And then there were eight.
After some thrilling second legs over the last two weeks, the Champions League’s round of 16 has wrapped up. The quarterfinal draw was held Friday morning, and gave footy fans some mouth-watering matchups.
Based on current form, competitiveness and best storylines, we’ve ranked each of the four quarterfinal ties from worst to best:
4) Liverpool vs. FC Porto
Make no mistake: FC Porto, winners of a dramatic round-of-16 tie over AS Roma, will offer a stiff challenge to Jurgen Klopp’s quest to get back to the final. Porto rallied from a 2-1 first-leg deficit to eliminate the Italians, a side that was in the semifinals just last season.
That said, Liverpool will be happy with this draw, avoiding three English rivals and a pair of European giants. And the Reds are familiar with Sergio Conceicao’s side as the two clubs met in the round of 16 in last year’s tournament – Liverpool’s dangerous front three thrashed Porto for three goals in Portugal in the first leg before a scoreless draw at Anfield.
While we’d love to see Porto make this an interesting tie over the two legs, it’s Liverpool’s to lose.
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3) Ajax vs. Juventus
Ajax pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent Champions League memory to book a spot in the quarterfinals, knocking off three-time defending champions Real Madrid with a stunning comeback performance on the road at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Led by Dutch youngsters Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong, Ajax have found the perfect mix of youth and experience, and play exciting football under Pep Guardiola-inspired manager Erik ten Hag, a combination that should, at the very least, make this tie a fun one to watch.
Against Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo, though, Ajax are in tough. A thrilling comeback from 2-0 down in the round of 16 against Atletico Madrid is the type of result that can jumpstart a title run, and with CR7 rounding into his expected Champions League form, the Old Lady may prove too much for Ajax.
2) Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester City
With four Premier League clubs in the final eight, we were bound to get an all-English clash in the quarterfinals. A top-six Premier League showdown is always a must-see match.
And the fact this Man City-Spurs draw means these two clubs will meet three times between April 9 and April 20 makes this tie all the more intriguing.
As top-six rivals in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino are quite familiar with each other, but City and Spurs have met just once so far this season – a 1-0 City win at Wembley. So, there’s not much that can be surmised about how this two-legged tie could end up, but you can bet it’ll be a hard-fought affair.
However, the factor that could ultimately decide this tie may not be tactical: Guardiola’s Champions League hopes came to a screaming halt at this same stage last season at the hands of another English club, a 5-1 pounding at the hands of Liverpool. That disastrous result will fuel the red-hot Citizens over the two legs.
1) Manchester United vs. Barcelona
The clash between these two storied clubs was the one that jumped out when the quarterfinal draw came to an end on Friday morning. Adding even more intrigue to this tie is soon-to-be-permanent (we assume) United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be returning to the ground of his most famous accomplishment – the 1999 Champions League-winning goal.
Like Ronaldo and Juventus, Solskjaer’s United needed an improbable comeback against PSG in the French capital to get to this stage of the tournament. Aside from a loss away at Arsenal last weekend, United have been in spectacular form under their new manager, both reigniting hopes of a top-four finish in England and an improbable run to the Champions League quarterfinals – two achievements we’d have scoffed at not long ago.
But Barcelona presents Solskjaer with his toughest challenge yet. Sure, Messi and company let Lyon hang around a little longer than many of us would’ve expected, but then the Argentine completely took over and Barca finished the round of 16 exactly how we expected them to.
It’s likely Barcelona have too much class for this United squad, but the magic that seemed to vanish in the years after Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure is back under Solskjaer so we can’t count the Red Devils out just yet.
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