Champions League Round of 16: Week Two Preview

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photo via Lionel Messi for Barcelona

After a fantastic display of Champions League football last week from 8 of the 16 sides, the remaining 8 teams will dip their feet in the Knockout Round water this Tuesday and Wednesday.

Admittedly, if you have to pick only one day to watch the matches, Tuesday will offer the better slate pitting Manchester City, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, and Juventus in matches at the same time. In Manchester City and Juventus, you have the defending EPL and Serie A Champions respectively. City took until Championship week to seal the deal, while Juventus obliterated the competition in Serie A. Barcelona are 4-time winners of Champions League. Borussia Dortmund were runners-up 2 seasons back against Bayern Munich.

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Wednesday, though, offers last season’s runner-up in Atletico Madrid. Also on display will be a team that is in scintillating form, winners of 15 of their last 19 overall matches, Arsenal. Bayer Leverkusen are severe underdogs in the competition, but they were runners-up in 2001-02. Finally, the team with the best defensive record in this competition, Monaco rounds out the field of teams competing on the final match day of the week.

Last week’s action saw PSG and Chelsea battle to a thrilling 1-1 draw; with the West London side lucky to get out of Paris tied on aggregate. Bayern Munich shockingly couldn’t solve the Shakhtar Donetsk defensive puzzle in a scoreless draw; one that saw Xabi Alonso sent off early in the second half. FC Basel and FC Porto decided to leave it to the final leg in Portugal after drawing in Basel 1-1. Real Madrid put Schalke’s hopes of advancing in severe doubt after whitewashing the home side 2-0 in Gelsenkirchen.

Without further ado, let’s look ahead to this week’s mouth-watering slate.

Next: Manchester City v. Barcelona

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