Following Friday's draw for the quarter-finals of this year's Uefa Champions League, European correspondent Ian Hawkey gives his take on each match-up and picks the winners. Click or slide through for each match.
Atletico Madrid v Leicester City
None of the possible opponents for Leicester City, the novices at this level of European competition, were ever going to appear gentle. Atletico Madrid are in some ways the most menacing.
Leicester have been at their best this season when they have played to their counter-attacking strengths. Atletico have become one of the Champions League’s modern heavyweights through their own sharp breaking from within their own half, and are confident allowing rivals to have most of the possession.
Expect, then, the two teams to dare one another to take the initiative, be proactive, in the early phases of the tie. And anticipate some bruising duels, like the gnarled Atletico defender Diego Godin against Jamie Vardy. Leicester’s elimination of Sevilla means Spanish clubs have a real respect for the capabilities of the English champions. But Atletico, serial semi-finalists in this competition, must be favourites.
Forecast: Atletico to progress.
Juventus v Barcelona
If Barcelona are to repeat their treble of the Champions League, Primera Liga title and Copa del Rey, achieved in 2015 and an aspiration the soon-to-depart manager Luis Enrique insists is still a target, then they must repeat the victory with which they clinched the biggest prize of his coaching career.
Barcelona defeated Juventus in Berlin in the Champions League final that year, 3-1, with two members of the stellar forward line, Luis Suarez and Neymar, scoring.
The key confrontations now, as then, look to be those between Juventus’s experienced rearguard, led by Gigi Buffon in goal, and an attack commanded by Lionel Messi.
Juventus, on course for a sixth successive Serie A title, have developed their approach since then, and Barcelona, who will be without the suspended Sergio Busquets in Turin, must deal with the likes of Miralem Pjanic, Pablo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain in a front six much altered since two years ago.
Forecast: Juventus to edge out Barca
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
“Carletto”, as the Bayern manager is known, will keep his cool, at least in the fevered lead-up to this mighty collection, although even the sanguine Carlo Ancelotti knows this blockbuster is not just any other game.
Ancelotti only recently steered Real Madrid to one of the three Champions League titles he has to his name as a coach. His first season in Germany should bring him a Bundesliga title to add to the Premier League, the Ligue 1 and the Serie A championships he has won, but it was his expertise in Europe that Bayern hired him for.
Madrid, guided by Ancelotti’s former deputy Zinedine Zidane, will test that.
The reigning champions knocked Bayern out in the semi-finals en route to victory in the 2014 final. Bayern defeated Madrid in the semi-final in 2012.
Former Madrid players Arjen Robben and Xabi Alonso can expect a noisy reception at the Bernabeu. Xabi, who retires as a professional in June, will be warmly applauded.
Forecast: Bayern to trump Madrid
Borussia Dortmund v Monaco
Dortmund are averaging more than three goals per game in the Champions League this season, and hit four at home to Benfica last Tuesday to breeze through, despite a first-leg deficit, to the last eight. Monaco, meanwhile, are on an astonishing 126 goals across competitions so far this season after their 3-1 win over Manchester City.
A pair of coaches, Thomas Tuchel and Leonardo Jardim, will look to enhance their growing reputations, and a parade of talented young French footballers, from Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele to the Monaco flyers Kylian Mbappe, and Thomas Lemar will want to catch the eye.
Both teams are fortified by the knowledge that even in the absence of senior men like Dortmund’s Marco Reus and Monaco’s Radamel Falcao – both injured in last week’s wins – they can turn on the style.
Forecast: Dortmund to end Monaco’s charge
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