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Liverpool will be looking to learn lessons from Manchester United’s loss to RB Leipzig last week after defeating the Germans in the knockout stages of the Champions League, while Chelsea faces a difficult task to reach the quarterfinals. final after facing Atlético de Madrid.
Three English teams entered the round of 16 draw, with United conspicuously absent after their humiliation against Leipzig in their last group match sent them down in the Europa League. Manchester City got the friendliest assignment, getting a draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach, but there were tough draws for Liverpool and Chelsea.
Leipzig, semi-finalists for the first time in last year’s competition, will not be intimidated by taking on Liverpool. Julian Nagelsmann’s side have done well against Premier League opponents of late, defeating Tottenham in the round of 16 last season before overwhelming Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s United with a fast start at Red Bull Arena last Tuesday. and you’re sure to pose Jürgen Klopp’s team a little awkward. questions.
Although Liverpool have the most experience in the competition, winning it for the sixth time in 2019, it will be intriguing to see how Klopp fares against another German manager. The 33-year-old Nagelsmann is 20 years younger than his Liverpool counterpart and enhanced his credentials as one of Europe’s brightest young coaches when he edged out Solskjaer to finish second in Group H.
At least Liverpool has avoided a meeting with Atlético, which eliminated it at this stage last season. Instead, that task falls to Chelsea, who lost to Diego Simeone’s team in the 2014 semifinals. Second in La Liga and tough to topple, Atlético won’t be easy. Chelsea, who spent a lot in the summer, will have to be in their prime to crush the Spanish.
Perhaps Chelsea could have been happier against Barcelona, which is a shadow of what it was at the moment. However, in one of the knockout rounds of the round, the La Liga giants discovered the cost of finishing second behind Juventus in their group when they faced last season’s defeated finalist Paris Saint-Germain. Neymar, who joined PSG from Barcelona in 2017, will be desperate to steal the limelight from Lionel Messi and shine against his former club.
In other circumstances, Messi could have been wearing City’s light blue this season. However, despite not signing the Barcelona forward last summer, Pep Guardiola will continue to feel he has enough offensive talent to beat Gladbach, who reached the round of 16 for the first time after beating Shakhtar Donetsk and Internazionale in the second place in his group.
On the other hand, the current champion, Bayern Munich, is confident of beating Lazio. Atalanta, who scored a famous win over Liverpool at Anfield last month, will take a courageous approach against Real Madrid, who only sealed the ranking after beating Gladbach last week. Sevilla will be a tough rival for Borussia Dortmund, who have put Edin Terzic in charge of interim after firing Lucien Favre, while Juventus will face Porto.
