On this evening, the Champions League quarter-final duels will end with two matches, and we will find out all the teams that have reached the quarter-final stage. At 21:45, "Barcelona" will face "Arsenal" and "Bayern" will face "Juventus" in their respective clashes.
"Barcelona" - "Arsenal"
In the first leg clash, "Barcelona" broke through the opponents' defense only in the 71st minute and scored the first goal, but secured a 2-0 victory. This means that in order to advance to the next stage, "Arsenal" players would need to win with at least a two-goal advantage. The challenging result reflects the form demonstrated by both of these teams.
After the first leg clash, "Arsenal" managed to secure just one point in three matches in the Premier League, and during this period they were also eliminated from the FA Cup. The "Arsenal" defense has not been shining lately, allowing opponents to score at least two goals in five of their last six matches.
After the first leg match, the list of injured "Arsenal" players grew even longer - in addition to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, and Carl Jenkinson, Petr Cech and Aaron Ramsey also joined the list. Doubts also remain about Laurent Koscielny's availability for the match on Wednesday, but he still has a chance to play in this encounter.
Meanwhile, in the "Barcelona" camp, things are quite different - "Barca" continues to dominate all opponents, having suffered their last defeat back in early October. The Catalan attack seems unstoppable lately, as evidenced by the 15 goals scored in their last three matches in the Spanish championship.
In the lineup for these matches, "Barcelona" will be without Rafinha and Sandro Ramirez, but both players have not been regular starters for the Catalan team. A more serious loss will be in defense, as Gerard Pique will be forced to miss the match due to three yellow cards in the Champions League this season.
Key facts ahead of this match:
- "Barcelona" has reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the twelfth consecutive year. In seven of the last eight seasons, "Barca" reached at least the semi-final stage;
- "Arsenal" and "Real Madrid" are the only teams to have reached the knockout stage of the Champions League since the 2003-2004 season, when the new format was introduced. However, in the last five seasons they have been eliminated from these competitions in the round of 16;
- Barcelona has won the Champions League four times in the last 10 seasons. If they were to win the Champions League this year, they would become the first team since "AC Milan" to win the competition two years in a row. The Italian team achieved this feat in 1989 and 1990;
- Barcelona has won the last three encounters between these teams in the Champions League knockout stages - in the 2006 final (2-1), the 2009-2010 quarterfinals (aggregate score 6-3), and the 2010-2011 quarterfinals (aggregate score 4-3);
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"Bayern" - "Juventus"
In the first leg, "Bayern" initially led 2-0, but the hosts managed to equalize the score and revive their chances of advancing to the next stage. Nevertheless, it will not be easy for them in Germany.
After the match against "Juventus", "Bayern" failed to win two consecutive matches for the first time this season in Germany, losing points at home for the first time this season in a match against "Mainz". However, they still have a five-point lead in the Bundesliga standings against their closest rivals, and in the last matches before the Champions League return leg, they once again showed their dominance by thrashing "Werder" 5-0.
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Tautvydas Sakalauskas
