Champions League: Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City last-16 ties previewed | Football News
Are Arsenal perfect, ready to respond to criticism?
Leverkusen vs Arsenal – Wednesday, 5:45 p.m.
There is no doubt that Mikel Arteta is aware of the expectations surrounding Arsenal. Recent performances suggest his players are too. The reality of still being alive in all four competitions at this stage of the season is taking its toll, not only in terms of physical exhaustion but also emotional toil.
This group is desperate to deliver and that means some matches have become tense, erratic affairs, where the football matters far less than the result. Take Saturday’s 2-1 win over League One side Mansfield as an example.
Arteta probably cares little about the criticism his team attracts given the state of play, focusing only on how to turn a campaign with such vast potential into one that ends in silverware. The irony of being labeled a team that plays “boring football” and yet the only team in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a perfect record still intact will not be lost on him.
The Gunners won all eight matches in the league stage – the first to do so under the new format. Unlike many Premier League encounters, Arsenal’s talented players have been given the time and space to get creative, opening the scoring in every game so far and scoring three or more goals in the last six.
If Bayer Leverkusen have done their homework, they will try to make the pitch as narrow and compact as possible to prevent Arsenal from doing to them what they have done to every opponent so far. It won’t be easy for a Leverkusen team that conceded more goals than it scored in the league stage and finished 16th. This is Arsenal’s chance to prove some doubters wrong.
Laura Hunter
City can make a statement against injured Real Madrid
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe, left, and Jude Bellingham
Real Madrid vs Man City – Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Manchester City and Real Madrid quickly became THE The modern Champions League rivalry is largely due to the fact that they have faced each other in the round of 16 every season for the last five seasons.
We’ve seen them play in knockout play-offs, a quarter-final and two semi-finals since the 2019/20 season. Now they find themselves in the last 16 and City have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about their chances against the 15-time Champions League winners.
This is not a vintage Real Madrid team and they are missing key players. Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham are unlikely to recover in time for the first leg, while Rodrygo has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.
City can also take confidence from the fact that they have already beaten Real Madrid at the Bernabeu this season. It was a magnificent performance from Pep Guardiola, recovering to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland.
It was just the latest example of Real Madrid’s difficulty keeping up with the intensity against a Premier League team. They have lost four times in a row to English sides in the Champions League and there is growing evidence to suggest they are falling behind.
Arsenal demonstrated exactly this point in last season’s quarter-finals by dismantling the title holders with a 5-1 aggregate victory. Real Madrid can never be counted out in this competition, but this draw offers City the opportunity to make a statement.
Zinny Boswell
Is it time for Rosenior to set a milestone for Chelsea fans?
Liam Rosenior is one of only two Ligue 1 coaches against whom Luis Enrique’s PSG have dropped points at home this season.
PSG vs Chelsea – Wednesday, 8 p.m.
If Liam Rosenior learned anything from his predecessor Enzo Maresca, he may have noticed the difference a victory against PSG can make to a Chelsea boss.
It may not be the Club World Cup final, but the opportunity remains for Rosenior to turn this Champions League round of 16 into a resounding victory, help shed the somewhat nasty label of ‘LinkedIn Liam’ that has been thrown at him from some quarters and prove he has the gravitas to succeed at Stamford Bridge.
It’s something that has taken Maresca quite a long time, even though he took the club back to the Champions League and won the Conference League and Club World Cup in his only full season in charge. Rosenior faced an arguably tougher hill to climb given the optics of his internal appointment at Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg.
Some of Rosenior’s public comments, team selections and tinkering have done little to assuage these questions about his suitability for a fan base with fond memories of Mourinho, Conte and Ancelotti and some famous European nights out in west London. But the scalp of the same Champions League holders who beat English sides in every round of 16 last season would help increase his credibility in the eyes of Chelsea fans.
Rosenior knows Luis Enrique’s PSG as well as every manager remaining in the competition having played in Ligue 1 for 18 months before joining Chelsea, and his Strasbourg side remain one of only two teams to leave the Parc des Princes unbeaten in the league thanks to a 3-3 draw in October. Strasbourg even led 3-1 at one point and would have taken the lead that evening if they had held on to victory.
There were encouraging signs for the Blues boss who found the right formula in the 4-1 win at Aston Villa last week – but then needed extra time to beat Wrexham in the FA Cup after making nine changes in North Wales.
If there are no more surprises in the lineup, like the starting 11 in Naples in their last league phase match, there is no reason why Rosenior cannot leave Paris satisfied for the second time this season.
Ron Walker