Doug McIntyre
football journalist
The knockout stage of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League season begins on Tuesday, when several of Europe’s leading teams – including last year’s winners Manchester City and record 14-time titlist Real Madrid – will play the first leg of their two matches, Overall- Target- Win the Round of 16 series.
As always, there is no shortage of questions ahead of the conclusion of football’s most important club competition, which concludes on June 1 at Wembley Stadium in London.
The four largest are below.
Can Manchester City repeat as champions?
Although Pep Guardiola’s side won all six of their matches in the group stage, the holders have not been entirely convincing during their title defense so far. This is not quite the same team that achieved the historic “treble” of trophies last year, when the club’s long-coveted first European trophy was accompanied by domestic honors in both the Premier League and FA Cup.
In the current situation of love, City is in second place. Star striker Erling Haaland missed almost two months of the campaign due to a foot injury.
But Haaland is now back, and the Sky Blues have a friendly round of 16 opponent in Denmark’s FC Copenhagen, who visit the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday to kick off the home-and-home clash. Somewhat counter-intuitively, there is also less pressure on Guardiola this time around, with City finally regaining the Champions League lead last spring.
In addition to boasting possibly the deepest and most talented roster in the game, this is now a proven, courageous, battle-hardened team. So while we haven’t seen the best of the Citizens yet, they are a bookmakers’ favorite for quite obvious reasons. Only time will tell if Man City can win for the second time in a row, but bet this much: they won’t be giving up silverware without a fight.
Would Pep Guardiola consider coaching the USMNT? , SOTU
Will Real Madrid win the 15th crown?
If any team knows how to turn it on in do-or-die Champions League matches, it’s Real Madrid. Easily the most decorated club on the continent – with 14 European titles, los blancos They have twice as many as Italy’s AC Milan, the next most successful team – Real are still in the twilight of perhaps their greatest era: they have won the Champions League five times since 2014.
The most recent of them came two years ago. There has been much change in Real’s squad since then, with the departure of stalwarts such as long-time striker Karim Benzema and midfield rock Casemiro and the arrival of brilliant young midfielder Jude Bellingham – who was bought from Borussia Dortmund last summer – as the new face of the club. Have emerged in. But mainstays like captain Nacho Fernandez, maestro Luka Modric, winger Vinicius Junior and midfielders Toni Kroos and Federico Valverde remain, providing both experience and stability.
Real’s Championship pedigree will be tested in Germany on Tuesday when the Spaniards visit RB Leipzig. The visitors are favourites, yet have struggled to stay healthy recently. Nacho and Vinny Jr. have just returned from injury and Bellingham will miss at least the first leg with an ankle sprain. Yet this club always seems to find its way back in this competition. City and Bayern Munich may have the better chances, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Real Madrid once again stands on the podium when it’s all said and done.
Is this PSG’s last dance with Kylian Mbappe?
We still don’t really know if these next few months truly represent Kylian Mbappe’s swan song with the French superstar/World Cup winner’s hometown club, Paris Saint-Germain. A week later, Mbappé’s departure (once again) seemed certain Parc des Princes At the end of the season, the deal appears to have fallen apart (once again) for long-time rivals Real Madrid.
Whether Mbappe stays or leaves this summer, one thing is clear: PSG’s chances of winning the title are slipping away since its wealthy Qatari owners bought the club more than a decade ago and spent it in contention. Are passionate about. The Parisians came closest in a pandemic-shortened 2020, when Mbappé, Neymar and Co. won a pair of single-elimination competitions, but lost the final to Bayern Munich.
Neymar left last summer. Since then Lionel Messi has also come and gone. Now the pressure is on Mbappe alone. And despite an impressive lead in Ligue 1, it’s fair to wonder whether this PSG team is even capable of making a deep run, let alone going all the way. Still, while the first hurdle is important – Spain’s Real Sociedad, who visits the City of Lights on Wednesday, is no pushover – it is not a giant like Bayern, who defeated PSG in the round of 16 a year ago. was abolished.
Can Mbappe do it himself this year? With 30 goals in 29 matches in 2023-24, maybe. He is the best player in the world along with City’s Haaland. What a story that would be.
However, what is more likely is that this is another disappointing finish that moves Mbappe closer to the exit, and PSG is wondering when – or even if – it can capture Europe’s ultimate prize. Would be good enough for.
Which other contenders can win the trophy?
Under Harry Kane, Bayern are perhaps an even more potent threat at the top than when Robert Lewandowski led them to their last Champions League win four years ago. (Bayern opens its knockout round against Lazio in Rome on Wednesday.)
After a long absence from the competition, Arsenal have proven they have the real deal. The Gunners may have a better chance of winning the Champions League than the Prem, in that they are just two points behind first-placed Liverpool and can’t really afford not to win every match between now and May. Arsenal kick off the Round of 16 against Porto next week.
Next is last year’s runner-up Inter Milan. However, Inter are having another excellent season Nerazzurri They will have to overcome a strong opponent in Atlético Madrid in their first knockout round series after finishing second in their group.
Dortmund or the Netherlands’ PSV Eindhoven probably can’t win it all. But if there is a draw against each other, someone will reach the quarter-finals. The same applies to another former European champion, rebuilding Barcelona, and Serie A holders Napoli. This will help make the last eight exciting, although there will be a lot of games played before that.
Doug McIntyre is a football writer for Fox Sports. Before joining Fox Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and has covered United States of america Men’s and women’s national teams in several FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @By DougMacIntyre,
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