SOCCER UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ARTICLES

Two of the three top favorites to win the Champions League will be in action on Wednesday when FC Barcelona travels to Old Trafford to face Manchester United and Juventus heads to Amsterdam to face Ajax. Although Barcelona and Juventus are on the road, both teams are favored to win the first leg of their Champions League Quarterfinals matches. Manchester United and Ajax are looking to keep their Cinderella stories alive.... 

The Champions League has been an English celebration. All four English teams are in the Quarterfinals, and an English team is favored to win the competition. However, we will see an English team exit the tournament this round. Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City are pitted against one another in one of the quarterfinals, and one of them will have to exit. Liverpool are heavily favored to make it at least two English teams in the semifinals though, and they will be taking on Porto on Tuesday.... 

After Wednesday’s Champions League matches, the Champions League Quarterfinals will be set and ready for the draw on Friday, March 15. Last week, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Ajax, and Porto earned their places in the final eight, with Spurs being the only team to have little trouble claiming their spot. Two more teams will be added to the mix on Tuesday and the final two will be added after Bayern Munich host Liverpool and Barcelona host Olympique Lyon on Wednesday.... 

Half the Champions League Quarterfinals field is set. Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Ajax, and Porto have already qualified for the final eight, and two more teams will be looking to join them on Tuesday when Juventus hosts Atletico Madrid and Manchester City hosts FC Schalke 04. ... 

Paris Saint-Germain are in a commanding position entering the second part of their Champions League Round of 16 tie with Manchester United. PSG went on the road and beat Manchester United 2-0 in Old Trafford in the first leg, so they have plenty of breathing room coming into this one. It would take a miracle for Manchester United to advance to the quarterfinals at this point…or a PSG collapse that we have seen all too often in the Champions League.... 

Defense will be the watchword when Atletico Madrid and Juventus meet in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday. Atletico Madrid have one of the best back lines in the world, and they play a style that emphasizes their defense. Meanwhile, Juventus have been known for their defense for years, but they are opening things up on offense with the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo in the offseason. It will be interesting to see how they deploy on the road in this one.... 

The first half of the first legs of the Champions League Round of 16 were full of excitement. Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid went on the road to secure wins, while both Roma and Porto held serve at home. The most anticipated matchup is the one between Bayern Munich and Liverpool though. These blue bloods were drawn together in this round rather unfortunately, and the side that makes an early exit will certainly be disappointed.... 

Tottenham Hotspur are looking to make it to the Champions League quarterfinals for just the third time in their history. Spurs have not made many trips to the most prestigious competition in Europe, but this is also one of their strongest periods. To get to the final eight, they need to get past Bundesliga frontrunners Borussia Dortmund. These teams met in the Champions League Group Stage last year, and Spurs won both meetings behind three Harry Kane goals.... 

After nearly two months of waiting, the Champions League finally returns on Tuesday. There are just 16 teams left in the most prestigious club soccer competition in the world, and 15 of those 16 teams are out to keep Real Madrid from winning their fourth straight title. Paris Saint-Germain are one of the favorites to take home the title, even without Neymar. However, PSG have been snake-bit in this competition in recent years and they will try to avoid crashing out early once again when they fac... 

On Monday, UEFA drew opponents for the 16 teams left in the Champions League and there were fist pumps and exasperated sighs throughout the continent. Teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid were celebrating draws that should help them get to the Champions League Quarterfinals, while Bayern Munich and Juventus could not have been happy with drawing tough opponents despite winning their groups. Let’s look at some of the matches.... 

Wednesday’s Champions League action might not be as exciting as Tuesday’s as there is just one remaining spot in the knockout rounds up for grabs. However, there are two matches that are going to be very intriguing as the first will be for first place in the group and the second will determine the final Champions League spot.... 

The two groups everyone is watching in Champions League action this Tuesday are Group B and Group C. In Group A, Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have already qualified and the only question is who will grab first. Group D no longer has any real drama as Porto has finished first and Schalke 04 has taken second.... 

Coming into this year’s Champions League, Group B and Group C were trumpeted as the two toughest groups with the most intriguing match-ups. That has proven to be the case. In Group B, Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Tottenham Hotspur have continued to duke it out, while Group C is wide open with Napoli, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, and Red Star Belgrade all within two points of one another. This Wednesday’s Champions League matches will feature teams from Groups A through D.... 

This coming week the Champions League is back in action and many clubs’ hopes of advancing are at stake. Some of the smaller clubs, like Viktoria Plzen, have already been eliminated and only have pride to play for at this point, while others are battling to win their group in order to avoid playing another strong team in the Round of 16. On Tuesday, teams from Groups E-H will take the field and we will have a lot of our questions answered at that point.... 

Following the first round robin of the Champions League Group Stage, teams know what they must do in order to advance to the knockout rounds. Some teams have a steep hill to climb in their effort to make it to the Round of 16, while other teams have a much more manageable journey after good results in the first leg. Once again, I will be previewing some of the bigger clubs, and the focus will be on Manchester City and Manchester United. ... 

There will be a lot of familiarity in the fourth matchday of this year’s Champions League, as teams begin the second part of the round robin against the opponent they just faced two weeks ago. This Tuesday, Groups A, B, C, and D will take to the pitch, and the key battles continue to be in Group B and Group C. With apologies to the three-way slugfest between Porto, Schalke 04, and Galatasaray in Group D, most of the attention will be on the three-way battle between Liverpool, Napoli, and Paris Saint Germain in Group C, and the clash between Barcelona and Inter Milan in Group B. ... 

Groups A, B, C, and D will be in Champions League action on Wednesday, and some of the best clubs in the world are looking to right the ship and avoid an early flameout. Tottenham Hotspur are in real trouble with two losses in their first two matches, and they are already six points back of Barcelona and Inter Milan. Liverpool are in a bit of a precarious position as well after losing on the road to Napoli in their last Champions League match, and they need to hammer Red Star Belgrade to be in good position heading into the second round robin. Below, I’ll highlight the other matches from Tottenham and Liverpool’s groups, as they will let the English teams know what they need to do to advance. ... 

After the third matchday of the Group Stage of the Champions League, every team will have played every other team in its group as part of the first round robin. That will give each club an idea of what it needs to do in its remaining three matches in order to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League. There have already been some surprising results at this year’s competition, and if one of the favorites that have already lost were to lose again, they would be in real trouble. ... 

The second set of Champions League Group Stage matches will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. This is typically the time we see which teams are contenders and which are pretenders as any team with two losses will have a tough time making it into the knockout rounds. Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur are two of the teams looking to avoid falling to 0-2 with a result on Wednesday. Wednesday’s matches will feature teams from Group A to Group D. ... 

Matchday 2 of the Champions League Group Stage is next week, and the top teams throughout Europe will certainly be looking forward to their upcoming opponents. The first matchday didn’t give us too many surprises, but there was one huge upset. Manchester City were a hefty favorite per the Champions League soccer odds at home against Lyon, but they suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of the French club. The Citizens are now sitting in dead last in Group F and need a win. ... 

The second part of the first matchday of Champions League action will happen on Wednesday. Teams from Groups E thru Group H will all take the pitch for their first games of the 2018-19 Champions League. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus, and Manchester City will all be action, so let’s highlight a couple of those matches. ... 

At long last, the Champions League will get underway this Tuesday. There will be eight matches on Tuesday as part of the first matchday, with every team in Group A – Group D taking part. Rather than highlight every single match, we will just give a brief overview of the day’s top matches, with something to watch for in each one. Group B and Group C are the most interesting groups with teams like Tottenham, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Liverpool all kicking off. ... 

There is plenty of excitement surrounding this year’s Champions League. After a World Cup, soccer always gets a bit of a bump in terms of viewership, and plenty of new soccer fans are now looking for teams to support. Clubs know that Champions League success leads to prestige, international recognition, and a boatload of cash, and many of the top teams in Europe spent lavishly this offseason in order to try to win the Champions League. ...