Champions League

In this second part of a dinner conversation between PSG’s Marco Verratti, Julian Draxler, Thomas Meunier and Blaise Matuidi, the PSG teammates discuss Wednesday’s return leg against Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16.

With PSG holding a 4-0 advantage after their dominating display in Paris, you could forgive them for being in a more relaxed mood while discussing the second match at the Camp Nou. That’s anything but the case here.

It all started so beautifully for Napoli inside a rocking Stadio San Paolo in Naples in their second leg match against Real Madrid. A mesmerizing buildup led to a really well taken goal by Dries Mertens in the 24th minute. 

We love you Arsenal, we do,

We love you Arsenal, we do,

We love you Arsenal, we do,

Oh Arsenal we love you!

Take another look at the penalty decision. Should it have been a red? #UCL #ARSFCB https://t.co/RL2KgT5wEh

Going into the second leg of a Champions League match down 1-5 against mighty Bayern Munich isn’t ideal. But Theo Walcott and Arsenal got an early goal in the 20th minute that gave them a glimmer of hope.

Not even Neuer could stop that one. Walcott has given Arsenal life! #UCL #ARSFCB https://t.co/OOd8IOTREZ

Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben is known for one thing: cutting inside from the right wing and shooting with his left foot. That is his only move. He does not need any other moves because the one move he does have is wildly effective. However, Robben seems to think he does other things besides cut inside from the right and shoot with his left. He is wrong.

Porto are nearly unbeatable at home, but not when Alex Telles gets a red card, which he did, earning two yellows in the span of 74 seconds against Juventus Wednesday.

After Telles was sent off in the 27th minute, Porto scrapped and clawed, but in the end the collective talents of Juventus were simply too much for the Portuguese side.

Get ready for March 14 at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, the scenes are going to be unreal. Sevilla pulled out the victory many had predicted in the first leg but only by a 2-1 scoreline.

Sevilla cruised to a 2-0 lead by the 62nd minute, and it should’ve been much more if not for the work of Kasper Schmeichel, but Jamie Vardy scored a precious away goal to keep the tie more than alive.

From a Leicester perspective, losing 2-1 away to the back-to-back-to-back Europa League champions is a huge improvement on losing 2-0 to Swansea City away.

The three-headed monster that is the Juventus defense will be without Leonardo Bonucci, who has the most minutes of the three in both Serie A and the Champions League, for Juventus’ first leg match against Porto. The club has every right to believe that the strength of Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli in defense will be enough at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao, but the loss of Bonucci can only benefit the Portuguese club.

Waking up this morning to work out any takeaways from the first leg of Manchester City’s clash with Monaco is like piecing together a night of heavy drinking. It was a night of degeneracy — mistakes were made, people were throwing themselves headfirst at objects and someone pulled out their Willy (Caballero).

As we move toward the second leg at the Stade Louis II in Monaco on March 15, the most obvious talking point will be City’s defense of their two-goal advantage. So what’s Pep Guardiola’s plan?