The first legs of two more UCL quarter finals take place on Wednesday including PSG v Liverpool and Barcelona v Atletico Madrid
PSG v Liverpool
PSG made short work of Chelsea in the first knockout round, winning 5-2 in Paris and 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. They started the League Phase well including a victory away to Barcelona but they won just 1 of their last 5 and missed out on auto qualification with 14 points. They were matched with Monaco in the play offs and after a 3-2 win away from home a 2-2 draw in Paris saw them edge their way through.
PSG are currently 4 points clear of Lens at the top of the Ligue 1 standings and they also have a game in hand on their nearest rivals in what looks a 2 horse title race.
Liverpool lost the first leg of their Ro16 clash with Galatasaray 1-0 in Istanbul but they turned things around in some style with a 4-0 victory in the return at Anfield. Liverpool finished third in the League Phase with 6 wins and 2 defeats to qualify automatically for the Ro16. Aside from losing 1-0 away to their opponents here they put in a shocker in a 4-1 home defeat to PSV but were otherwise foot perfect.
At the weekend Liverpool crashed to a 4-0 defeat in the A cup away to Man City and given they are fifth in the EPL standings and facing a battle to stay there and qualify for the UCL next season, the pressure is mounting on Slot and his players.
A pretty much full strength Liverpool side started well enough but folded tamely at Man City in the cup at the weekend and they really have me stumped this season. Mainly on gut feel I'm going with PSG to take control, but only in the second half.
Bet: Half time / Full time Draw / PSG at 17/4 with Sportingbet
Barcelona v Atletico Madrid
Barca drew the first leg of their R016 match up with Newcastle 1-1 on Tyneside but the return on home turf saw them romp to a 7-2 win on the night (8-3 on aggregate). Barcelona qualified automatically with a League Phase record of 5 wins,1 draw and 2 defeats to finish fifth. Despite getting off to a flyer with a 2-1 away win over Newcastle they dropped points in defeats at home to PSG and away to Chelsea and also in a draw at Brugge before they won their last 3 matches to make up the lost ground.
Atletico won their first leg of their Round of 16 clash with Spurs 5-2 in Madrid and although they lost the return in London 3-2 on the night they went through 7-5 on aggregate. Atletico had to take the play off route to qualify for the Round of 16 and after drawing the first leg of their clash with Club Brugge 3-3 they ran out 4-1 winners in the return in Madrid. In the league phase Atletico won 4, drew 1 and lost 3 of their matches and they faded in the later rounds to finish 14th.
These teams met in La Liga at the weekend in Madrid and Barca were 2-1 winners to go 7 points clear of Real in the title race whilst Atletico slipped to fourth, 19 points shy of their opponents here. Atletico took the lead in that match but Barca were level before half time and Atletico then had Ganzalez red carded, they played the whole of the second half with 10 men and Lewandowski popped up with an 87th minute winner. Barca also won the first league meeting this season 3-1 although Atletico did knock them out of the Cope del Rey 4-3 on aggregate.
The Verdict:
Home advantage should be a bug factor and I'm siding with Barca to make it count and hopefully leading at half time and full time.
Bet: Half time / Full time Barca / Barca at 12/10 with SuperSportBet
Note odds quoted are subject to change
