Chapter 481: Manchester City vs. Paris Saint-Germain, the pinnacle of the gold-dollar football showdown!

Manchester City easily advanced to the quarterfinals, and there were basically no upsets in other matches.

Paris Saint-Germain beat Chelsea twice away from home with the same score as in the previous game and got a ticket to the quarterfinals.

Benfica traveled to St. Petersburg, braving the ice, snow and cold wind, and defeated Zenit St. Petersburg, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Wolfsburg beat Gent 1:0 at home and advanced to the quarterfinals with a total score of 4:2.

Real Madrid defeated Roma 2-0 at home, with C Ronaldo and James Rodriguez both scoring, and swept Roma 4-0 on aggregate to advance to the quarterfinals.

Arsenal failed to create a miracle at Camp Nou and was defeated by Barcelona again, ending in the round of 16 while watching their opponents advance to the quarterfinals.

The results for Bayern and Atletico Madrid were probably a little surprising.

Although both teams eventually advanced to the quarterfinals, their road to advancement was quite bumpy.

Bayern, who have strong offensive firepower, seem to have met their nemesis. After being tied 2:2 by their opponents in the last away game, they returned to their home court in this round and were tied by their opponents again with the same score.

The most surprising thing is that in this game, Juventus took the lead for most of the time, and Bayern only equalized the game in the second half with two goals from Muller and Lewandowski.

This has caused some doubts about Bayern's condition. Their recent condition seems to be a bit poor, which is far from the state in the first half of the season when they were able to kill anyone who stood in their way.

Of course, this may also be because the opponent is too strong.

Although Juventus failed to withstand Bayern's attack in the overtime period, they missed the chance to advance to the quarterfinals.

However, their performance in regular time was still very outstanding. Being able to push Bayern, a recognized top team, to this extent, the strength of this Juventus should not be underestimated.

It’s a pity that their luck is so bad this season.

If they had not been placed in the same group with Manchester City, with their strength, they might have had a chance to win first place in the group. In that case, they would not have encountered Bayern in the knockout stage and were eliminated by Bayern.

Like Bayern, Atletico Madrid and PSV Eindhoven were also tied. Neither team scored a single goal in the two games, and they also made no progress even after the game went into overtime.

In the end, the two teams had to rely on a penalty shootout to decide the outcome.

In the penalty shootout, the score between the two sides remained tense.

In the first seven rounds of penalty kicks, both sides scored without error. In the eighth round, Nassin, the player responsible for penalty kicks for PSV Eindhoven, failed to withstand the pressure and missed the penalty kick, which made the balance of the game begin to tilt.

On the Atletico Madrid side, Juanfran withstood the pressure, was the last to come on and steadily scored the penalty, helping the team to beat their opponents 8-7 and advance to the quarterfinals, getting the last ticket to the quarterfinals.

Although they defeated their opponent, the state of Atletico Madrid made the outside world not optimistic about them.

PSV Eindhoven is not a very strong team, but facing such a team, Atletico Madrid failed to score in both games.

Although their defense is as solid as ever, how can they win the game without scoring any goals?

Do we have to rely on luck in penalty shootouts every time?

The problem of weak forwards is a chronic disease that Atletico Madrid must solve now. If they cannot overcome this difficulty, they may not go far.

Like previous years, there have not been many changes in the list of the top eight teams in this year's Champions League.

Familiar faces such as Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern and Atletico Madrid are still on the list.

La Liga remains the dominant force, with three teams reaching the quarterfinals.

The Bundesliga has been very strong this year. In addition to Bayern, Wolfsburg also advanced to the quarterfinals, making them the second team in the top five leagues with two teams.

Although there are many giants in the Premier League, once they reach the quarterfinals, Manchester City is often the only one left. This year is no exception. Manchester City has once again become the hope of the entire village.

Only Paris Saint-Germain advanced to the quarterfinals of the French Ligue 1 this year. Monaco, which reached the quarterfinals last year, even failed in the qualifying stage this year and failed to make it to the Champions League.

Serie A was the worst, with Roma and Juventus both eliminated, leaving them with a shaved head, with no team advancing to the quarterfinals.

However, Serie A fans said they have gotten used to it. Since Inter Milan won the championship six years ago, the performance of Serie A teams in the Champions League has been getting worse and worse.

In the 2013-2014 season, there was a situation in which all Serie A teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals and no one advanced, so this year's situation is no longer surprising to them.

However, when I think of the grand occasion of the Mini World Cup in Italy more than ten years ago, I can’t help but feel sad.

The top league among the five major leagues has now fallen to the point where it has to compete with Ligue 1.

After the first round of knockout matches ended, UEFA immediately began the draw ceremony for the next round of competition at the UEFA headquarters in Switzerland.

As the winner of two consecutive Champions League titles, when Guardiola appeared at the draw ceremony on behalf of Manchester City, he could clearly feel that he was attracting everyone's attention.

Almost all the representatives of the remaining seven teams looked over. Some of their eyes were fearful, some were solemn, some were full of hatred, and some were eager to try, and so on.

Guardiola found a seat and sat down calmly. As the defending champion, he was bound to become the target of public criticism, and he was aware of this.

The person in charge of the draw is not the old face Infantino. He is now busy running for the UEFA presidency and has no time to draw lots.

The person in charge of today's draw is UEFA's director of competitions, Marchetti, and the guest of honor is Italian legendary star Zambrotta.

The big screen on site first played the promotion process of the eight teams, mainly some wonderful highlights of each team.

Among these highlights, Lin Quan, Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and others are particularly eye-catching.

There is no doubt that they are some of the strongest players in football today, and they are also iconic figures of major giants.

The quarterfinals is not only a competition between these top teams, but also a competition between these super stars.

The first team to be drawn was Wolfsburg, a strong team from the Bundesliga. In the group stage, they beat Manchester United and qualified as the first in the group, but also ruined Manchester United's hopes of advancing to the knockout stage.

Although Wolfsburg performed well in the group stage and the knockout stage, their strength is probably ranked seventh or eighth among the eight teams. They are not a strong team, but more like a soft persimmon.

So after seeing Zambrotta draw Wolfsburg, representatives of other teams couldn't help but feel a little excited, hoping that the next team to be drawn would be their own team.

However, this good luck finally went to Real Madrid.

Wolfsburg's opponent in the quarter-finals will be La Liga giants Real Madrid. This game will probably be very stressful for Wolfsburg.

Bayern Munich was the third to be drawn, and their opponent, Real Madrid, had already been determined. Their representatives looked as if it had nothing to do with them, and they were even looking forward to it. They hoped that Bayern would meet old rivals like Manchester City and Barcelona, ​​and eliminate the next one in advance before the semi-finals started. In this way, it would be easier for them to win after they advance to the next round.

However, Real Madrid's expectations did not materialize. Bayern Munich was lucky as they drew Benfica.

These are also the two weakest teams in the top eight! The two weakest teams were drawn in the first two draws, which means that the remaining four strong teams will fight against each other.

When the representatives of the four teams saw this, their expressions became solemn, and even Guardiola's expression became much more serious.

Although he is full of confidence in Manchester City's strength, the quality of the draw will still have a great impact on Manchester City.

If Manchester City encounters only tough opponents starting from the quarter-finals, then by the time they reach the final stage, their consumption will probably be very high and the final result will be difficult to predict.

Zambrotta didn't keep everyone waiting too long, he quickly drew the defending champions Manchester City.

After seeing Manchester City being drawn out, the representatives of the remaining three teams subconsciously sat up straight. The representative of Paris Saint-Germain even couldn't help moving his buttocks, as if there was something underneath that made him uncomfortable.

No team wants to meet Manchester City in the quarter-finals. There is no need to describe how strong Manchester City is. Anyone with eyes can see it.

Although Manchester City is an unavoidable hurdle if one wants to win the championship, everyone hopes that other teams will go first to test Manchester City's strength and consume some of their energy. In this way, the teams behind will be able to find a better chance to defeat Manchester City.

What you fear will come to you. The team that fears Manchester City the most is Paris Saint-Germain, and it was Paris Saint-Germain that was drawn by Zambrotta.

Seeing this result, the representative of Paris Saint-Germain showed a wry smile on his face.

This is a bit bad luck...

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After the results of the first six teams came out, only Barcelona and Atletico Madrid were left, and these two teams will join hands to stage the La Liga derby.

Because many La Liga teams have advanced to the quarterfinals, La Liga derbies have been staged frequently in recent years.

However, the luck of La Liga teams seems to be a bit bad. For several consecutive years, there has been a lot of noise but little results. Although many teams have advanced to the quarterfinals or even the semi-finals, they just cannot win the championship.

It has been exactly five years since the last La Liga team won the championship.

As the strongest league among the top five leagues, it is obviously unacceptable that La Liga has not won the Champions League for a long time.

After the draw results came out, it immediately caused a heated discussion in the football world.

German media and fans generally think that Bayern's draw is an excellent one. Although Benfica is a veteran powerhouse in the Portuguese Super League, it is not strong and can hardly pose a threat to Bayern.

Bayern can take the opportunity of playing against Benfica to adjust the team's current condition. If they continue with the state of the last two games, it is difficult to expect them to achieve better results.

After all, when Manchester City played against Juventus, they resolved the situation quickly and efficiently, while they were in a stalemate with their opponents and even had to rely on overtime to win.

Of course, there are also objective factors involved. During this period, Ribery, Robben and others in Bayern were injured one after another, and the team could only rely on Muller, Lewandowski and others to support it.

After losing their two wingers, Bayern's offensive power was greatly reduced, and Juventus' defense was very strong, which made it difficult for them to win the game.

After Ribeiro recovers from his injury and returns to the team, Bayern fans believe that their team will definitely return to its peak.

La Liga is basically satisfied with the result of the draw. Real Madrid should be happy that they drew a good draw, but the civil war between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona has diluted their joy a lot.

Both teams have the strength to advance to the semi-finals, but were forced to fight in the quarter-finals.

Although Atletico Madrid is a bit weak in offense now, their defense is very strong and Barcelona may not be able to gain an advantage.

If Atletico Madrid eliminates Barcelona, ​​given Atletico's current state, if they accidentally meet teams like Bayern and Manchester City, the probability of losing will be greater.

It would be even worse if they met Real Madrid and eliminated Real Madrid based on their understanding of Real Madrid.

In Ligue 1, the French were wailing over the result.

Everyone thinks that Paris Saint-Germain drew the worst draw, because judging from the team's style, Manchester City is the most restrained against Paris Saint-Germain.

Their strongest point is Neymar, but in the opponent's lineup, there is a big devil who is more terrifying than Neymar. The key is that he and Neymar are in a opposing position.

This greatly compressed Paris Saint-Germain's advantage and even completely wiped out their advantage.

Everyone has seen how the Spanish team suppressed the Brazilian team in the world arena.

Paris Saint-Germain was not satisfied with the draw result, but Guardiola and Manchester City fans were quite satisfied with the result.

Compared with Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, ​​Guardiola still prefers Paris Saint-Germain as an opponent.

Paris Saint-Germain is quite strong, but there is still a big gap between them and the top giants.

Although their team is full of stars, the head coach has not been able to fully integrate these stars into a perfect whole.

Moreover, due to the lack of honor and the background of money-driven football, the players in Paris Saint-Germain are more like a group of mercenaries, and they have no strong sense of belonging and honor to the team.

Most of them were attracted by the high salaries offered by Paris Saint-Germain, not by the team’s own appeal.

Manchester City was similar in this respect in the past few years, which is why they have been unable to achieve results.

But after winning its first Champions League title, Manchester City transformed.

Manchester City has now shed its nouveau riche image and has become a true powerhouse, and the players' sense of identity and belonging to the team is constantly deepening.

Because here, they can not only get high salaries, but also various honors.

Aren’t money and honor the two biggest pursuits of players? The two teams’ matches were scheduled for April 7 and April 13, which is more than half a month away.

Taking this opportunity, Manchester City can go all out to solve the league and domestic cup competitions.

On March 20, the 31st round of the Premier League kicked off.

The focus of this round of the league is Manchester City's game - the annual Manchester City derby is staged again!

The difference is that in this game, Manchester City will face their opponents at home.

As Manchester City's lead over Leicester City was recovered somewhat, the suspense of the Premier League championship continued for a while longer.

This has attracted great attention from the outside world to this game. If Manchester United can snipe Manchester City away from home, then Leicester City will have the opportunity to catch up with some points!

In this regard, Guardiola said: You think too much! Although the opponent is not in good shape now, this is a Manchester City derby after all.

In a derby, anything can happen.

So Guardiola sent out the best lineup for Manchester City to ensure that they could beat their opponents at home and win this crucial game! (End of this chapter)