Simply eight groups stay within the Champions League, and there’s each probability considered one of Tuesday’s quarter-finals might yield the eventual winners.
Manchester Metropolis and Bayern Munich tussle in arguably the tie of the spherical, a contest that has seen the intrigue multiply following the latter’s dismissal of Julian Nagelsmann and hiring of Thomas Tuchel.
In fact, Tuchel has received this competitors earlier than and boasts loads of high quality in his squad, however Metropolis in all probability go into the tie as favourites due to their larger stability and the ‘Erling Haaland issue’.
Tuesday’s different recreation, which takes place on the opposite aspect of the draw, pits Benfica and Inter in opposition to one another, with either side absolutely fancying their probabilities of a shock run to the ultimate given they’ll come up in opposition to both Milan or Napoli within the semi-finals.
However with none additional ado, Stats Carry out appears to be like on the decide of the pre-match Opta info for Tuesday’s first legs.
Manchester Metropolis v Bayern Munich: Haaland out to lastly beat Die Roten
There will definitely be a level of familiarity surrounding this duel between two giants of the European recreation.
It will likely be the seventh assembly between Metropolis and Bayern within the Champions League, with either side alternating victories throughout the earlier six (three every) fixtures.
On prime of that, Metropolis boss Pep Guardiola is in fact a former Bayern head coach, with the Premier League aspect’s solely loss of their previous three residence video games in opposition to Die Roten coming when he was in cost at Allianz Enviornment (October 2013).
Guardiola can even be going up in opposition to Tuchel as soon as once more. He could not publicly admit it, however revenge is unquestionably a goal.
Tuchel was in command of Chelsea when Metropolis misplaced their solely Champions League remaining, and the German has received two of the three matches the 2 coaches have contested in cup competitions. Guardiola’s solely victory got here through a penalty shoot-out within the 2016 DFB-Pokal remaining.
Nonetheless, Guardiola boasts an incredible report at this stage of the competitors.
He has received 54 per cent of his 72 Champions League knockout video games, the most effective win charge of all managers with at the very least 30 matches below their belt in such ties. Moreover, Guardiola is the one considered one of these coaches to have received greater than half of those video games.
Erling Haaland can even be tussling with some acquainted foes.
The Norwegian striker has a strong report in opposition to Bayern on a person stage, scoring 5 instances in seven video games in opposition to them for Dortmund, however he was on the shedding aspect every time.
He shall be eager to interrupt that duck.
Benfica v Inter: Eagles near 33-year excessive
For some, Benfica may stand out as being virtually misplaced at this stage of the competitors, however it’s the second season in a row they’ve reached the quarter-finals.
Equally, whereas one could affiliate Inter extra intently with deep runs into the Champions League, their six quarter-finals this century is just one greater than Benfica.
The Portuguese aspect won’t come into this tie intimidated by their opponents both.
Benfica have already crushed Juventus residence and away within the competitors this time period, overcoming one thing of a psychological barrier that had seen them win solely two of their earlier 11 video games in opposition to Serie A sides in Europe’s top-tier competitors.
Granted, Inter have handled Portuguese opposition this season as properly, knocking Porto out within the earlier spherical with a slender 1-0 combination win. However there was greater than a touch of fortune about that success, with the Primeira Liga aspect’s anticipated targets (xG) considerably larger than Inter’s (3-5 to 2.1).
