It’s been a tough old time for Liverpool at the minute. Jurgen Klopp’s men were hammered at home by Manchester City the weekend before last and they have experience a run of poor form the like of which the German manager has not witnessed since taking over at the club.
Now they have to put that to one side as they are back in action this week in the Champions League. The Reds are one of eight teams in action in the first half of the first leg ties in the Round of 16. They will face German side Red Bull Leipzig, who reached the semifinals last season, and who managed to knock Manchester United out of this competition this season.
The game won’t take place in Leipzig though due to travel restrictions, with both teams heading to Hungary instead where they will play out their first leg at the Puskas Arena.
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Let’s now take a look at the four Round of 16 first leg games being played this week in the Champions League to predict the outcome of each of the games. Starting of course with the big game in Hungary involving the current Premier League Champions.
Champions League Fixtures
Tuesday 16th February
Red Bull Leipzig v Liverpool
Red Bull Leipzig should fancy their chances of getting a result against Liverpool here. The Reds have struggled for form since the start of 2021 and their 4-1 home defeat by Manchester City the weekend before last was probably their worst performance since Jurgen Klopp took over as manager.
Leipzig are second in the Bundesliga and although they have sold a number of key players in recent years, most notably Timo Werner to Chelsea, they keep finding good quality replacements. Julien Nagelsmann is a fine young manager who is tipped to move on to bigger and brighter things at some point in the future.
Liverpool are racked by injuries in defence and that has been a huge issue for the team. However, their performances on the road have been better than at Anfield of late and with this game being played in Hungary on a neutral venue, I think the Reds have a chance to get something here.
I’m not confident that they can rescue their season in the Champions League without any of their three first choice centre backs, but I do feel that they may have enough in attack to earn a draw here to make the second leg at Anfield interesting in March.
Our Prediction – Draw – 11/4
Barcelona v Paris St Germain
There have been a few cracking Champions League knockout phase matchups between these two teams over the years, not least when Barcelona came from a 4-0 first leg deficit to win 6-1 in the home leg to knock PSG out of the tournament a few years back.
However, I don’t feel that this game will quite live up to the drama of that one. For one, the teams are much more evenly matched now and I think if anything, it is PSG that probably hold the advantage in terms of form and quality.
The Spanish side are 3rd in La Liga but have struggled for consistency under Ronald Koeman with with the future of Lionel Messi still unclear and the debt weighing the club down, there’s still a lot of question marks over this Barcelona side.
In contrast, PSG are fine financially due to their mega-wealthy owners but they could be without Neymar for this game due to injury. Even so, I think they have more than enough quality to come away from their trip to Spain with a draw.
Our Prediction – Draw – 11/4
Wednesday 17th February
Sevilla v Borussia Dortmund
This is probably the toughest of the four games this week to predict. Dortmund are the top seed team but despite topping their group in the knockout stage, they have been far from convincing this season, losing eight times in the Bundesliga alone to lie 6th in that table.
Sevilla are unspectacular but solid. They are fourth in La Liga, just behind Barcelona, who they beat last week in the Spanish Cup. They have a very strong central defensive pairing in Kounde and Diogo and they also have some talented attacking players including Ciro Immobile, who spent last season on loan at Dortmund.
Despite the fact Dortmund are the top seeded team, I think Sevilla with home advantage are the likely winners in this game. I think they are more consistent, better organised and certainly much better defensively than the German side.
They will have to watch out for the pace of Dortmund’s attack, where Haaland, Sancho and Reus can be a threat, but even so I am expecting the Spaniards to take a narrow lead into the second leg in Dortmund in three week’s time.
Our Prediction – Sevilla to win – 7/5
FC Porto v Juventus
These teams have met four times in the Champions League in the competitions history and Juventus have won three of those games, drawing the other, scoring six goals in the process to just one for Porto.
Those stats suggest that the Portuguese side, even on home soil, are going to be up against things a little here and I have to agree with that assessment. They lie 2nd in their league title race, but I think the quality of opposition they are used to playing is nowhere near that of Juventus.
Juventus are in an unaccustomed third place in Serie A and there is no doubt that the gap to them has been closed by a number of teams this season. However, in Europe they remain a threat and in Cristiano Ronaldo, they have the leading goalscorer in this competition’s history, who always seems ready to grab a goal in the games.
Even though this is in Portugal, I cannot see how FC Porto can get something from this game. I think Juventus are better in every area of the team and as such, I am backing the Turin side to land the win here to take back to Italy.
Our Prediction – Juventus to win – Even Money
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