After a wait of just over 2 months, tonight sees the start of the Round of 16 with 2 matches:
- Paris Saint-Germain v. Real Madrid
- Sporting CP v. Manchester City
Man City are the bookies favourites to win the trophy so go into tonight's match as strong favourites despite being the away team. Despite playing without a recognised striker, the movement in attack makes their style of play very difficult to play against and with the meanest defence in the Premier League, they'll be a very difficult team to beat. Sporting on the other hand, have an impressive talent in Pedro Goncalves. The Portuguese is the stand out player and could cause Man City some problems if the likes of Rodri don't do a job on him.
The other match is closer to call - on paper, PSG have the most impressive strikeforce in the world - Neymar, Mbappe and Messi. But they've not really lived up to their billing yet and if Karim Benzema is fit and firing for Real Madrid, their attacking players are also impressive. Vinicius Jr. being the other major threat with supply coming from Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
If it weren't for UEFA's Fantasy Champions League game, I'd only have a passing interest in this tournament but I now have the difficult task of picking myself a squad that will win me my mini-league.