The Champions League starts this week with the final eight going head to head in the quarter-final first legs. Chelsea and Manchester City are the only English Premier League clubs remaining.
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Besides the two English clubs, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Benfica, Napoli, AC Milan and Inter Milan made it to the quarters, with more teams left from Italy than any other country.
Manchester City v Bayern Munich; Pep vs Tuchel thing and head-head
Tuesday action sees Manchester City welcome Bayern Munich at Etihad Stadium terming this fixture as the Guardiola v Tuchel fixture. Pep will face his old club under a familiar rival for the first time since leaving Bayern Munich for Manchester City in 2016.
Guardiola is familiar with Thomas Tuchel as the managers have met 10 times long rivalry with Pep winning six and Tuchel three.
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Tuchel successes all came in a six-week spell between 17 April and 29 May 2021 which included Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final and Champions League final wins over City.
The two Managers are known to be one of the very best in terms of tactics in recent years and the Champions League final wins over City led to a feeling that Tuchel had the edge on Guardiola. However, in that final Guardiola famously did not play a defensive midfielder in a tactical gamble that failed.
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But City beat Tuchel’s Chelsea twice in the Premier League last season, and with four wins and a draw in Germany, including the 2016 DFB-Pokal final, Guardiola actually has a much better record.
Guardiola has had a mixed time against his old clubs. He has faced Barcelona four times since leaving – twice with City and twice with Bayern. He won two of those, but the other matches were 3-0 and 4-0 defeats.
Real Madrid v Chelsea; Lampard champions league come back
Defending champions Chelsea face Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on April 12 with Frank Lampard in charge.
In 2020-21 season saw Chelsea start the season with Frank Lampard in charge and ended it with Tuchel leading them to Champions League glory.
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The 2022-23 Chelsea started the season with Tuchel in charge and will end it with Lampard hoping to lead them to Champions League glory after last season’s elimination by Real Madrid in what would have been a comeback.
Lampard is the fourth Manager for Chelsea this season after The Blues sacked Tuchel, Graham Potter and brief interim boss Bruno Saltor.
Let’s keep in mind that Chelsea’s last five European trophies have all come with managers who had taken over that season and that Lampard, who won the 2011-12 Champions League as a Chelsea player.
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On their way into the quarter-finals are European royalty Real Madrid, although Chelsea has a good record against them – losing only once in seven meetings.
AC Milan v Napoli; amazing Kvaratskheli season
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is genuinely a superstar and one of the form players in one of the best teams in European football, Serie A’s runaway leader Napoli.
The Georgian winger, Kvaratskhelia played in the Georgian and Russian leagues plus two Europa Conference League appearances.
In Serie A, Kvaratskhelia has 12 goals and 10 assists only behind four players and more than anybody else respectively.
Paris St-Germain duo Lionel Messi and Neymar, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani and Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka are the only other players to have double figures for both goals and assists in Europe’s top five leagues.
In the Champions League, nobody has more than Kvaratskhelia’s four assists. However, hopeful that story can continue with the quarter-final draw against AC Milan, who sit 22 points below them in the table.
It will be revenge for Napoli as Milan did beat them 4-0 earlier this month.
Inter Milan v Benfica; Schmidt’s side tipped favourites
Benfica under German journeyman manager Roger Schmidt looks almost unbeatable as in 46 games in all competitions since appointing the former PSV boss in the summer they have only lost twice.
However, one of the defeats was on Friday at home to Porto with Benfica selling worth of talent this season.
First, it was star striker Darwin Nunez to Liverpool and then midfielder Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea. More than 30 other players have left the club this season.
They finished top of a Champions League group involving PSG and Juventus, picking up 13 points more than the Italians – and then blew away Club Bruges in the last 16, costing Scott Parker his job.
They are seven points clear of Porto at the top of the Portuguese league as they close in on a first trophy since 2019.
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Only Italian teams stand between them and a first European Cup final since 1990, with the winner of their tie against Inter playing AC Milan or Napoli in the semi-finals.
