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The quarter-finals of the Champions League are full of big-name players.
Defending champions Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have already secured spots in the last eight of Europe’s top club competition and will have their full lineups in place this week.
The remaining four of the remaining 16 games are all balanced, with no teams separated by more than one goal since the first leg.
On Tuesday, Barcelona will host Napoli in a clash between the reigning champions of Spain and Italy respectively. The first leg in Italy resulted in a 1-1 draw.
In the other game of the day, Arsenal lost 1-0 to Porto ahead of their match at the Emirates Stadium.
Atletico Madrid will need to overturn a 1-0 deficit at home to Inter Milan on Wednesday, with hosts Borussia Dortmund and PSV Eindhoven tied 1-1 ahead of the match.
The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place on Friday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Unconvincing title defense
Neither Barcelona nor Napoli have come up with a convincing defense of their domestic league title.
Napoli are seven points behind fourth-placed Bologna in the Italian league and face a battle to qualify for last season’s Champions League, with Francesco Calzona appointed as their third manager this term last month. There is.
Barcelona is in third place in the Spanish league, and manager Xavi Hernández has announced his intention to leave the club at the end of this season after a disappointing season.
He led the club to their sixth Champions League title and is hoping for even more. First of all, he needs to get past Napoli and lead Barcelona to the quarter-finals for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Arsenal’s aim
Mikel Arteta’s priority is likely to be the Premier League, with Arsenal locked in a three-way title battle with Liverpool and Manchester City. But even if his team is one point behind Porto, the Champions League quarter-finals are in front of them.
Arsenal returned to the Champions League this season for the first time in seven years and made an impressive showing as they advanced to the round of 16.
The Londoners looked set to end the first leg with Porto in a goalless draw until Galeno’s goal in the 90th minute.
It was Arsenal’s only loss in an incredible run of form that has seen them win eight of their past nine games, scoring four or more goals in five of them.
inter impression
Inter Milan, the finalists who lost last year, will step up again this season.
Simone Inzaghi’s side are on track to win the Italian title this season despite losing just one league game. Marko Arnautovic’s goal secured a 1-0 win in the first leg against Atlético, part of a record of 13 straight wins in all competitions.
In contrast, Atlético’s form is far from convincing, having lost five of their last eight games.
PSV Hope
Luuk de Jong’s penalty means there is nothing separating Dortmund and PSV ahead of Wednesday’s second leg.
The PSV forward canceled out Donyell Malen’s opening goal with a penalty, and Dortmund took the tie back to Germany.
If the Dutch team wins, they will advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
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James Robson is https://twitter.com/James Saran Robson
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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