After an exciting Round of 16 in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, the last eight teams have been finalised.
This season’s quarter-final draw has some juicy encounters in store for us, with a striker-less Arsenal taking on defending champions Real Madrid, while Bayern Munich, after getting the better of league rivals Bayer Leverkusen, have set up a tie against Inter Milan. After shocking Liverpool at Anfield, Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain will take on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, while in the last tie we have a bit of a mismatch as a dominant Barcelona side face German Bundesliga strugglers Borussia Dortmund.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the preview and predictions for all the quarter-final match-ups.
Arsenal FC vs Real Madrid CF
Following their six-year absence from the European top flight, the Gunners have now reached the quarter-final stage twice in a row. However, they remain rookies when compared to Real Madrid. Even with a fully-fit squad, Mikel Arteta and Co would struggle against this star-studded Real Madrid side, but with no strikers and a defensive midfielder up top, where will the goals come from?
That said, things will be far from straightforward for Los Blancos. Despite brushing aside Manchester City in the playoff round, Real Madrid struggled against Altético Madrid and, on the balance of play, were rather fortunate to come away as winners in the Round of 16. They are also involved in a three-way title tussle in LaLiga, which is not the case for Arsenal and allows Arteta to prioritise this tie over the Premier League fixtures in that period.
However, having been here and done it so many times, Real Madrid have no inferiority complex. Although Arsenal would have taken lessons from their quarter-final exit against Bayern Munich last season, getting the better of the defending champions with a depleted squad is a very tall ask.
Prediction: Real Madrid advance 3-1 on aggregate
FC Bayern Munich vs FC Internazionale Milano
This is arguably the closest tie in this season’s quarter-final round. The pool of players available to both sides, their contrasting footballing philosophies, and the jeopardy in place makes this a mouth-watering clash.
Bayern are in the middle of a transitional period. Despite leading the German Bundesliga title race by eight points over Bayer Leverkusen, whom they knocked out in the Round of 16, Vincent Kompany and Co have been far from their best in the Champions League. They lost against Aston Villa, Barcelona, and Feyenoord, and narrowly scraped through the playoff round against Celtic.
Inter, on the other hand, have by far been the best defensive unit in this season’s Champions League. Although they’ve scored only 15 goals throughout their UCL campaign, they’ve only conceded two, keeping eight clean sheets.
Looking at both teams and their tactical approaches, it’s going to be a tight contest. If it comes down to the two coaches’ tactical nous, Simone Inzaghi should have the upper hand.
Prediction: Inter Milan advance 2-1 on aggregate
FC Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund
This is perhaps the most one-sided tie of this round. While Barcelona made light work of Benfica in the Round of 16, Borussia Dortmund had their work cut out against Lille and scraped past them on the basis of experience rather than performance.
Hansi Flick’s side have scored more goals in the Champions League this season than any other team. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha are in red-hot form and look unstoppable at the moment. Add to that former BVB striker Robert Lewandowski and a star-studded midfield behind the attacking trio, and we have a side Dortmund will find very difficult to contain.
Dortmund are currently languishing in the bottom half of the German Bundesliga table, having performed well below their usual standards. He may have been at the helm for well over a month, but Nico Kovac hasn’t been able to reverse Dortmund’s slide.
However, BVB do possess some skilful and pacey attackers out wide and will try to exploit that against Barça, though very few have succeeded against the Blaugrana this season by going down that route.
Prediction: Barcelona advance 5-2 on aggregate
Paris Saint-Germain FC vs Aston Villa FC
Since demolishing Manchester City 4-2 at the Parc des Princes in the league phase, PSG have emerged as arguably the best team in Europe. While Aston Villa, lead by former PSG boss Unai Emery, have shown promise in Europe despite domestic inconsistencies.
Despite struggling early on during the league phase, Luis Enrique’s young PSG side have staked their claim as one of the favourites after making Liverpool look ordinary over two legs in the Round of 16. The likes of João Neves, Vitinha, and Ousmane Dembélé have been pivotal to PSG’s upturn in performances and will be crucial against Villa.
Luis Enrique may be a modern-day tactical genius, but he’s also quite like Icarus—he flies too close to the sun, gets a little too fancy, and gets dumped on his backside. That’s what Emery—very much the opposite of Enrique in this regard—will try to exploit. He also won’t hesitate to try the long-ball game time and again to break the Parisian press if he has to, or even play a little ugly.
The game at Villa Park will be tight, although it could be all over after the first leg in Paris.
Prediction: Paris Saint-Germain advance 4-1 on aggregate
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