The Round of 16 starts tonight. 16 teams fighting to reach the Final, at the end of May, in Munich. There are four clashes to commence the round.
In the first match, 6.45 PM CET, Brugge will receive Aston Villa. Both teams have already played each other earlier this year. Belgian side beat the Villains 1-0 in November. If we look at the Villa record against Belgian sides, in away matches, it does not forecast an easy win as they have never won in Belgium. On the other side, Brugge have played an English side up to 14 times, winning 7 and drawing 3 more. Recent signing, Asensio, has scored 4 four goals in the last 3 matches for Aston Villa.
The rest of the matches will be played at 9.00 PM CET. One of them, Real Madrid vs Atletico, is above the rest. Atletico fans may still remember recent matches at European contests. Mainly, the two finals they lost against the Merengues in 2014 and 2016. However, Atletico this year seems in a better spot and the outcome of this match is not clear. The first match will be played at the Bernabeu which is always a plus for Real Madrid. Mbappé, Vinicius, Rodrigo, Courtois, Julian Álvarez, Oblak, Griezmann will give us a good show.
Arsenal travels to Eindhoven to play against PSV. The Dutch beat Juventus in the knockout play-offs and Arsenal should be careful to avoid a surprise. They played against each other last year, in the group phase of the 2023-2024 Champions League. Arsenal earned a draw in their visit to the Netherlands. The Gunners are not doing bad in the Premier League, as they are second in the table, though 13 points away from Liverpool at the top. PSV is also second in the Eredivisie, 8 points away from Ajax.
Finally, Borussia Dortmund and Lille will play in the fourth match of the night. We will have the option to watch the current top scorer of the tournament, Guirassy, who plays with Dortmund. Though he was born in France, he plays internationally for Guinea. He played for a short time in Lille before moving to other clubs in France and Germany. In the other side, Meunier played 4 years with the black and yellow shirt.
I hope you enjoy the evening and the best of luck for stackers taking part in the survivor pool.
Excited for Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid! Let's goo..
Atletico playing well this year, though playing at Bernabeu is always tough, especially in Champions....
Real Madrid scores and gets ahead (1-0: Rodrigo)
Julián "Araña" Álvarez scores an incredible equalizer for Atletico (1-1)
Full time result: Real Madrid 2-1 Atletico
Nice play from both teams but Real Madrid is Real Madrid. They keep moving forward!
Adeyemi scores and Dortmund takes the lead (1-0).
Full time result: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Lille
Arsenal takes the lead in Eindhoven (0-2: Timber and Nwaneri) in just 3 minutes.
Edit: Arsenal increases the difference to 0-3 (Merino)
PSV reduces the distance (1-3: Lang)
Full time result: PSV 1-7 Arsenal
Full time result in Brugge where Aston Villa has won 1-3 to the local side