With only eight teams left in the competition, the Champions League is perfectly poised to provide us with a mouth- watering quarter finals stage.
The defending champions Bayern Munich will face Paris Saint Germain in a replay of last year’s final, current Premier League leaders Manchester City will take on Borussia Dortmund, a revitalised Chelsea team will face FC Porto, and 13-time UCL champions Real Madrid will face 6-time champions Liverpool.
In this thread, we shall be covering the Quarterfinal fixtures from 6th April to 14th April. A total of 8 matches.
5 - In their only previous meeting in a two-legged knockout tie, Liverpool inflicted Real Madrid’s biggest ever aggregate defeat in a Champions League knockout tie, winning 5-0 on aggregate in the last 16 in 2008-09. Authority.
4 - In the history of the European Cup/Champions League, no player has scored more goals against Liverpool than Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema (4, level with Didier Drogba). Nemesis.
1 - Manchester City have only lost one of their 12 home games against German opponents in European competition (W9 D2), with that lone defeat coming against a Bayern Munich side managed by Pep Guardiola in October 2013. Architect.
7 - Jürgen Klopp has faced Real Madrid more often than any other opponent in the Champions League (7 - W3 D1 L3), with only Ottmar Hitzfeld managing more times against them in the competition (12 games). Familiar.
Manchester City, after a dodgy start to the season, have been in near-unstoppable form. Pep Guardiola’s side look certain to lift the Premier League title and are still alive in all three cup competitions, with talks of an unprecedented quadruple doing the rounds again.
the Cityzens saw off Borussia Monchengladbach in the Round of 16 with a 4-0 aggregate scoreline. Heading into Tuesday’s game, Manchester City are on a five-game winning run beating Leicester City this past weekend in the league.
Borrusia Dortmund, meanwhile, have had a mixed bag of fortunes under interim manager Edin Terzic. Hopes of a top four finish in the Bundesliga this season continue to fade following their most recent defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. That result meant, BVB have won just one of their last four games (D2 L2).
Having finished as winners of Group F, Dortmund toughed it out against Sevilla in the last round, edging them out 5-4 on aggregate to set up a date with Manchester City.
The last time these two sides met was in the UEFA Champions League group stages in 2012/13, with Dortmund picking up a 1-0 win at the Etihad
Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund met in the UEFA Champions League group stage in the 2012-13 season, the only two previous meetings between the sides: a 1-1 draw at the Etihad and a 1-0 Dortmund win at Signal Iduna Park.
Manchester City have won 10 of their last 11 UEFA Champions League matches against German opposition (D1) and have 12 wins against German teams in total - only Real Madrid (26), Barcelona (20) and Man Utd (13) have more victories against German sides.
Since losing their opening group stage game on MD1 (1-3 v Lazio), Borussia Dortmund have gone unbeaten in their last seven games in the UEFA Champions League (W5 D2) - they last had a longer streak in the competition between 2012 and 2013, going 11 games without defeat under Jürgen Klopp.
This will be Erling Haaland’s fifth appearance in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for Borussia Dortmund, while he’s scored six goals in his first four. The record for most goals scored by a player in their first five games in the knockout stages of the competition is six (by Robert Lewandowski), so Haaland would overtake him if he scores in this game.
The marquee fixture of the round will be played between two of the most successful clubs in the competition’s history and in the first leg, Real Madrid will play hosts to Liverpool at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium on Tuesday night.
Real Madrid endured a nervy group stage campaign before progressing to the Champions League Round of 16 as Group B winners. In the Last 16 stage, Los Blancos eased past Atalanta with a 4-1 aggregate win to set up a quarter-final date with Liverpool, who beat RB Leipzig 4-0 on aggregate. The Reds had finished atop Group D earlier in the campaign.
Real Madrid come into this game on the back of a 2-0 win over SD Eibar, which has stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games across all competitions. Liverpool, on the other hand, produced arguably their best performance of 2021, as they eased to a 3-0 win over Arsenal this past weekend, which was an ideal preparation for the midweek European fixture by the Premier League champions.
The last time Real Madrid and Liverpool locked horns was in the 2018 Champions League final, which saw Los Blancos run out 3-1 victors, with Gareth Bale scoring a spectacular match-winning brace.
The hosts are without captain Sergio Ramos, with Spain international Nacho Fernandez likely to partner Rafael Varane in the heart of defence. Eden Hazard and Dani Carvajal are both still sidelined, meaning Los Blancos are without three of their first-choice starting eleven.
Liverpool’s injury woes this season have been well documented, and the Reds are still missing Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, and Jordan Henderson. Up-front, Jurgen Klopp is likely to have to choose between in-form Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino.
This is the first UEFA Champions League meeting between Real Madrid and Liverpool since the 2018 final, which the Spanish side won 3-1. This was the third consecutive UEFA Champions League tournament Real Madrid had won, while Carlo Ancelotti is the only manager who has won the competition as often as Zinedine Zidane (3).
Liverpool have lost each of their last three games against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and have only suffered four consecutive defeats against an opponent across all European competitions once previously - four versus Benfica between 1984 and 2010.
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has won each of his last five games at the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Champions League, including all four of his games at this stage while in charge of the Reds (two versus Manchester City in 2017-18 and FC Porto in 2019-20).
Haaland 
Ederson. Who’s coming out on top? 
City vs Dortmund 
Madrid vs Liverpool 
Robert Lewandowski (33)
Cristiano Ronaldo (29)
Lionel Messi (26)
Mohamed Salah (24)
General Football News - 2020-21 Season Open Thread
