Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Juventus vs Barcelona
Tonight sees the return of Champions League action as we now reach the Quarter Final stage of the competition. Domestic interest does not increase until tomorrow when Leicester make the trip to Spain to face Atletico Madrid but that said we still have two mouthwatering ties to look forward later tonight.
The first is the repeat of the 2015 final as Juventus play host to Barcelona in Turin. Barcelona will look to make sure their progress in the tournament continues after their stunning comeback win at home to PSG in the previous round.
We all know how the story unfolded by now with the Catalan giants winning by a sensational 6-1 scoreline to win 6-5 on aggregate and progress to the Quarter Finals. But they come into this game off the back off another domestic loss and with that their hopes of winning La Liga have diminished.
They now find themselves 3 points behind arch rivals Real Madrid with Zinedine Zidane’s side also having a game in hand. You get the feeling that if Luis Enrique is going to bow out on some form of high it may have to be with another Champions League success.
It was he who masterminded his Barcelona players to victory in the 2015 edition of the competition and hosts Juventus will undoubtedly be looking for revenge after their final defeat two seasons ago. They come into this game off the back of a 2-0 win over Chievo which pushes them a step closer to another title which would be their sixth Serie A title in succession.
Barcelona have a habit of coming unstuck in Italy and will want to make sure there is nothing like their last performance away from home in this competition. Who can forget their 4-0 thrashing at the Stade De France in the Round of 16. One that very nearly oversaw their exit from the competition.
I have a sneaky feeling this one could end in a draw but if that is to be the case than Barcelona will no doubt be happy if they can at least get an away goal and came away from Turin unscathed. Honours even in my opinion.
Borussia Dortmund vs Monaco
The other Champions League tie this evening takes us to Signal-Iduna Park as Borussia Dortmund play host to Monaco in a game that promises to bring us goals, well at least you would hope so anyway.
It might not be the first pick of the games to watch tonight but for the real football men (me included) this may well be the one that the purists plump for in terms of the European football viewing pleasure.
Monaco have captured many an imagination in this tournament after their impressive performances against Manchester City in the previous round. Heroic in their 1st leg defeat when they lost 5-3 at The Etihad they then managed to overturn that with a 3-1 win on their own soil.
That meant the tie ended with a 6-6 scoreline with City then disposed thanks to the away goals rule. It also meant that City were the first team to ever score 6 and not qualify from a knockout tie. That highlights that as good as Monaco are going forward they are susceptible at the back.
But then you could also say the same about their opponents Borussia Dortmund. They came into this game with not the best of preparations as they were hammered 4-1 by arch rivals Bayern Munich at The Allianz Arena.
It was an evening to forget for Thomas Tuchel and his band of players as they find themselves now 4th in the Bundesliga table. They are still 7 points clear of Hertha Berlin in 5th so Champions League qualification still looks a likely prospect for them next season.
But they’ve struggled to really push Bayern this season as their defeat on Saturday proved, not only that but they have been leapfrogged by upstarts RB Leipzig as the side that are attempting to make some sort of title race in Germany.
No-one has really got close to Bayern in these last few months and Tuchel will now focus his attention to success in the Champions League with the hope that they can go one step further than the 2013 defeat under the stewardship of Jurgen Klopp.
Both teams will look at the draw and fancy their chances of progression and there is very little to call between these two sides. It’s hard to say how this one will go and even harder to say who will progress to the Semi Finals. I think I’m going to sit on the fence for this one.
