Champions League Playoffs – Second Leg Previews
Last week’s Champions League playoffs provided us with a number of high-quality, and surprisingly high-scoring, games.
There were also a number of surprise results, notably against Italian teams, with Inter Milan losing 3-1 away to Bodo Glimt and Juventus 5-2 capitulation in Istanbul to Galatasaray amongst the more genuinely surprising results.
We also saw a couple of teams land key away wins, which will likely make the home leg coming up this week a much easier night than it could have been.
Here’s a reminder of the eight teams already seeded through to the Round of 16, awaiting the winners of the eight playoff second leg ties this week.
Champions League Round of 16 Seeds
- Arsenal
- Bayern Munich
- Liverpool
- Tottenham
- Barcelona
- Sporting Lisbon
- Manchester City
- Chelsea
And here is how the Playoff First Leg Results went from last week’s action.
Champions League Playoff 1st Leg Results
- Galatasaray 5-2 Juventus
- AS Monaco 2-3 Paris St. Germain
- Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Atalanta
- Benfica 0-1 Real Madrid
- Qarabag 1-6 Newcastle United
- Club Brugge 3-3 Atletico Madrid
- Olympiacos 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
- Bodo/Glimt 3-1 Inter Milan
Playoff 2nd Leg Previews
Atletico Madrid (3) v (3) Club Brugge
An exciting first leg saw six goals shared. The second leg should be tighter in Madrid, but don’t rule Brugge out just yet. This may be a tie that requires extra time to secure the winner.
Tip – Atletico Madrid 2-2 Club Brugge
Bayer Leverkusen (2) v (0) Olympiacos
After a fine win in the first leg in Greece, Leverkusen have taken a huge step towards the Round of 16 and the German side should finish things off here.
Tip – Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Olympiacos
Inter Milan (1) v (3) Bodo/Glimt
For me, this is the most exciting of all eight ties. Inter need a three-goal win to overturn that first leg shock defeat in Norway, but Bodo did beat Atletico Madrid away in their last Champions League stage game. This one may well go to extra time to decide the winner.
Tip – Inter Milan 2-0 Bodo/Glimt
Newcastle United (6) v (1) Qarabag
This tie is effectively over. Qarabag have conceded six goals in their last two Champions League game and Newcastle should have no problems finishing the second leg with another big win at St. James’ Park.
Tip – Newcastle 4-0 Qarabag
Atalanta (0) v (2) Borussia Dortmund
Atalanta were unusually poor in the first leg in Germany and their home form has been erratic. As such, I’d expect Dortmund to do enough to get through here.
Tip – Atalanta 1-1 Borussia Dortmund
Juventus (2) v (5) Galatasaray
Juventus have to go for it to avoid being eliminated in the playoffs for the second straight year. There could well be plenty of goals and controversy in this game but it is Galatasaray that hold all the aces at present.
Tip – Juventus 2-1 Galatasaray
Paris St Germain (3) v (2) AS Monaco
After being 2-0 down in the first leg, PSG came back to secure a 3-2 win against Monaco. At home, they would expect to progress comfortably now into the Round of 16.
Tip – Paris St Germain 3-1 AS Monaco
Real Madrid (1) v (0) Benfica
The controversy from the first leg will not have died down for this second leg in Madrid but with home advantage, no Jose Mourinho on the bench for Benfica and a 1-0 lead from the away leg, it is hard to see Real Madrid messing this up from here.
Tip – Real Madrid 3-0 Benfica
