The Champions League is back. For the next two weeks, soccer fans everywhere will be treated to showdowns between Europe’s best. On Tuesday, Barcelona looked to continue their quest to become the first repeat champion since 1989 when they hosted Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the quarterfinal. The game started with Barcelona dominant, but a defensive lapse gave the away side an early lead. Fernando Torres’s 25th-minute strike had the pundits writing the former Chelsea man’s redemption story, but only until a clumsy challenge on Sergio Busquets, and a second yellow card saw the script changed. The 10-man Atletico side fought valiantly to absorb wave after wave of Barcelona attack, but two Luis Suarez goals saw Barcelona leave the Camp Nou with a 2-1 victory. Bayern Munich was also in action on Tuesday, defeating Benfica 1-0.
If Barcelona and Bayern retain their advantage after the second leg, and Real Madrid are able to advance past a Wolfsburg side currently sitting eighth in the Bundesliga, it will be the fourth time in five years that these three clubs make it to the semi-final stage. In the same period, one of the three clubs would go on to win the final in each year except in 2012, when Chelsea defeated both Bayern and Barcelona in miraculous fashion. This raises the question: is there a 2012 Chelsea side in this year's tournament? If Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid all do in fact advance to the semi-finals, the team to stop them would have to be either Paris St. Germain or Manchester City.
I’ll start with Manchester City. City is in the quarterfinals of the competition for the first time in their history, so they are a true wild card. After being ousted by Barcelona in the Round of 16 for the past two years, City was able to advance past Dynamo Kiev with relative ease. With the likes of Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, Manchester City certainly have the firepower in attack to score goals on the top European sides, but the question for this team has always been in defense. With Vincent Kompany out with a calf injury for the fourth time this season, City will once again be without their captain. This doesn’t bode well for their chances. In the 13 Premier League games with Kompany in defense, City has conceded seven goals. In the 18 Premier League games without him, they’ve conceded a staggering 25. Without its skipper, City will be hard-pressed to keep out PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edison Cavani, let alone the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Arjen Robben.
So what about PSG? Like Manchester City, they can certainly score goals. The 121 goals they have scored across all competitions ranks the third among European clubs, behind Barcelona (149) and Real Madrid (122). They also don’t need to worry about clinching Ligue 1 — they already did that midway through March. If they stay healthy and a little luck goes their way, don’t be surprised to see an extra parade in Paris this May.
