Messi’s fitness concerns hover over quarterfinal
Three of the teams in the Champions League quarterfinals are in a luxurious position, and running away with their domestic competitions allows them to concentrate on European glory.
Manchester City and Bayern Munich could even secure trophies between the first and second legs in Europe over the next week or so.
City, who travel to Liverpool in an all-northwest England quarterfinal tomorrow, have a 16-point lead in the Premier League.
Bayern, who are a point better off at the Bundesliga summit, played a Sevilla side that is in the European Cup quarterfinals for the first time in 60 years.
Barcelona have a nine-point lead at home as they prepare to host Roma tomorrow, with defending champion Real Madrid trailing by 13 points in third place. Madrid were to meet Serie A leader Juventus today.
A closer look at tomorrow’s matches:
BARCELONA v ROMA
Barcelona can count on Lionel Messi again but how fit is he?
After missing recent Argentina games with a muscular problem, he made a scoring return from the bench on Sunday against Sevilla to preserve Barcelona’s unbeaten La Liga record this season.
Coach Ernesto Valverde, however, said Messi is still bothered by pain heading into the game against Roma.
The Italian capital club is awaiting a prognosis on Radja Nainggolan’s thigh injury. The Belgium international, who has started all of Roma’s Champions League matches, limped off 16 minutes into the 1-1 draw at Bologna.
With Roma prioritising the game against Barcelona, the lack of depth was evident on Saturday when Edin Dzeko had to come off the bench to salvage a draw.
LIVERPOOL-MAN CITY
City make a return trip to the only stadium where they have lost in the Premier League this season.
With Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane boasting 75 goals between them this season, Liverpool have an impressive attacking armory to take on Pep Guardiola’s side.
‘‘They are almost unstoppable,’’ Guardiola said. ‘‘The way Liverpool play is so complicated for us. We know that. They are so quick, they are so good.’’
The 4-3 loss at Anfield in January was a blip in City’s progression to the Premier League title that can be sealed with a win against Manchester United on Sunday.
With the European first leg tomorrow and the return at the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday, Guardiola’s predicament will be whether to rest players for the Manchester derby and potentially miss out on winning the Premier League in perhaps the sweetest way.