Champions League playoffs: a thrilling showdown in Madrid presents a challenge for Juventus.
Champion presents all the playoff matchups of the main European cup that will take place on the field this evening.
Real – Manchester City (first match – 3:2)
Despite the result of the first match, the away victory of Carlo Ancelotti's team keeps this matchup at the center of attention. Clearly, nothing is decided yet. Guardiola's team can certainly take revenge in Madrid. Moreover, they could do it without a minimal margin, achieving all their goals during regular play.
A week ago, in Manchester, Jude Bellingham scored the winning goal for Real in stoppage time (2:3). Right after the game, he noted:
This victory was the 300th, a milestone, for Real in the Champions League. No team has won more prestigious European titles than the Madrid side.
At the same time, "City" led 2:1 in the 86th minute, but the scales tipped in favor of Carlo Ancelotti's team before the second leg. Erling Haaland opened the scoring in the 19th minute, but the main events unfolded in the second half. Kylian Mbappé equalized in the 60th minute, and Haaland put the hosts ahead again in the 80th minute. Real equalized for the second time in the 86th minute with a precise strike from Brahim Diaz, and then Bellingham scored in stoppage time at 90+2 minutes.
However, the Mancunians remain hopeful – Real has already suffered a home defeat to Milan in this Champions League, and City recently, in 2020, won at the legendary "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium.
Over the weekend, Man City achieved a significant victory against Newcastle (4:0) and is now positioned 4th in the Premier League table. Meanwhile, Real played a draw with Osasuna (1:1) and lost its lead in La Liga. Their main rival, Barcelona, has now caught up in points. Moreover, the Catalans are leading on better tiebreakers.
Injured:
Real: Dani Carvajal, Éder Militão, Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba, Lucas Vázquez
Manchester City: Rodri, Manuel Akanji
Bookmaker predictions:
- Real victory – 1.92
- Draw – 4.28
- Manchester City victory – 3.43
Borussia – Sporting (first match – 3:0)
The match day on Wednesday will kick off with a confrontation in Dortmund, where Borussia will host Sporting. In this pairing, the intrigue is minimal, as the guests were significantly stronger in the first match a week ago in Lisbon, defeating their opponent by a large margin.
Sporting put up a decent fight until the 60th minute, but after Serhou Guirassy's goal, they literally "sank." After that, there was only one team on the field. Pascal Groß increased the guests' lead in the 68th minute. Karim Adeyemi then added to the guests' advantage with a precise strike in the 82nd minute.
Can Sporting hope for something in the return match? Yes, because the opponent has enough problems. Last weekend, Borussia lost to a team that is currently in... last place in the Bundesliga table. And the defeat to Bochum (0:2) does not seem coincidental, as the Dortmund team has been very unstable this season.
As Borussia’s coach Niko Kovač noted, despite the team having possession of the ball, his players were absolutely weak in front of the opponent's goal. Guirassy had two or three chances in the first half, but that was far too few...
Will Sporting take advantage of the opponent's problems? The team holds the first place in the Portuguese Primeira table, but in the last round, they failed to beat Arouca, conceding two goals – 2:2. Considering that Arouca is in the lower half of the table, it would certainly be beneficial for Sporting to defeat their opponent before heading to Germany.
Moreover, Sporting has also been hit with new player injuries. The team’s injury list has been extended with Japanese Hidemasa Morita and Brazilian Daniel Bragança.
Injured:
Borussia: Felix Nmecha, Karamoko Dembele, Ramy Bensebaini
Sporting: Nuno Santos, Pedro Gonçalves, Geny Catamo, Hidemasa Morita, Daniel Bragança
Bookmaker predictions:
- Borussia victory – 1.95
- Draw – 3.81
- Sporting victory – 3.68
PSV – Juventus (first match – 1:2)
The match in Eindhoven will see fierce competition for a place in the next round of the tournament. In Turin, the hosts could not achieve a significant advantage, winning only by a narrow margin, and today, effectively, everything starts from scratch.
A week ago, Weston McKennie's goal in the 34th minute was answered by Ivan Perišić’s precise strike in the 56th – 1:1. The decisive goal came from Samuel Mbangula in the 82nd minute, which secured Juventus's victory – 2:1.
However, both teams understand that Juventus's advantage is fragile, and the score is workable. PSV players have not lost in 14 consecutive European matches at home.
On the other hand, Juventus has not lost in the Netherlands this millennium (with two wins and draws), but the Turin side has never played at PSV's stadium.
Last weekend, Juventus secured a crucial victory in Serie A against Milan's Inter (1:0) in a match between two of Italian football's giants. The team is currently in 4th place in the table but travels to Eindhoven in excellent spirits.
Meanwhile, PSV drew with Utrecht (2:2) and dropped points for the third consecutive match in the Eredivisie, with three draws. The team has lost its leadership, now trailing Ajax by 2 points, who have five consecutive victories. Accordingly, the mood in the team before the match with Juventus is not so cheerful.
Injured:
PSV: Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman
Juventus: Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabañ, Arkadiusz Milik, Douglas Luiz
Bookmaker predictions:
- PSV victory – 2.32
- Draw – 3.65
- Juventus victory – 2.91
PSG – Brest (first match – 3:0)
In a purely French showdown between PSG and Brest, the intrigue seems to have died even before the first half began. The Paris team looks far too powerful on the domestic stage. In particular, in head-to-head matchups with Brest. This was proven in the Champions League match.
Already in the 21st minute of the game in Brest, Vitor Pereira opened the scoring by converting a penalty, and then Ousmane Dembélé scored a brace with goals from open play in the 45th and 66th minutes. The hosts, practically, could not offer anything against their illustrious opponents.
The Brest goalkeeper Marco Bizot understands this well, noting:
Last weekend, PSG defeated Toulouse away, achieving a rather modest victory (1