Champions League preview: 5 stories to watch as Leicester eye semis and Barcelona dream of another comeback
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We're getting towards the business end of the Champions League now. Over the next two nights, eight teams will become four, the final chancers weeded out.
In three of the quarter-finals, one team is clearly well placed to progress: Juventus have one foot in the next round after clobbering Barcelona in Turin, while both Monaco and Real Madrid will be expecting to get the job done after victories away from home.
Then there's Leicester vs Atletico Madrid. On paper, Diego Simeone's battle-hardened side are the pick, yet the Foxes defied expectations against Sevilla and are still very much in the tie after a narrow first-leg defeat.
Here are five key storylines ahead of the week's matches:
Morgan return a timely boost for Leicester
(Photo: Leicester City FC)
Playing Atletico in the Champions League knockout stages is a tough ask at the best of times. Simeone's charges have made a habit of getting the job done when the stakes are highest: Atleti have won seven of their last eight ties between group stage and final, their only defeat coming against Real Madrid in an attritional 2015 quarter-final.
But to do so without both of your first choice centre-backs? Now that would be a thankless task. Lucky for Leicester, then, that Wes Morgan looks to have recovered sufficiently from a back problem to replace Robert Huth, who serves a suspension after a booking at the Calderon. "My eyes tell me that we should be fairly pleased with how he’s come through," said Craig Shakespeare, who will make his final decision today.
Clearly, Shakespeare would love to call on both Huth and Morgan – Leicester's win percentage with the pair is 37 per cent this season, compared to 25 per cent when one or both are absent – but his captain's leadership and experience will be invaluable alongside Yohan Benalouane, who has deputised with some aplomb over the last six weeks.
Neutrals might have been licking their lips at the prospect of Marcin Wasilewski lumbering around in Antoine Griezmann's slipstream, but Morgan's return is undoubtedly excellent news for the Foxes.
Bayern eggs in Lewandowski's basket
(Photo: REUTERS)
Bayern Munich are also hoping that the return of a key man will be the catalyst for a second-leg revival on Tuesday night. The Bavarians welcome back Robert Lewandowski, whose absence with a shoulder injury has coincided with a worrying dip in form: the 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in Munich was followed by stalemate against Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, meaning they have now won just one of their last four games in all competitions.
Crisis talk is never far away at the Allianz Arena and a manager as experienced as Carlo Ancelotti will be well aware that defeat at the Bernabeu would plunge the club – and his stewardship – into the mire. Discounting the victory over Borussia Dortmund, recent displays have been oddly anodyne, and Bayern's cause will hardly be helped if Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng fail late fitness tests in Spain.
Amid such uncertainty, Lewandowski stands out as Bayern's great white hope. The Pole had struck 15 goals in 11 games before injury, leading the line with the kind of conviction the out-of-sorts Thomas Muller has not been able to muster in the last fortnight. Lewandowski also has form against Real Madrid, of course, having hit four in a thrilling Dortmund win over Los Merengues in 2013.
Ancelotti certainly seems hopeful that the 28-year-old will make the difference. "It will help us that Lewandowski can play," the former said on Monday. "He is a super player, a top goalscorer and that gives us more confidence."
Isco inferno can fire Real
(Photo: AFP)
Madrid will be without Gareth Bale against Bayern, but that's not necessarily such bad news for Zinedine Zidane. For the Welshman's likely replacement, Isco, put in a gala display at the weekend, scoring two fine goals in the 3-2 win over Sporting Gijon. The 24-year-old has only played 77 minutes of football in this Champions League campaign, but he looks to be coming to the boil at just the right time.
Dortmund plotting course through emotional storm
The modern football calendar rarely allows for quiet reflection at the best of times. It's both a marathon and a sprint, broadcast at full blast, 24 hours a day. Little surprise, then, that when unforeseen events come crashing into the picture, as they did in last Tuesday's mindless attack on the Borussia Dortmund team coach, basic human decency gets pushed somewhere to the bottom of the pile of priorities.
Dortmund's players were in no fit state to play Monaco on Wednesday night. How could they be? It was clear from their performance and the outpouring of emotion after the match that they were at Westfalenstadion in body, but not in spirit. Marc Bartra, of course, was not there at all: he watched from his hospital bed after bearing the brunt of the explosion.
(Photo: AFP)
Some semblance of normality was restored at the weekend in the form of a 3-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, but again, the event was charged. Players held up a Bartra shirt at the end of the game and post-match interviews underlined the toll that the last week has taken on the squad. “It hasn’t improved for all of us,” said left-back Marcel Schmelzer, while goalkeeper Roman Burki admitted that he still struggles to sleep through the night.
The Black and Yellows will be eyeing a dramatic turnaround against Monaco on Wednesday, but really their biggest battle in the weeks ahead is against the demons lingering after last week's explosion. Anyone with a heart will wish them luck.
Barcelona dreaming of second miracle
(Photo: Getty)
"We can do it. We did it once and we can do it a second time. We have to give our absolute maximum. If everything goes well, there will be another comeback. I believe in the team and in our power. Everything is [already] lost, so we have nothing to lose and everything to gain."
So said Neymar to the Brazilian press on Monday, in an admirable display of positive thinking. But the reality is that Barcelona will need a miracle even bigger than the one that took them through to the quarter-finals, for Juventus are a far more savvy outfit than the Paris Saint-Germain side that managed to complete just three passes in the time that Barça scored their last three goals on that fateful night at the Camp Nou.
Is it possible? Yes, of course. But they'll need to be at their very best, hope Juventus have a absolute stinker, and pray for another insanely generous referee. It looks like a lot to ask, even for them.