this will be the eighth meeting between Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti in the Champions League and their sixth in charge of their current clubs, Manchester City and Real Madrid. The only coaching duo to have met more than eight times in the Champions League is Alex Ferguson and Heathfield, as well as Carlo Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp (both nine).
At 03:00 Beijing time on April 18, let's focus on the Manchester City vs Real Madrid match!
Who do you think will be the first to qualify for the last four of the Champions League?