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The UEFA Champions League 2019/20, like every other major sporting event, was heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, it was pushed back to August. Football was halted right in the middle of the Round of 16 ties which means that four out of eight return legs are yet to be played.
UEFA recently confirmed that the second legs will all be played at the home team’s stadiums starting from 7th August, contrary to reports suggesting that neutral venues would be assigned. After the Round of 16 culminates, the remaining eight teams will fly to Lisbon to finish the remainder of the campaign in a two-week Champions League bonanza.
The quarter-finals and the semi-finals will now be one-off ties with no second legs, and the final will be played on 23rd August at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica.
The draw for the quarter-final fixtures took place at Nyon on Friday as the remaining teams became acquainted with their opponents going forward.
In this section, we dissect the winners, losers and major talking points from the UEFA Champions League 2019/20 quarter-final draw.
Winners from the Champions League draw
#1 Paris Saint-Germain
The Ligue 1 winners have been drawn with Italian high-flyers Atalanta in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Although the Serie A outfit have impressed everyone with their performances both domestically and in Europe, Paris Saint-Germain will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing them.
This will be Atalanta’s first-ever Champions League quarter-final in all of their history, with the underdogs having no prior European pedigree. The Parisians will hope to take a big step towards their inaugural Champions League title if they are to beat Atalanta in the one-off tie in Lisbon.
Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and co will all be fully rested before the quarter-final with the French top-flight prematurely suspended in April. Although Thomas Tuchel’s side will be lacking match fitness, they are capable enough of overcoming any threat posed by Atalanta.
The Paris Saint-Germain hierarchy will be relieved to see that the likes of Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are all on drawn on the opposite side. If they win their match against Atalanta, they will face one of Atletico Madrid or Leipzig.
Although it will be a herculean task to get one over Diego Simeone’s side, given that they knocked out last year’s champions Liverpool, the French giants will know that this is one of their best shots at European glory.
#2 Diego Simeone
Not many pundits and fans expected Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid to knock out Liverpool like they did back in March. After having led the Spanish heavyweights to two Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016 and losing out to cross-town rivals Real Madrid on both occasions, the Argentinian manager will hope that he can finally get his hands on the continent’s most coveted prize.
Atletico Madrid have not had the most incredible campaigns domestically as they find themselves 13 points off second-place Barcelona. However, they can be one of the most dangerous sides to face in knock-out competitions. Their defensive solidity and counterattacking style of football is almost impossible for opponents to handle.
Having been drawn with RB Leizpig next, Simeone’s team have a massive opportunity to make the last four of the tournament. The game against the Germans will no doubt be extremely tricky and hard to call, especially after their performances against last season’s Champions League finalists Tottenham Hotspur.
However, with talisman Timo Werner now a Chelsea player, manager Julian Nagelsmann will no longer have his trump card against Atletico Madrid. The Spaniards will, therefore, be favourites for this tie with a potential meeting with Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals looking most likely.
The odds for Atletico Madrid winning the 2019/20 Champions League in Lisbon will have surely skyrocketed by now.
Losers from the Champions League draw
#1 Lionel Messi and Barcelona
Barcelona have been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. Lacklustre performances on the pitch, coupled with behind-the-scenes controversies, has caused many onlookers to suggest that the Spanish club are going through one of their darkest phases of recent times.
Trailing Real Madrid in the race for the La Liga title has already called for severe criticism to Quique Setien and his side, and the recently-concluded Champions League draw did not help that cause. Barcelona are locked at 1-1 against Napoli with the second leg to be played at the Camp Nou next month.
Lionel Messi and co were favourites entering the fixture but the first leg draw has made it an even contest going into the second. The Serie A giants recently lifted the Coppa Italia as they beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus on penalties, with the club’s supporters extremely confident that they could pull of an upset in Catalonia.
Even if Barcelona manage to triumph over Napoli, the road ahead is even more rockier. A potential match-up with in-form Bayern Munich in the semi-final will be exciting from a neutral perspective, but not from a Blaugrana point-of-view. The Bundesliga champions are the undoubted favourites to lift the Champions League trophy this season.
Messi is desperate to win his first Champions League trophy since 2015 after heartbreaks against Roma and Liverpool in the last two seasons. However, as things stand, winning the big-eared trophy this season looks like a distant possibility for Barcelona.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus have a mountain to climb before they can look towards their prospective semi-final fixture. The Serie A league leaders have a 1-0 deficit to overturn at the Allianz Stadium after Lyon pulled off a major upset in the first leg.
However, the French outfit will have not played a competitive fixture for five months as they will set foot in Turin. A lack of match sharpness could then be exploited by Juventus. If the Italians pass the Lyon test, they have a potential meeting with either Manchester City or Real Madrid.
Both clubs have been in excellent form since the restart and their second leg at the Etihad Stadium could be one to remember for years. Whoever comes out on top in that game could be termed best-placed to get the better of Juventus.
Maurizio Sarri’s side have had a topsy-turvy return to action as they lost the Coppa Italia to Napoli and were also on the receiving end of a hammering by AC Milan. Although they are seven points in front of Lazio and well-positioned to lift their 9th straight Scudetto, their inconsistencies could lead to their downfall in Europe.
Also Read: All Champions League winners by year
Other talking points from the Champions League draw
This season’s Champions League top-scorers Bayern Munich already have one foot in the semi-final after their 3-0 drubbing of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Hansi Flick’s side are best-placed to wear the European crown in August following their continued domestic supremacy.
Whilst City, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus have all shown signs of vulnerability this season, the Bavarians have been untouchable in the Bundesliga and have a cent-percent record in the Champions League.
Manchester City will also go into the second leg against Real Madrid with their tails up on the back of that historic win at the Santiago Bernabeu. Pep Guardiola is aching for his first Champions League trophy since 2011 and this season might be his last shot at the prestigious title as manager of the Mancunians.
City are awaiting the result of their two-year European ban with the CAS verdict due to be announced earlier next week. If the dethroned English champions are to master the Champions League kings next month, they could have a genuine chance of conquering Europe.
The 2019/20 Champions League draw produced some mouth-watering fixtures, and we cannot wait until the action resumes next month after what will have become a five-month hiatus.
