The final set of UEFA Champions League round of 16 seconds legs has the potential for plenty of drama with Manchester United, Ajax and Juventus all on level terms heading into their home returns while Lille have ground to make up against Chelsea.
Fixtures: Round of 16 fourth week
Tuesday, March 15
Manchester United vs Atlético (first leg: 1-1)
Ajax vs Benfica (first leg: 2-2)
Wednesday, March 16
Juventus vs Villarreal (first leg: 1-1)
LOSC Lille vs Chelsea (first leg: 0-2)
Suárez to thrive on old rivalry
As a former Liverpool striker, Luis Suárez will not be the most popular man inside Old Trafford when Atlético go head to head with Manchester United again. Unfortunately for the Red Devils, such a scenario tends to bring the best out of the Uruguay striker, particularly in the Champions League round of 16.
Suárez struck twice at Manchester City in 2014/15 last 16, his first return to England after signing for Barcelona, then found the net at the Camp Nou when the Catalan club eased past Arsenal at the same stage in the following campaign.
His recent trips across the channel have not been so fruitful, though, and Ralf Rangnick’s men will be hoping Suárez cuts the more frustrated figure that featured in Barça’s famous 4-0 defeat at Liverpool in the 2019 semi-finals or Atlético’s elimination at the hands of eventual winners Chelsea in the round of 16 last season.
In the United camp, Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed the weekend headlines domestically with a hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur, and he will hope to take centre stage again. The Champions League’s all-time leading goalscorer has form against Atlético, having scored seven goals in 11 appearances in UEFA competitions against them.
Ajax are not all about Haller
It is hard to focus on anyone but Ajax striker Sébastien Haller considering he became the first player to score in his opening seven Champions League games and the quickest to 11 goals in the competition’s history.
But there is more to the Dutch outfit’s impressive displays than Haller’s relentless scoring feats. The team as a whole have equalled their most prolific Champions League campaign by scoring 22 goals, and the fact Ajax’s supporting cast have played a pivotal role in their progress offers Benfica avenues to exploit as they head to the Netherlands.
Dušan Tadić’s influence is long-established but the performances of Antony, whose five assists this term are bettered only by Leroy Sané and Bruno Fernandes, have seemingly gone under the radar. Should the Eagles manage to stop Ajax’s creativity at source by stifling the inventive pair, they may discover the formula to halting Haller’s remarkable scoring run.
Roberto Baggio, David Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mendy…
Juventus have always had a striker you could hang your hat on for a regular supply of goals. The early signs are that Dušan Vlahović could be the man to pick up that baton.
Like Baggio, Vlahović joined from Fiorentina with the Bianconeri struggling to make an impression at the top of the table. The Divine Ponytail wasted no time in making his mark in the 1990s and the Serbian international has followed suit since his January switch, scoring four times in his first six outings for the club.
Villarreal got a first-hand demonstration of the 22-year-old’s prowess in the first leg after only 33 seconds – the fastest goal by a debutant when starting a match in Champions League history – and the Yellow Submarine will have to pay closer attention if they are to come away from Turin with a favourable outcome.
Overcoming a 2-0 deficit in a Champions League tie is not uncommon, but to do so against this Chelsea side and a goalkeeper like Edouard Mendy is as tough an ask as it gets for Ligue 1 hopefuls LOSC.
Mendy’s shut-out in the first leg means he has now kept an eye-popping 14 clean sheets in his 18 Champions League appearances for the club – nine in 12 matches last season and five in six games this season. The opposition have mustered a grand total of just four goals in the other four games too.
That means Jocelyn Gourvennec’s men must do what no team has done against the holders since this stage two seasons ago – score twice or more. Jonathan David and Burak Yılmaz, with five goals between them in the competition this term, offer the home side their best hope of doing so.
