Will Barcelona be able to win a second away victory in the Champions League, will Arsenal be able to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time in 14 years. The main thing about the 1/8 finals of the Champions League is in the material from
Inter – Atletico Madrid
Date and time: February 25, 23:00
Venue: Giuseppe Meazza (Milan, Italy)
The Milan club, which became a Champions League finalist last season, is the leader of the Italian championship after 24 rounds, nine points ahead of its closest pursuer Juventus. Inter is on an unbeaten streak of ten matches: Simone Inzaghi’s men have won nine wins and drawn once.
Inter emerged from second place (12) from a group with RB Salzburg (4), Benfica (4) and Real Sociedad (12), which became the leader of the group, beating the Italian club in additional indicators. The Milan team went through the group stage unbeaten, winning three matches and drawing three times.
The Milanese club have not lost in home Champions League matches since September 2022: during this time, at the Giuseppe Meazza, the Intersti won six victories and drew two.
Atlético Madrid have won two victories, drawn once and lost twice in their last five matches in all competitions. Diego Simeone’s team is in fourth place in the Spanish Championship. In the last round, the Madrid club defeated Las Palmas at its home stadium with a score of 5:0. Atlético Madrid left Group E in first place, scoring 14 points in a quartet with Lazio (10), Feyenoord (6) and Celtic (4).
Madrid forwards Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata are the top scorers in the Champions League with five goals each.
Atletico head coach Simeone said before the match that Inter is one of the best teams in Europe. “They won the Italian Super Cup and have only lost one match this season. Interplays simple football, but it is very effective. In addition, this team has an individuality that the coach instilled in them. I like everything about Inter. They have a great team spirit and their midfield shows a lot of tempo. They have a very productive attack.”
In total, the teams met twice in their history: the first time this happened in the UEFA Super Cup match in 2010 when the Madrid club won with a score of 2:0. The teams met for the second time at the Club World Cup in 2018: Inter won with a minimal score of 1:0, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the only goal.
PSV – Borussia Dortmund
Date and time: February 20, 23:00
Location: Philips (Eindhoven, Netherlands)
The Dutch club is the leader of the Dutch championship with 62 points. PSV is 10 points ahead of its closest pursuer in the national championship, Feyenoord. Moreover, the club from Eindhoven has not suffered a single defeat in the current championship season.
PSV entered the playoffs of the tournament in second place, gaining 9 points in a group with Sevilla (2), Lens (8) and Arsenal (13). It’s worth noting that the Dutch club have only lost one of their last 11 home games in Europe: the team have won seven games and drawn three times in 11 games in European competition at Philips.
Borussia reached the final of the Champions League, leading the quartet (11) with PSG (8), Milan (8) and Newcastle United (5). Over the past six seasons, Dortmund have reached the last 16 of the Champions League five times, although three of the last four rounds of the competition ended in elimination.
It is worth noting that the Dortmund club won only two of the eight away meetings in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League: in eight away games they suffered five defeats and drew once.
At official tournaments, the teams met twice in the group stage of the Champions League in 2002: the match in the Netherlands ended with a score of 1:3 in favor of the guests, and in the return match Borussia could not defeat PSV, playing in a draw (1:1) . It is worth noting that the Dortmund team has an unconvincing record against Dutch clubs: Borussia, in 11 games against teams from the Netherlands, won only three games, drew three times and lost five times.
“Porto” – “Arsenal”
Date and time: February 21, 23:00
Place: Dragan (Porto, Portugal)
Arsenal are in good form and are on a five-match winning streak in the English Premier League (EPL). For the first time in its history, the London club opened the calendar year with five wins in a row. Mikel Arteta’s men occupy second place in the English Championship. Arsenal topped their group with 13 points. The quartet with the London club included PSV (9), Lens (8) and Sevilla (2).
For the first time since the 2016/2017 season, the London club is meeting the European spring in the Champions League, and not in the Europa League, despite the fact that it completely missed the European tournaments in the 2021/2022 season. Arsenal are hoping to break a streak of seven consecutive eliminations at the round of 16 stage of the Champions League. Arteta’s side have not reached the quarter-finals of the competition since the 2009/10 season.
In the last six matches of the national championship, Porto won four games, drew once and lost once. The team ranks third in the national championship (48), behind Sporting (52) and Benfica (55). “Porto” left Group H in second place, scoring 12 points with “Barcelona”, but being inferior to the Catalan club in additional indicators. Also in the quartet were Donetsk Shakhtar (9) and Belgian Antwerp (3).
The hosts will take confidence from the fact that they have won 12 of their last 17 Champions League home matches. At the same time, in the last ten matches in all competitions they lost only once, in addition to that they won seven times and drew two times. They need to make an effort to reach the next stage of the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
The last time the teams met at the same stage of the Champions League was in 2010: then in the first match the Portuguese club won at home with a score of 2:1, and in the return match the London club defeated Porto with a score of 5:0.
Napoli – Barcelona
Date and time: February 21, 23:00
Venue: “Diego Armando Maradona” (Naples, Italy)
The reigning champion of Italy has significant problems this season. In their last five matches they managed to win only once, draw twice and lose twice. The Neapolitan club is only in ninth place in Serie A, 27 points behind the leader. In the Champions League, Napoli advanced from the group with Real Madrid (18), Portuguese Braga (4) and German Union Berlin (2) in second place (10).
Napoli has an unsuccessful series in home matches against Spanish teams: during this period, the Italian club managed to defeat their opponents from La Liga only twice, in the remaining matches at home they drew five times and lost nine.
The current head coach of the Neapolitans, Walter Mazzarri, may leave his post before the match with Barcelona, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport. According to the source, the head coach of the Slovak national team, Francesco Calzone, should become the new coach. If an Italian specialist is appointed to Napoli, he will combine posts in the national team and the club.
In the last five matches, the Catalan club won three times, drew once and lost once. In the national championship, Barcelona is in third place, scoring 54 points and behind Girona (56) and Real Madrid (62). In the Champions League, Xavi’s club left Group H in first place, gaining 12 points. Also in the quartet were Portuguese “Porto” (12), Donetsk “Shakhtar” (9) and Belgian “Antwerp” (3).
Barcelona have won only one away game in their last ten matches in the Champions League knockout stages: in the remaining away games, the Catalan club drew four times and lost five times.
This is the third time in five seasons that the pair has met in the playoffs. The last time the teams met was in the 1/16 finals of the Europa League playoffs in 2022: the Catalan club tied at home (1:1) and won away with a score of 4:2. Before this, the last meeting of the teams was the 1/8 finals of the Champions League: Barcelona also turned out to be stronger, winning with a total score of 4:2 and reaching the next stage of the tournament.
