LONDON: English clubs Liverpool and Manchester City are in commanding positions. Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich still have some work to do.
The first four spots in the quarter-finals of the Champions League are up for grabs this week, with most of the competition’s title favorites in action.
On Tuesday, Liverpool welcome Inter Milan to Anfield holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg while Bayern host Red Bull Salzburg with the tie level at 1-1.
In the heavyweight tie of the last-16 round, PSG travel to face Real Madrid on Wednesday after winning the first leg 1-0 in Paris while City have one foot in the last eight having beaten Sporting Lisbon 5-0 away.
There is increasing talk about a possible quadruple of titles for Liverpool, who have already won the League Cup, are in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and have closed in on Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
The Reds’ involvement in the Champions League should stretch into next month after late goals by Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah at the San Siro gave Liverpool a handy advantage to bring back to Anfield but manager Juergen Klopp has warned his side against any complacency.
“The danger everybody knows about — it’s 2-0,” Klopp said in his pre-match press conference on Monday. “I think it’s the lead which got turned over most often in the history of football. If you get to half-time 2-0 up and you have a team who thinks we are halfway through then you are already on the wrong path.
“It’s a much better result than I would have expected before we played there. The game didn’t look like we would win it 2-0 for most of the time. It was a really tough tie and a really difficult game to play.
“We know Inter have real quality. It’s an experienced team, and they don’t come here as tourists. They want to attack the game, and we are not a team who defends results and tries to scrape through. Let’s see what we can get from it.”
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said his side must score early to stand any hope of toppling Liverpool.
“It is important and essential to score a goal in the first half. It will be a difficult game tomorrow, but we are highly motivated,” Inzaghi told a news conference on Monday.
Bayern will be boosted by the return of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who has been ruled fit to play against Salzburg following his recovery from a knee injury.
Neuer has been out for a month after having knee surgery in February. His services will in high demand on Tuesday with Bayern desperate to remain in the running for European silverware.
Bayern are the overwhelming favourites to reach the quarter-finals but are under pressure to advance following their last-gasp equaliser to avoid defeat in the first leg.
“Obviously, we know it’s an important game for us,” coach Julian Nagelsmann, in his first season at Bayern, said on Monday. “If we do not get a positive result it is clear that it won’t be a special season.
“But I do not expect that we will be eliminated. I have the justified hope that we will advance and that should be our demand and we have to deliver the performance to match that. We need to keep up the tempo over the entire 90 minutes.”
Real will enter their second leg against PSG with coach Carlo Ancelotti having to figure out a way to set up his midfield.
Casemiro is suspended and Toni Kroos and Federico Valverde are listed as doubtful because of health issues.
PSG prepared for the trip to Spain by losing for only the third time in 27 Ligue 1 matches this season to second-placed Nice.
Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2022
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