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Half of the teams have been decided for the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League as a result of yesterday’s 2nd leg Round of 16 matches concluding epically. Today, the final set of games will decide the fate of the remaining four teams.
Most notably out of today’s matches is the current 1-1 draw between Ligue 1’s LOSC Lille and Bundesliga’s Borussia Dortmund, as well as the highly anticipated Madrid Darby. Feel free to analyze our preview for today’s most anticipated matches and decide whether our picks are something you want to stick to.
The 1-1 aggregate matchup between Borussia Dortmund and LOSC Lille steals a preview spot from Arsenal vs PSV (7-1 on aggregate) as Arsenal will likely go through. Lille have been struggling in Ligue 1, sitting at 5th place with a flat 44 points, and while only behind 2nd place Marseille by 5 points, they haven’t been too in form recently in the league.
Their last game against Montpellier on Saturday ended with a slim 1-0 victory, with a goal from Jonathan David, so of course, Lille will be looking for him to lead the way and add to his current tally of 9 goals in the Champions League so far. Jonathan David is also the top assister for the team with only 2 assists in total in UCL, so if anything is certain, it’s that David is the team’s star player, if anything were to happen during the game, there’s a chance Lille’s firepower could be completely snuffed.
On the contrary, lack of firepower up front is hardly an issue for Dortmund, with Serhou Guirassy netting 11 goals in the campaign, in addition to Adeyemis 5 and Gittens 4. Setting up chances has also been a huge strength for Dortmund, as Julian Brandt and Serhou Guirassy lead the way with 5 and 3 assists respectively. Unfortunately for Dortmund on the weekend, they would narrowly be defeated 1-0 by Augsburg in Saturday’s Bundesliga Matchup, although they completely outshot and out-possessed their opponents with 16 shots and 72% possession.
They sit in 10th place in their domestic league table with 3 losses in their last five games, so at this point in the campaign, they will most likely go all-in on their Champions League performance today. We have the utmost faith in Guirassy running away as the UCL top scorer with another 1+ goals added to the bag in this one.
As always, predicting the elite Madrid vs Madrid matchup is always tough as these games get heated the closer the scoreline. Atletico Madrid will take “home” field advantage in the second leg where Real holds a 2-1 lead. In La Liga, Atletico has been struggling to gain points in recent matches to overcome 1st place Barcelona and 2nd place Real Madrid, but that’s not to say they’re within 1 point of 1st and have had a spectacular season under Diego Simeone’s management.
They’d lose last weekend’s match against Getafe 2-1 after an unfortunate red card in the 88’, which was followed by 2 goals from Getafe immediately after to steal the win. While they didn’t perform too well here, Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezman still pose extreme threats with their combined 13 goals, along with 7 assists combined from Marcos Llorente and Samuel Lino.
We don’t expect Real Madrid to falter even at the Metropolitano, as this wouldn’t be the first tough test in the campaign for them, considering their 6-3 aggregate win last round vs England’s Manchester City. They’d still chase 1st place in La Liga with a 2-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano on the weekend, which saw goals from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior despite being out-possessed and showing fewer scoring chances throughout the game. Both will be looking to add to their 7 goal tallies a piece, with right-winger Rodrygo not far behind with 5 and Jude Bellingham (injured) with 3.
Despite lacking their traditional #9 striker up front, we don’t expect Real Madrid to run into any issues in this one, especially with a 1-goal lead already, and we expect Kylian Mbappe to net at least 1+ by the end of the match.
For Lille vs. Dortmund, the game will come down to the wire if it stays without any unnecessary red cards. Dortmund has more experience in the tournament as well as more firepower by far, so unless Lille and Jonathan David can pull away early on the scoreboard, we think Dortmund’s offensive firepower will eventually overwhelm Lille’s defense.
Atletico vs. Real Madrid will be as bloody and competitive as ever, and Atletico taking the game to the Metropolitano could apply some heavy pressure to the royal whites. While Real Madrid is notorious for winning in the Champions League, Atletico won’t go down without a fight, and we expect this game to be as close as a 1-1 scoreline or a draw in regulation, allowing Real Madrid to go through to the quarterfinals on aggregate.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.