CHELSEA-PSG
Since the 1-1 draw in the first
leg, Chelsea has strengthened its position at the top of the Premier
League and won the English League Cup, setting up the prospect of a
domestic double.
Adding the Champions League title to the haul is
the hardest job for Jose Mourinho, but he has already done it twice and
Branislav Ivanovic’s away goal in Paris three weeks ago has given
Chelsea the advantage heading into the second leg.
Chelsea has
midfield anchorman Nemanja Matic back from a ban — he should shrug off
an ankle injury — and the squad was able to rest this weekend, having
already been eliminated from the FA Cup.
PSG heads into the game full of confidence after Saturday’s 4-1 home win against Caen. The team is unbeaten in 14 games.
Coach
Laurent Blanc was criticized for his tactical choices last season, when
PSG led 3-1 from the first leg, chose to defend and ended up losing
2-0, getting knocked out of the tournament.
“Of course we believe we can win,” he said. “There’s no point going there if we don’t.”
Blanc
has urged his players to improve their finishing after they squandered
chances against Caen and in the 0-0 draw away to Monaco the previous
week.
“In the last two matches we’ve missed 10 or 12 clear-cut
chances — and I mean clear-cut ones,” he said. “We won’t get that many
against Chelsea.”
On the injury front, PSG hopes to have midfielder Yohan Cabaye available after a thigh injury.
REAL MADRID-SCHALKE
Real Madrid will welcome the arrival of
Schalke on Tuesday as it looks to rebound from a second straight stumble
that has cost it the lead of the Spanish league to rival Barcelona.
Madrid
holds a commanding 2-0 advantage from its victory in the first leg in
Germany, and the reigning European champions will be looking to
jump-start an attack that stalled in a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao over
the weekend.
Even prolific scorer Cristiano Ronaldo has been
stymied of late. The Ballon d’Or holder failed to get off a shot on goal
against Bilbao and has only scored five times in 2015. Strike partner
Gareth Bale has fared even worse, failing to score in eight straight
matches.
Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged his team has lost its confidence, calling its attack “confusing.”
“There isn’t enough connection between players, it is too individualistic,” he said. “We need another way of attacking.”
Schalke
finally came up with a performance to please its fans, outplaying
Hoffenheim 3-1. Schalke had been under fire for a cautious approach with
little attacking flair and dull matches recently.
The team finally clicked on Saturday, playing fluid, passing football as young talent Max Meyer scored twice.
“Max played an outstanding match, he was decisive for this win,” Schalke coach Roberto di Matteo said.
“We
created a lot of chances, but now we have a very difficult match in
Madrid. We’ll enjoy this win for a couple of hours but then we have to
prepare for the Champions League.”
BAYERN MUNICH-SHAKHTAR DONETSK
Coach Pep Guardiola gave his
team Sunday off following a hard-earned 3-1 win in Hannover that gave
Bayern an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga again.
“Hannover were superb in defense and that’s why it was difficult for us,” Guardiola said after the match.
Director Matthias Sammer said he expected a tough match against Shakhtar Donetsk.
“We have to produce a top performance. It’s going to be very, very difficult. But we are ready,” he said.
Guardiola said the match against Donetsk is “a final, we must win.”
Despite
notching another victory, Bayern labored against Hannover’s tight
defense and did not appear in great form. Two of its goals came from set
pieces.
Guardiola took off defender Dante just over a half-hour into the match, obviously not pleased with the Brazilian’s performance.
FC PORTO-BASEL
FC Porto, a two-time European champion, has a
better continental pedigree than Basel, though the Portuguese club has
reached the quarterfinals just once since clinching its last title in
2004.
Basel’s only quarterfinal appearance, meanwhile, was 41 years ago.
Porto
is unbeaten in its last eight European home games. It was also
undefeated in the group phase — a feat matched only by Real Madrid and
Chelsea.
Jackson Martinez will be Porto’s target man. He has 17
goals after 24 rounds in the Portuguese league and is on course to be
the domestic tournament’s top scorer for the third straight season.
The Colombian striker also scored five times in the six group games.
Basel comes into the match on the back of three successive wins and has a six-point lead at the top of the Swiss league.
Originally published as UCL preview: crunch time for Jose’s dream
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