Champions League: The final week in the Round of 16 involving Man City and Liverpool

Champions League football is back and involves the last two English Premier League clubs, Man City and Liverpool. What else is going on in the Round of 16 final act?

It’s a bit of a bittersweet affair as we near the conclusion of the Round of 16 in the Champions League knockout stages. The only information sure before we head into the final two nights of Champions League football, we know Europe will be crowned with a new champion this season.

Other things sure are Tottenham and Man United’s invitation to the next round, as well as giant killers, Ajax and the little black horse, FC Porto. If this week is anything like last week’s breathtaking events, then my friends… we are in for two nights of pure pleasure.

Round of 16 matchups over final two days

Man City vs. Schalke 04 (3-2 aggregate)
Juventus vs. Atlético Madrid (0-2 aggregate)

Wednesday night fixtures

Bayern Munich vs. Liverpool (0-0 aggregate)
Barcelona vs. Lyon (0-0 aggregate)

Here are the main talking points leading us into this week’s Champions League battles;

• Tonight’s upstream swimmers are Juventus. They walk into the Allianz Stadium in a very similar position as Man United walked into Le Parc des Princes, with all the odds stacked against them. However, Cristiano Ronaldo‘s playing at home and his record against Atlético Madrid is something to savour.
• Liverpool versus Bayern and Barcelona versus Lyon are the only two games to go goalless in the first legs. What Lyon can do in the Camp Nou is yet to be seen, what Liverpool can do in Germany depends on what Reds show up.
• The list of injury problems afore the second leg is startling! News of Naby Keita missing today’s training session comes as a big blow for Klopp.
• In the other dugout (Munich), they could have some key figures back in contention for a starting spot.
• Schalke faces some of their own injury problems in their travels to City but exciting time as we might see USA youngster, Weston McKennie.
• Man City has a slender lead but takes up their next challenge inside the comfort of the Etihad Stadium, expecting a lot of goals because of this.

All this tells us is that there will be uncontrollable emotions on the pitch matched by outstanding football by some of the world’s finest in this week’s Champions League Round of 16, final feature.