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Champions League 2nd Leg Previews

Only Bayern Munich fans are looking forward to the second leg of the last sixteen of the Champions League with any ease and comfort.

Equally, only Sporting Lisbon fans are resigned to definitely being out of the competition as 7 of the 8 ties in the first leg ended in stalemate or a one goal victory.

Some teams will fancy their chances more than others to book their place in the last eight of the premier tournament in European football but everyone knows that games can turn in an instant and that there is no guarantee of passage at this early stage for a number of teams.

Can Ramos Spring Another Shock?
Liverpool will think they had done most of the hard work by earning a tremendous 1-0 victory away at the Bernabeu but if they replicate their home league form against the Spanish champions, this tie may still be in the balance.

The away victory was perhaps a shock given the run of form that Real Madrid are showing at the moment and the team led by Juande Ramos have narrowed Barcelona’s lead at the top of La Liga to a mere 4 points and Barcelona still have to visit Real before the season is over.

Whether this means Ramos would be willing to sacrifice success at Anfield to allow his team to fully prepare for an assault on the league title remains to be seen. No doubt Ramos will still be bristling at some of the criticism levelled at him for his time at Spurs and he would love nothing more than to silence the English media and critics who hastened his departure from the London club.

With Fernando Torres still a major injury doubt for this tie, it is not the foregone conclusion that some pundits are predicting. Very few people would bet against Real Madrid being able to score and if the whites manage to open the scoring, this tie could go either way.

Liverpool and Bayern Munich were the only teams who managed to triumph away from home in the first leg with the other two victories taking place in London. Arsenal may have been in the middle of score less four game run in the Premier League but a Robin van Persie penalty kick enabled them to overcome Roma and will see them travel to Italy with a goal lead.

Arsenal have since broken their scoring duck in the league by scoring three away from home at hapless West Bromwich Albion and no doubt Arsene Wenger will be hoping his team can replicate this goal scoring touch in the Olympic Stadium. Roma are not the team that they have been in recent seasons, lying off the pace in Serie A but on their own home turf, they are still formidable opponents.

Arsenal still look a little shaky and much like the game at Anfield, the first goal of this tie could go a very long way to determining the outcome.

Defence Likely to Be Top in Italy
Chelsea were the only other victors in the first leg with Didier Drogba notching his first goal in 2009 as Guus Hiddink masterminded another win for the London blues.

Given the poorness of Juventus’s play, masterminded is an overstatement but there is no doubt the Dutchman will need to earn his money in the second leg if Chelsea are to progress to the quarter finals.

The second leg of this tie is not one that is likely to be full of excitement with both teams stuttering and hardly being the most flamboyant sides anyway, so this is likely to be a match of very few chances. If Chelsea can rediscover their defensive shape and fortitude of old, they may be okay but if Juventus open them up with a piece of magic from Del Piero, Anelka and Drogba will have to offer something to keep the Stamford Bridge sides dream of European glory alive.

The Special One Back in England Finally
Talk of Chelsea’s sterling defensive work brings to mind the manager who instilled a new backbone at the Bridge and Jose finally returns to England for a competitive match in the second leg as Inter Milan arrive at Old Trafford.

Manchester United will be feeling aggrieved at not having scored in the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in the first leg and will know that one Inter goal will see the champions of Europe requiring two strikes or they will be dumped out.

Perhaps the second leg will be the time for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to finally step up and prove himself to be the high quality player that many have predicted he is. There have been hints and suggestions of Ibrahimovic’s quality, notably strikes for Sweden in major tournaments and the two goals that clinched the league for Inter Milan but more often than not, the big striker has failed to impress.

Working in tandem with Adriano has left Inter Milan looking a little stunted at times and although they appear to be comfortably cruising to yet another Serie A title, European glory may still be beyond them.

Since the first leg, Manchester United have added another trophy to their cabinet and with each passing week, the Red Devils look stronger and better equipped to sweep the board all season. In cup competitions though, it just takes one bad day or a piece of bad luck to end the dreams of total domination so United will be on their guard when Inter Milan line up against them.

Barcelona and Lyon Have All to Do
Another cracking match is in prospect at Camp Nou where Barcelona welcome Lyon after a 1-1 draw in France. Lyon travel knowing that they have to win to progress and the French team will take comfort from the fact that last season when they had to win on the road to guarantee passage in the tournament, they went to Glasgow and demolished Rangers 3-0.

Barcelona will not roll over in the manner of Lyons previous opponents but there have been a number of concerns about Barcelona’s defence in recent weeks and the nerves will be building after Real Madrid slashed a gap that previously seemed insurmountable.

Panathinaikos welcome Villarreal to Greece after the two sides drew 1-1 in a match the Yellow Submarine dominated but the loss of the away goal could be crucial. The remaining match takes place in Portugal after Athletico Madrid and Porto drew 2-2 with two Lopez equalisers for Porto possibly being crucial.

With all bar one of the ties still hanging in the balance, the second leg of the Champions league last 16 round promises to be an exciting affair for all concerned.

by Andrew Reilly

for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk

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