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| Last 8: This season's UEFA Champions League is going into the final stages, with a new winner guaranteed. |
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| Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle are all still in the Last 8, with the holders Atletico Madrid knocked out. |
Hello and welcome to my latest blog post, where I talk about the UEFA CL and EL Draws, analysing all the matches to be played along with my predictions on the winners of the ties and eventual winners of the respective tournaments.
UEFA Champions League Last 8 Draw Breakdown and Analysis:
(Ties to be played on the 2nd/3rd of April, and 9th/10th of April)
PSG vs Barcelona - Barca
Bayern Munich vs Juventus - Bayern
Real Madrid vs Galatasaray - Real
Malaga vs Borussia Dortmund - Dortmund
Four great ties, with PSG vs Barca and Bayern vs Juventus the standout from the 4.
Real Madrid and Dortmund will be the favourites to go through out of their ties, simply because of their sheer quality (Ronaldo, Benzema, Ozil, Higuain, Modric, Ramos) compared to Malaga (1-man Isco show) and Galatasaray (Yilmaz, Sneijder and Drogba).
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No pressure: Malaga wonderkid Isco is literally their only hope of progressing through against Dortmund.
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| On-fire: Polish striker Robert Lewandowski has scored 26 goals in all competitions this season. |
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| Talent: German forward Marco Reus has scored 16 and made 10 assists so far in his 1st season at Dortmund |
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| Wanted: Gotze is wanted by Arsenal, United, Real and Barca - because he is one of the best in the world. |
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2 in 2 years? Chelsea's former talisman Didier Drogba will have to be on top form to pull off an upset against Real
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UCL top scorer: Yilmaz has scored 8 goals in 677mins in the CL this season, and will need to be on-form again
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Bayern and Juventus both have solid defences and play attractive football so that will be a fascinating match to watch.
Barcelona are probably the favourites to go on and win the whole thing, provided they can beat "moneybags" PSG who have the only Englishman left in the competition (in David Beckham, remember him?) but it will not be easy.
Lucas Moura, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Javier Pastore, Thiago Silva, Mamadou Sakho and Ezequiel Lavezzi are all threats in both attack and defence.
However, Barca have the world's best - Lionel Messi, along with Spanish midfield maestros Xavi and Iniesta.
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| Lionel Messi is the best player in the world - and could just be the difference between PSG and Barca. |
UEFA Europa League Last 8 Breakdown and Analysis:
(All ties to be played on the 4th and 11th of April)
Chelsea vs Rubin Kazan - Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur vs Basel - Tottenham
Fenerbache vs Lazio - Lazio
Benfica vs Newcastle United - Benfica
Both London clubs Chelsea and Tottenham are favourites to progress through to the semi-finals, with relatively easy ties against Rubin Kazan and Basel respectively, however these two Russian + Swiss outfits knocked out Zenit and Atletico Madrid in the last Round.
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Narrowly, but still through: Tottenham lost 4-1 in the 2nd leg against Inter, but progressed on away goals.
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Saviour: Fernando Torres celebrates his strike against Steaua to seal Chelsea's place in the Last 8.
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| Senegal striker Papiss Cisse celebrates his 90th minute winner for Newcastle against Anzhi to put them through |
Lazio should beat Turkish side Fenerbache, while Newcastle have another game on their hands (after Anzhi) against a tough Portugese side in Benfica who normally play in the Champions League...
Thank you for reading my latest blog post, with another 3 International football-themed blog posts coming out in the next few days. I appreciate all the support from daily views, and long may it continue! Thank you once everyone.
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