After a short break, the Champions League is back with the second legs of the four Round of 16 matches played three weeks ago. That means that the two English teams involved, Tottenham and Manchester United will be starting the games in very different positions, Spurs with a 3-0 lead to defend in Germany against Dortmund, while Manchester United are 2-0 down from their home leg against PSG in Manchester and now face a very tough night ahead in Paris.
The other two matches see current holders Real Madrid facing Ajax in the Bernebeu and they already hold a 2-1 lead from a controversial first leg in Amsterdam. The most open games should come in Portugal where FC Porto are 2-1 down from the away leg in Rome against AS Roma but any two goal victory or a 1-0 win for the home side would be enough to put them through, although it may require more than that given Roma’s record for scoring away goals.
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Let us now take a look ahead to the four game in the Champions League this week which sees the second leg of the Round of 16 ties that were played three weeks ago now. There’s four of the eight quarterfinalist places to be decided this week, with the remaining four all coming from next weeks games in the competition.
The scores from the first legs are shown in brackets for each game and all odds were correct with bet365 Sport as of 1.50pm on Monday 4th March 2019. All games kick off at 8pm Greenwich Mean Time.
Tuesday 5th March
Borussia Dortmund (0) v (3) Tottenham Hotspurs
Borussia Dortmund come into this game on the back of their worst run of form of the season. In addition to their first leg loss to Spurs, they have seen their nine-point lead in the Bundesliga eroded away over the last few weeks to the point where they now only lead Bayern Munich by goal difference.
Spurs too are not in the greatest of form having lost twice in recent times to Burnley and Chelsea and then following that up with what many felt was an underwhelming performance in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the North London derby at the weekend. However that 3-0 advantage from a stellar first leg performance, notably in the second half, does give the London side a huge advantage.
In truth, Spurs just need to score one goal and that should end the contest as it would mean Dortmund would need five goals to go through and in truth, I can see Tottenhan scoring in Dortmund, especially with how the German side have been playing defensively in recent weeks, conceding lots of goals against some pretty average opposition.
Dortmund could be the winners on the night but I feel if they do win it will be by a scoreline of something like 2-1 (15/2) however I am very confident that it will be Spurs making it into the hat for the next round of the competition, even if they were to lose on the evening.
Real Madrid (2) v (1) Ajax Amsterdam
The first leg in Amsterdam was a somewhat controversial one. First Ajax had a goal disallowed by VAR which looked especially harsh, then Sergio Ramos decided to deliberately pick up a yellow card, suspending him from the next leg but potentially making him available for the quarterfinal from thereon. However, FIFA took the Real Madrid defender to task and have banned him for two games now for deliberately picking up a yellow card.
Real won that opening encounter 2-1 thanks to Marcos Asensio late winner and in truth it was a little harsh on Ajax who probably deserved a draw from the game. Real’s home form of late isn’t great with two defeats to Barcelona leaving the home fans somewhat disgruntled over the past week, so a win against Ajax is the minimum they would expect here.
I do think they’ll get it too because as talented as this young Ajax side is, they really lack experience in these key games and that is something that Real as winners of the competition in the last three years, have in abundance.
I do feel Ajax can score and make life tough for Real but I would expect the Spanish Champions to reach the quarterfinals relatively comfortably with a 3-1 win on the night (10/1).
Wednesday 6th March
FC Porto (1) v (2) AS Roma
For me, of all the games taking place this week, this is the one that hangs in the balance more than any of the others. The game is delicately poised after Nicolo Zainolo, AS Roma’s highly rated young midfielder, grabbed two goals to put the Italian side 2-0 up in the first leg, only for Portuguese international Adrian Lopez to pull a vital away goal back for FC Porto just a few minutes later to make the final score 2-1 to the Italians.
Roma will be well aware that while they can score goals against any team, their performances on the road have been poor recently including a 3-0 defeat at Lazio at the weekend and a humiliating 7-1 loss to Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia. However, things are not great for Porto at the moment either after a shock 2-1 defeat at home at the weekend left them in second spot in the Portuguese league behind their vanquishers, Benfica.
Both sides are experienced and oddly enough, FC Porto hold the advantage in the head to head battles between the teams and as such, I do feel that they will be the winners on the night and I feel that 2-1 feels about the right scoreline for a FC Porto win. (15/2)
However, that would put the game into extra time and potentially penalties if neither team can find a goal in the extra 30 minutes and at that point it becomes a lottery of who goes through, however if I was forced to pick I would just favour FC Porto to make it through into the quarterfinals, but only just.
Paris St Germain (2) v (0) Manchester United
Paris St Germain’s away form in the Champions League latter stages has been mocked at several points over the last few years but they produced a fine display at Old Trafford in the first leg, even without Neymar and Cavani in the team, to earn a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Kimpembe and Mbappe.
United’s hopes were hit with two first half injuries to Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial which disrupted how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted his team to play a great deal and in truth, once PSg had scored the first, it looked inevitable that they would add another and it was only thanks to De Gea that PSG did not win by more of a margin.
I can see United lining up for this game in a different way but their injury jinx means that they will be without several key players and in truth, the chances of them pulling off a miracle and ending PSG’s 14 game winning run at the Parc des Princes look very slim indeed.
As such, I am backing PSG to win on the night and I think they will do so by a scoreline of around 2-0 (13/2).
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