PSG will face Dortmund and OL Juventus in eighth

This is what we must remember from this draw for the eighths of the Champions League.

To pass the course (which looks like a peak, a peninsula, even an impassable mountain range) of the eighths, Paris Saint-Germain de Mbappé, Neymar and others (well, we don't go out too much before the meetings , eh) will have to rub the famous "Gelbe Wand" of the Ruhr (for non-German speakers, it is a Wall, like Pink Floyd, but yellow, like the Beatles submarine).

A team currently third in the Bundesliga, four points behind the Lipsian leader (of Leipzig, therefore), who pulled out of the game in the "pool of death" by eliminating Inter Milan, and finishing in second place of group F, behind FC Barcelona. Coached by a man, Lucien Favre, well known in the championship of France (and of Nice), the Schwarz-Gelben (black and gold) have a fairly young workforce, and offer a game "chameleon" according to their coach. For Paris, it will be especially wary of the young Englishman Jadon Sancho (if he stays at BvB), capable of astonishing dazzling.

If we are completely honest, on paper, PSG is favorite of this eighth finals which will see Thomas Tuchel find the club he made shine (and with which he had been eliminated by Monaco of Mbappé in April 2017, meeting played the day after a "stock market" attack committed against the bus of his team). But in view of the last eighth disputed by Paris, we will be careful not to sell the skin of the German bear before the teammates of Neymar Jr. have skinned it.

Regarding Lyon, this is another matter. Badly hit in the league and at the bottom of the hole after injuries this weekend from Memphis Depay and Jeff Reine-Adelaide, both affected with cruciate ligaments of one knee, OL suffered Juventus Turin. A very big European engine, led by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, who won his group (five wins and a draw), relegating Atletico Madrid to six points.

Not sure that this Lyon – Turin is the best poster for a Lyon team in the tunnel. But second in their group, Rudi Garcia's men knew they were doomed to a big one. And this meeting will allow the French public to find Adrien Rabiot (if he is aligned by Maurizio Sarri) and Blaise Matuidi. Knowing that Juve has never been eliminated by a French club in knockout phase, the Gones know the magnitude of their task (and that of the possible exploit, too).

For the rest, the draw reserved a very large poster from the eighth, with the clash between Manchester City and Real Madrid, two candidates declared to the title. And the best enemy in career in Pep Guardiola.

The defending champion Liverpool will have to get rid of Atletico Madrid, Lionel Messi's Barcelona to cross the Mediterranean to Naples, Bayern Munich will return to London after their big victory at Tottenham in the group stage (7 -2), facing Chelsea this time. And the said Tottenham Spurs will find a German club, in the person of Leipzig.

Finally, a surprise will be in any case at the rendezvous of the quarters, with a clash between Valencia and Atalanta Bergamo, which is fighting its first campaign in the European elite.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here