The Round of 16 of the Champions League 2019-20 is bound to be something special. After last season’s heart-stopping fixtures in the Round of 4 came a lackluster final that gave Liverpool its first trophy under manager Jürgen Klopp and saw the team complete its return to Europe’s elite. Meanwhile, Tottenham and Ajax’s historical runs thwarted alternative storylines, most notably an anticipated final between Guardiola’s Manchester City and Messi’s Barcelona, as well as a Juventus bid for the title with newly-acquired Cristiano Ronaldo. These three personalities, alongside a handful of rookies and veterans, will step into the Round of 16 with something to prove. Here are the top stories to watch for as the tournament resumes next week.
English football is back on top
Last May’s final proved to be a powerful metaphor for the current state of affairs in European football: two English sides stepped onto a Spanish pitch at the Champions League final in Madrid, effectively ending La Liga’s five-year European reign that saw Real Madrid be crowned champions of Europe 4 times and Barcelona 1. It seems that every decade a side emerges and dominates football for a few years, captivating fans all over the world with their accolades and style of play. Since the new Champions League format in the 1990s, those clubs have been Manchester United, Barcelona, and now, Liverpool. Which takes us to…
Liverpool’s fairy tale season
June 1, 2019 marked the culmination of Klopp’s years-long process in Liverpool, and they have been unstoppable ever since. They went on to claim the Club World Cup and defeated Chelsea in the UEFA Super cup. They are also on track to win their first Premier League title in 30 years and could take a page from Real Madrid’s playbook and defend their crown in Europe. Their stats are impressive, too: they have dropped only two points this season in the domestic league and have lost only one game in Europe in the CL group stage. Klopp is known for prioritizing, and being 22 points clear of defending champions Manchester City in the EPL, they can now focus on the Champions League. Yet, according to bettors, the favorites to win “la orejona” are still Liverpool’s closest competitors in England, the Citizens…
Guardiola and his legacy at Manchester City
When Guardiola signed with Manchester City in 2016, he moved in with three objectives in mind: win the EPL and the CL and turn the Citizens into Europe’s top club. Fast forward four seasons later and the legendary manager has won back to back league titles but European success has proved as elusive as in his days in Bavaria. And though the Spaniard has certainly added to the club’s accolades, status and prestige, many think that Guardiola’s best days in Manchester are behind him. With the league all but lost to an impressive Liverpool side, City’s only certain piece of silverware this season could be the Carabao Cup, where they will face Aston Villa in the final. So much of Guardiola’s future seems to be riding on the club’s success in the Champions League. Clear favorites to defeat Real Madrid in the Round of 16 up until a few months ago, the Spanish side has been revitalized by a second Zidane tenure and Guardiola’s future could be decided as early as next month if his team crashes out. He has only one more year in his contract and there are reports that Juventus is looking to replace Sarri with Guardiola next season, so whether he leaves in the summer or not, the Spaniard will look to cement his status as a Manchester City legend and give the Citizens their first-ever CL win, but to do that, Guardiola still needs to prevail against a revitalized…
Zidane’s Real Madrid post-Ronaldo
A vacuum was left at the merengue side when Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus following their Champions League win against Liverpool in 2018. Further chaos ensued at Madrid when rising star Lopetegui was fired as Spain’s manager ahead of the World Cup when it leaked that he had agreed to manage the club after Russia 2018. In fact, Lopetegui’s run at the helm of Real Madrid lasted a mere three months, was replaced by Solari, and then Solari himself was axed in March as Zidane was brought back for a second tenure at the club. Real Madrid finished third in La Liga, 20 points behind winners Barcelona and crashed out in the Round of 16 against Ajax in the CL. After a difficult start of the season, they now sit atop the table and some have them as favorites against Manchester City. How reliant was the club in the Champions League on Ronaldo, their all-time goalscorer and five-time winner of the tournament? We’re about to find out. Cristiano, on his part, is also banking on winning the title for the sixth time with a third team, which means that the GOATs…
Messi and Ronaldo could have a memorable summer, for better or worse
During ten years, the two players shared the spotlight in La Liga and took their respective clubs to the top of world club football. Now, Ronaldo is in Italy and Messi is in disarray at Barcelona, and neither one is getting younger.
Currently, both Juventus and Barcelona find themselves at a difficult position. Cristiano Ronaldo and company are sitting in 2nd place at the Serie A for the first time in the season, after an electric performance by Inter at the Milan derby. Antonio Conte’s revitalized Inter squad could end Juventus dominance in the Serie A for the first time in 10 years. Juventus’ main challengers also have an additional edge over la Vecchia Signora: having been knocked out of the Champions League, they can focus on the domestic league. Meanwhile, the Torino club continues to eye both tournaments while aching from internal problems: the board has shown little faith in new manager Maurizio Sarri and is looking for his replacement by the end of the season, or even sooner. And despite having one of the best attacks in the world, they have become increasingly reliant on 35-year-old Ronaldo.
Barcelona, on their part, is in full-blown implosion. After the sacking of Ernesto Valverde last month, the board appointed Enrique Setien but the blaugranas have struggled to recover their form. Last week, the situation came to a boiling point when director of football and former defender Eric Abidal lashed out against the players and was met with a powerful response by captain Messi, who asked him to name names. The situation appears to have since been resolved and a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Setien’s former side Betis last weekend gave Barcelona the breather they so desperately needed.
So it’s entirely possible Messi and Ronaldo could finish the season empty-handed. The two face uphill battles in their domestic leagues and the Catalans have already been knocked out of the Copa del Rey, while Juventus will have to defeat both AC Milan and, probably, Inter to claim the Coppa Italia after drawing 0-0 on the first leg against Milan. Things look brighter on the Round of 16 of the Champions League, where Barcelona and Juventus drew, in theory, the most comfortable fixtures to see them advance to the next round. Napoli and Lyon are competitive sides but they have been all over the place this season and they face two sides with a wealth of experience at this competitive stage. Still, with a narrowed field of challengers in the quarter-finals, the final in Istanbul still looks far away for either Messi or Ronaldo. With that being said, things could also turn out very well for these two players in what could be one of their most successful seasons yet.
Ronaldo is 35 and Messi is 32. The Qatar World Cup is still two years away and it’s uncertain whether they will be in top form to compete in the tournament. And if they do, will they still have what it takes to be the leaders their countries need? Two international tournaments set the stage for them this summer in the Euros and Copa America. If one of them was to win the Champions League, he would face the continental tournament with renewed confidence. Ronaldo will seek to lead Portugal to a second Euro win while Messi tries to break his curse in international finals and have something to show for Argentina under his leadership.
Their status as two of the best-ever to grace the game is beyond question, but this could be the season where one of them stands taller and cements his status as the greatest ever of his generation… or they could be overshadowed by the up-and-comers…
Youngsters are the fuel behind this tournament’s dark horses
We all know what Mbappé is capable of, and many already consider him to be the best player in the world. The World Cup winner is certainly the most expensive player right now and PSG have the most terrifying attack in Europe alongside Liverpool. However, there is untethered, untested potential outside the current top tier of European football, particularly at Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund. The two clubs have had a season full of ups and downs and they have been defined by inconsistency. Yet both teams stand in the top 4 of their respective leagues and managed to qualify to the knock-out stage of the CL, albeit drawing two of the most difficult fixtures (against Bayern and PSG, respectively).
Chelsea are in a transition season after losing Eden Hazard to Real Madrid in the summer and failing to sign any new players for two consecutive transfer windows. Their new manager, Frank Lampard, has had a rough couple of months and the team has dropped points left and right, though a perfect October run in the PL has allowed them to remain fourth in the table. Their performances have been as mesmerizing as they have been abysmal, but they have found better luck when punching upwards, having beaten both Tottenham and Arsenal recently, and defeating Ajax away and drawing at home after coming back from 4-1. Lampard has been praised for playing graduates of Chelsea’s youth academy, despite having World Cup winners in the ranks, and the squad’s lineup has changed dramatically from last season’s starting XI. Yet injuries and experimentation have prevented Chelsea from hitting top form, which will most likely have to wait until next season, when new acquisitions and settled youngsters consolidate the fluidity that Lampard wants in the team. This season’s revelations of Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Reece James could be joined by the quality of Ziyech – who this week announced his imminent move to London – and Sancho, which would make Chelsea’s one of the most lethal sides in Europe. Lampard will no doubt prioritize finishing top 4 in the PL, but the Blues remain the most unpredictable side this season and perform particularly well as the underdogs, so an upset is not entirely out of the question. Besides, Lampard is no stranger to beating the German champions on home turf against all odds.
Dortmund’s chances against PSG look better than Chelsea’s against Bayern, though I have yet to read anything that gives the edge to the Germans. The club’s board looked ahead and anticipated the departure of Sancho, and maybe Hakimi, in the summer by luring striker Haaland in January, who has since been a revelation at the club. But the almost certain summer departure of their two wingers raises the stakes for Dortmund at the Champions League. We could see a repeat of their 2013 campaign, when they reached the final in London, right before Gotze’s departure. Dortmund’s shape has been less than ideal but all of the ingredients are there for a successful season: experience and leadership in Hummels and Reus, speed and creativity in Sancho and Hakimi and goal-scoring power in Haaland. That backbone might not be there next season, so if they can find consistency in the back, they will be a difficult side to beat.
If either Chelsea or Dortmund advance to the quarter-finals displaying the dynamic football they have played at their best this season, they will be serious contenders for the title. All this goes to highlight the fact that…
Fixtures are crazy even in an unpredictable season
The Champions League 19-20 currently features six former champions, eight finalists and five domestic league titleholders. It’s mid-February and the only certainties in Europe’s top 5 leagues are Liverpool’s and PSG’s runs to claim their domestic titles. The race for 4th in the Premier is up for grabs, the top five sides in the Bundesliga are within 6 points of each other, and both the Serie A and La Liga seem poised to be a two-way race with photo finish included. We, as football fans, are witnessing at the same time the rise of one of the best sides in the history of the sport (Liverpool) and transitions elsewhere (Chelsea, Barcelona, Man City). We could witness the consolidation of Klopp and Liverpool’s reign over Europe, Messi’s or Ronaldo’s last stand in their prime, Guardiola’s or Simeone’s swan song at an elusive title, Zidane’s reassertion of dominance over the European tournament, or an underdog story by a club in transition. To quote Graham MacAree, who wrote a SBNation article on the state of affairs at the race for top 4 in the Premier League, this knock-out stage of the Champions League has the potential to be “terrible and perfect” because “real entertainment is watching two flawed teams punch each other in the face a few times”. And as this 2020 football season kicks off its European leg, quality-filled flawed teams abound.
