Round of 16 second leg
Favorites under pressure: who’s flying out of the Champions League?
Real defender and captain Sergio Ramos did not look good in the first leg when Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City conceded, but he is missing in the second leg because he is red-locked again
© David Ramos / Getty Images
The Champions League starts this weekend with the remaining second leg of the round of 16. With Juventus Turin, Manchester City, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona some heavyweights are under pressure.
Finally top class again – and some European football heavyweights are threatened with the end! After the month-long Corona break, eight clubs are still fighting to move on to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. But while FC Bayern Munich are the clear favorites in the second leg against Chelsea after the 3-0 first leg, top-class players like Manchester City, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin still have to tremble. Everyone wants to qualify for the final tournament in Lisbon from August 12th to 23rd. The mood is noticeably tense.
In Spain, fans worry about their two giants. Not even ruled out that for the first time since 2007, neither record champions Real Madrid nor FC Barcelona are in the quarter-finals. The royal team around Toni Kroos must be on Friday (9pm / Sky and in stern-Ticker) make up for a 1: 2 defeat at Manchester City. The Madrid trade newspaper “AS” wrote martial of a “war” on Thursday. The royal have to do without the most important player from coach Zinedine Zidane. In the first leg captain Sergio Ramos flew from the field and will only be allowed to watch in Manchester.
Manchester City finally wants the first title
His representative, the Brazilian Éder Militão (22), encouraged the fans. “Madridistas, against City our captain will be missing. But I will be there. Trust me. We will win.” In any case, the form is optimistic, the referee approach encourages: Since resuming play after the Corona break, Real has won ten games and drawn in eleven games. And Munich referee Felix Brych is something of a talisman for the club. With him there have been one defeat and six wins in nine games so far.
But host Manchester City with coach Pep Guardiola longs for the first Champions League title in club history. “We are” ready to fight, “said defender Aymeric Laporte. The current state of play is difficult to predict before the second leg, although Pep Guardiola’s team have recently won a few leagues in the league.
A 5-0 and a 4-0 at relegated players Norwich City and FC Watford are hardly a good indicator for Madrid. In addition, Man City had to surrender 0-2 in the FA Cup semi-final at Arsenal. “It doesn’t take a genius to know that we have to improve for Madrid,” Guardiola warned after his former assistant coach Mikel Arteta outsmarted him with Arsenal.
FC Barcelona is also shaking
After all, the pressure for the English runner-up is not quite as high as before the first leg. At that time, Uefa had excluded Man City from the Champions League for violations of the rules of financial fair play for the next two years. But the International Sports Court Cas lifted the block again in July – and let the ambitious city officials breathe a sigh of relief. Because the Champions League trophy has long been a priority for the title collectors in Manchester.
FC Barcelona, headed by national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen – who will soon be extending his contract until 2022 by five years – and world footballer Lionel Messi will receive on Saturday (9pm / Sky and in stern-Ticker) the SSC Naples. The first leg ended 1-1. But the break was not good for the Catalans. Most recently, they gave the Spanish league title to the arch rivals from Madrid – and presented themselves unusually weak in some games.
Against Naples, they can still continue two series, which are currently unique in Europe: they reached the quarter-finals twelve times in a row, and Messi & Co. have been undefeated for 35 home games in the premier class. The task of Naples is very difficult: In the seven years since Barcelona’s last home defeat – the 0: 3 in the semi-final 2013 against FC Bayern – only four teams have reached a draw at Camp Nou. The Dutchman Frenkie de Jong therefore warns against underestimating the table seventh of the past Serie A season. “Naples has players who are of high quality and are very disciplined. We have a difficult game ahead of us,” said de Jong.
Juventus is out of shape
And then there’s Juventus Turin. At home, the Bianconeri have to face 35-year-old striker Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday (9pm / Sky and in sternCatch up) against Olympique Lyon a 0-1 defeat. In the past, Lyon was a welcome opponent for the Italian series champion with three wins from five matches.
Despite the title, however, things are not going so smoothly for the Turinese. Against SSC Napoli they had to give up 2: 4 in the cup. 43 goals in Serie A were also exceptionally high. The defense problem suddenly appeared, said coach Maurizio Sarri recently after the 1-3 loss to AS Roma. “We have to try to understand the reasons for this and get it under control in the next six days.” A goal for Olympique in the second leg could have fatal consequences for Ronaldo and Co.
