The most important club competition in the world is picking up speed again this Tuesday. The Champions League round of 16 often takes place under special auspices, as some of the games do not take place in the clubs’ home venues. RB Leipzig will be in action on Tuesday and Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
If it depends on the form of the respective opponents, the prognoses for the Saxons and the Westphalia could hardly be more different. Leipzig meets an extremely ailing Liverpool FC, BVB meets a Sevilla FC in top form. The own performance records of the two German representatives, who are already on duty this week, read quite differently. Leipzig won five of their last six games, Dortmund only two of seven. fussball.news shows the form barometer of the four games at the start of the round of 16.
RB Leipzig vs. FC Liverpool (in Budapest)
Leipzig won five of its last six and seven of its last ten games in all competitions. With one exception, all of these wins came without a clean sheet. However, coach Julian Nagelsmann has to do without regular Emil Forsberg for a short time.
Liverpool have recently suffered three losses in a row (against Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester City and Leicester City) and have only won three of their last ten games. Jürgen Klopp’s team is only sixth in the Premier League. The success coach has officially written off the title defense. This is also due to important failures, including the absence of the regular defense with Virgin van Dijk and Joel Matip.
Trend: Leipzig can currently feel like a favorite.
FC Barcelona vs. Paris Saint-Germain
Barca have picked up speed in the past few weeks. Only in the cup competitions were there defeats for Ronald Koeman’s team, who won eleven of the last 13 games. Lionel Messi in particular is back on the right track in the new calendar year.
PSG have won eight out of ten games since changing coach to Mauricio Pochettino, only conceding a painful defeat against FC Lorient. Nevertheless, last year’s finalist is in a seldom tight title race in Ligue 1. Both teams are missing important players, the most severe being the loss of Neymar on the side of PSG.
Trend: At the draw, PSG are likely to have been more happy about the Barca lot than this year. The Catalans are easy favorites.
FC Sevilla vs. Borussia Dortmund
The series winner of the Europa League finally wants to cause a sensation in the premier class. On paper, the duel with BVB was one of the most balanced in the round of 16. The most recent form, however, speaks a clear language. Sevilla won nine times in a row across all competitions and a total of eleven out of 13 games.
BVB struggled to a flattering draw against TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday and are well behind the minimum goal of qualifying for the Champions League. Under Edin Terzic only six wins in twelve games. The news of the arrival of the coach of choice Marco Rose in the summer may give a push.
Trend: If it goes after the past few weeks, BVB hardly has a chance against Sevilla.
FC Porto vs. Juventus
The Portuguese have managed the feat of drawing four times in a row. After all, the team is hard to beat, losing only one of their last 15 games. In the domestic league, Porto are ten points behind leaders Benfica in second place.
Juventus seemed to have gotten the curve under Andrea Pirlo and reached the cup final against Serie A leaders Inter Milan. At the weekend, however, there was an inopportune defeat against SSC Napoli. After six wins and one draw, it was the first bankruptcy.
Trend: Juventus are the favorites, but this season always good for a negative surprise.
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