In February, the playoffs in the Champions League begin. In Sweden, we especially look forward to the matchup between Manchester United and Sevilla. Currently, there are two Swedish players in United: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, however there are questions about the status of ‘Ibra’s’ knee. In this post you can read about the round of 16 matchups with game dates and predictions. As usual, the teams play each other twice. Goal difference followed by most goals scored away work as tiebreakers.
Round of 16 in the 2018 Champions League
First game (Second game, with reverse home / away teams):
February 13 (March 7):
Juventus – Tottenham
Comment: Interesting Italian – British match-up. Juventus tend to be strong in the Champions League so we place our bets on them. 1-0 at home, then 0-0 away for the Italians? Although, the question is if Italian football has recovered since the loss against Sweden in the World Cup qualifiers? 😉
Basel – Manchester City
Comment: Manchester City is described as one of England’s best league teams ever and should have no problem dismissing Basel.
February 14 (March 6):
Porto – Liverpool
Comment: Difficult to predict…
Real Madrid – Paris SG
Comment: Real Madrid lags behind in La Liga and will therefore wholeheartedly go for the Champions League this year. They will eliminate Neymar and the French.
February 20 (March 14):
Bayern Munich – Besiktas
Comment: Bayern advances to the quarter finals.
Chelsea – Barcelona
Comment: Great match up! But Spanish football is still a little hotter than Chelsea?
February 21 (March 13):
Sevilla – Manchester United
Comment: Nice draw for Mourinho, Ibrahimovic and Lindelöf. The question is if Zlatan’s knee holds up? Unless otherwise, we will gladly enjoy Victor Nilsson Lindelöf’s defensive battles.
Sjachtar – Rome
Comment: Roma!
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So, our prediction is the following teams in the quarter finals:
Juventus
Porto / Liverpool
Real Madrid
Bayern Munich
Barcelona
Manchester United
Roma
From there, everything depends on the draws.
