It has been a testing two weeks in Europe for the four English sides that are remaining in the Champions League. Manchester City were the only English side to get a win in their first leg, with the other four Premier League sides all losing. City capped a memorable night in Spain by scoring two late goals to see off Real Madrid.
Isco opened the scoring for the hosts, but the Citizens quickly got themselves level through Gabriel Jesus before Kevin De Bruyne secured the win from the penalty spot. City can now ensure their passage through to the next stage of the competition with a draw in the second leg. However, all the other English sides don’t have the same luxury.
Liverpool
The runaway leaders in the Premier League were handed just their third defeat of the season in all competition by Atletico Madrid in their first leg. The Spanish side frustrated the Reds after they scored the opener inside the first ten minutes.
Diego Simeone’s side then defended for their lives throughout the remainder of the game and didn’t allow Liverpool to have a single shot on target in the game.
The second leg promises to be a completely different game altogether, with Liverpool having the noisy home support behind them. Atletico’s game plan will not change too much, as they will once again line-up with ten-men behind the ball and ask Liverpool if they can break them down.
The Reds have the best chance of the beaten Premier League sides to make it through, but it could be a tricky evening at Anfield.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham’s European hopes are still alive, but only just. Jose Mourinho’s side were beaten in the first leg by RB Leipzig, but the 1-0 difference means that they still have a fighting chance of making it through to the next round. Timo Werner scored the only goal in the first leg, and he will once again be the man that they will need to keep quiet back in Germany.
The striker has scored an incredible 21 goals in 23 Bundesliga games this season and looks set to be one of the stars of the upcoming European Championships.
Werner has also been heavily linked with a move to Liverpool over the summer, and this fixture could be used as a chance to show exactly what the Reds could be getting in the 23-year-old. Spurs have no first-team strikers fit, and that means their chances of scoring will be reduced. It will be a difficult evening for Spurs, but they won’t be good enough defensively to keep out Leipzig.
Chelsea
Chelsea have almost no chance of making it through to the next round of the Champions League. They were humbled in their first leg against Bayern Munich, as the German side won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea do have an attacking threat in the final third, but a 3-0 win for them looks near impossible. At the very least, Frank Lampard will be hoping that his side do themselves justice, but it is more likely that Chelsea wins the Kentucky Derby horse race than the Champions League this season!
If the Blues were to win on the evening but still crash out, then Lampard could take confidence from that. However, Chelsea are unlikely to get a win in Bavaria, and it could be a similar score line to the one in South London, even with Bayern missing Robert Lewandowski. The damage has already been done, and Bayern will coast home in this tie against the side that beat them in the 2012 Champions League final.