Euro kings face pretenders
Real Madrid hosting PSG as Champions League roars back
The Champions League resumes with a mouthwatering meeting of the aristocrats and the disrupters of European football. The hosts: Real Madrid, the indisputable kings of the continent with 12 titles led by five-time world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo.
The visitors: Paris Saint-Germain, the upstarts who bulldozed football’s transfer record to hitch Neymar to the Qatari-funded mission to join the game’s elite.
The Santiago Bernabeu is the stage on Thursday for Neymar’s return to Spain six months after the heir to Ronaldo’s throne was prized away from Barcelona for 222 million ($375m).
“[Neymar and Ronaldo] are both quick, very strong one-on-one, they play quickly and put a lot of intensity into their games,” said PSG winger Angel Di Maria, a Champions League winner alongside Ronaldo at Madrid in 2014. “Ney is smaller, and that’s perhaps his advantage. But they are both capable of turning games.”
Only one of the superstars can advance from the round of 16 games in Madrid and Paris over the next month.
The 26-year-old Neymar is chasing the supreme status already attained by Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has helped Madrid win three of the last four Champions League titles, with two goals in last season’s final victory over Juventus.
Juventus help open the knockout phase this week against Tottenham tomorrow when Manchester City travel to Basel. Liverpool are away against Porto on Thursday but it will take something special to seize the spotlight from the Spanish capital.
It’s not just a quarter-final place at stake for PSG and Madrid. The losing coach is likely to find himself out of work by the end of the season.
Only two months ago, Zidane lifted the Club World Cup for a second successive year but his job prospects could be dependent on winning a third successive Champions League title.
Madrid languish in fourth place and 17 points behind Barcelona in La Liga and are out of the Copa del Rey.
In France’s Ligue 1, PSG have pulled 12 points clear of defending champions Monaco.
But while PSG can bully most teams, they are vulnerable against those playing with aggression and closing down high up the pitch. That was evident in a loss to Lyon last month when PSG panicked in defence and conceded a late goal. Juventus v Tottenham Even though striker Paulo Dybala is sidelined with a muscle injury, Juventus can turn to Gonzalo Higuain who has scored six times in four matches. And he is likely to be leading the strike force with Mario Mandzukic, who netted in two of his three group stage appearances.
After an inconsistent start to the campaign, the backline has settled down and the Bianconeri have only conceded once in 16 matches in all competitions to set a club record. But the defence will be coming up against one of Europe’s most lethal strikers in Harry Kane, who has netted 34 goals for Tottenham in all competitions this season.
While Juventus are slugging it out for the Serie A title with Napoli — they are separated by one point — Tottenham have a fragile grip on the fourth Champions League qualification place in the Premier League. Basel v Manchester City Since breezing through the group stage, Manchester City’s quadruple chase has gathered pace.
Pep Guardiola’s side have pulled 16 points clear in the Premier League despite Gabriel Jesus sustaining a long-term knee injury on December 31. Sergio Aguero shouldered the burden as City’s only other senior striker, scoring 13 times in 10 games across the league and two domestic cups — including four at the weekend.
Basel also have a tighter domestic title chase, sitting in second place five points behind Young Boys, and are adapting following the sale of centreback Manuel Akanji to Borussia Dortmund in January. Porto v Liverpool Expect entertainment.
Five-time European champions Liverpool scored 23 goals in the group stage, but have since lost playmaker Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.
Shoring up the defence was a priority, though, in the January transfer window and centreback Virgil van Dijk was finally signed from Southampton.
While Liverpool are 18 points behind City in the Premier League, Porto have a two-point lead at the top of the Portuguese standings and are unbeaten in 23 matches in all competitions. — AP NETHERLANDS