1. Ex-Sevilla and Valencia manager out to eliminate Catalan giants
PARIS SAINT-GERMAN host Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie tonight with their Spanish coach Unai Emery desperate to improve his awful personal record against the Catalans.
Emery was brought to the French capital last year as the successor to Laurent Blanc in order to help take PSG to the next level in Europe after four consecutive quarter-final exits in the Champions League.
But finishing second in their group behind Arsenal exposed the Qatar-owned club to a tougher draw in the first knockout round.
Now they must beat the Spanish champions — the return will be at the Camp Nou next month — just to make it to the last eight again, and they will have to cope without skipper Thiago Silva in the first leg.
Emery, the former Sevilla boss and multiple Europa League winner, has come up against Barcelona 23 times in his coaching career and won just once, in La Liga last season.
Paris, meanwhile, have been knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona twice in recent campaigns, losing in the quarter-finals in 2013 and again in 2015 to Lionel Messi, Neymar and Co.
2. Dortmund struggling to find consistency
Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel hopes the return of the Champions League will provide the jolt his inconsistent side need ahead of this evening’s visit to Benfica in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
The Germans tormented opposing defences and finished above European champions Real Madrid in Group F after setting a new group-stage goals record, but they have failed to reproduce their best form domestically.
Dortmund, who won their lone Champions League title in 1997, fell an alarming 15 points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich following Saturday’s shock 2-1 loss at bottom side Darmstadt.
Dortmund fielded three teenagers at Darmstadt, with 18-year-old Dzenis Burnic making his German league debut in the absence of injured defensive duo Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek.
However, the pair are fit to return against Benfica while Ousmane Dembele could also start after coming off the bench at the weekend. Mario Goetze is not part of the squad though after struggling for both form and fitness recently.
3. Gunners face bogey team Bayern
Arsene Wenger is once again under pressure to end Arsenal’s Champions League last-16 misery as the Gunners travel to bogey team Bayern Munich in Wednesday’s first leg.
Bayern are riding a record 15-match home winning streak in Europe with the midweek clash marking the 11th meeting between the sides at Munich’s Allianz Arena in the Champions League.
Arsenal have suffered last-16 defeats in each of the last six seasons, losing to Bayern in both 2013 and 2014, and another early exit would further ramp up the pressure on 67-year-old Wenger to quit after 20 years in charge.
The teams know each other well, having met six times in the last four years, and Bayern thrashed the Gunners 5-1 in Munich in their previous meeting in November 2015.
Arsenal warmed up for their trip to Germany with a 2-0 win over Hull as Alexis Sanchez scored both goals to stop the rot following back-to-back league defeats to Chelsea and Watford.
The Londoners beat Bayern 2-0 in Munich in 2013, but still lost the last-16 tie following a 3-1 defeat in the first leg in London as the Germans went on to win that year’s final at Wembley.
4. Napoli fans to descend on Spanish capital in their droves
Desperate Napoli fans have signed up as official Real Madrid supporters in a bid to attend a Champions League clash that will see an estimated 10,000 Neapolitans descend on the Spanish capital Wednesday.
Napoli, last season’s runners-up, are nine points behind Juventus in the Serie A title race but, with a league-topping 57 goals in 24 games, are playing arguably the best football in Italy.
The southerners’ first appearance in the last 16 of the competition since losing to Chelsea in 2012 has fans in a frenzy.
Allocated only 3,917 tickets for the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, an estimated six thousand more Napoli fans want a piece of the action.
They have chartered planes, taken indirect flights via Istanbul, Zurich and Brussels and hired minibuses, according to widespread reports.
Napoli and Real have met only once in the competition, in 1987 when it was still the European Champions Clubs’ Cup. After a 1-1 draw in Naples, Real won the second leg of their first round tie 2-0 to advance.
And the 11-times European champions are unbeaten in 11 consecutive Champions League games.
Napoli have won two and lost four of their six away matches against Spanish opponents in Europe, and won none of their last four against La Liga sides.
In his time with Juventus, former France international Zidane never lost in six meetings with Napoli, scoring twice against the Azzurri.
Madrid have won eight of their 12 fixtures since drawing with Dortmund on matchday six.
Since then, they lifted the FIFA Club World Cup and set a Spanish record of 40 games unbeaten in all competitions which was ended by a 2-1 defeat at Sevilla last month.
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What a load of tripe.
The same thing was said about bale 3 months after he signed for Madrid and look at him,
Bale got off to a reasonably better start at Madrid. Scored on debut and injured for half of season. Plenty of time for Suarez to prove he’s not a flop, though. It’s unfair to judge him after 10 games. I think it took Henry 10 games to score his first for Arsenal.
Gary Dohertys retirement has thrown the whole thing out of kilter
Hopefully Barcelona are reading this and decide to cut their losses and sell him back to liverpool!
He is playing in a position that Liverpool deployed him for a few months last year. The goals dried up a bit then like now but his work rate and assists and overall performance never waned. Look at Liverpool now without him and that will put this article to bed.
Did Liverpool waste the fee they got for him. Oh yes!!!
No…they signed Markovic for about 20 million, well under his actual value of 100 million…obviously…
And the rest? Deluded Loserpool FC. There’s always next year lads.
You don’t really understand sarcasm Maurice….
He’s only been back for 2 months, give him a chance before writing him Off. If he bags a few goals against city in the next round it will be money week spent
he’s a great player the difference is at barcelona he is just another great player at liverpool he was the only great player.
If Barca not happy they might return him. Fingers crossed!!!