On Wednesday, the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal battles continue. Four more teams will enter the battle tonight, all of which have set the highest goals for themselves this season.
A lot of attention should be paid to the match at the 'Wembley' stadium, where London's 'Tottenham' will host Dortmund's 'Borussia' players. Another clash will take place at the Johan Cruyff Arena - Amsterdam's 'Ajax' will host the last three season's tournament champions, Madrid's 'Real' team.
Both matches will start at 22:00 Lithuanian time. Here are their previews:
'Ajax' - Madrid 'Real'
In the first half of the season, Madrid's 'Real' club had quite a crisis and wasn't even considered a favorite against 'Ajax', but their recent results have put the 'Ajax' team in a difficult position.
Amsterdam's team showed attractive football at the beginning of the season and during the group stage of the Champions League, winning game after game. However, their recent results have disappointed the team's fans - they suffered two defeats in the last five matches.
'Ajax' lost by a small margin to the 'Heracles' team over the weekend, despite previously beating the 'Venia' team in the Dutch football championship with a score of 6:0. Before this victory, 'Ajax' suffered their biggest shame of the season - a 2:6 defeat to the 'Feyenoord' team.
Despite the difficulties, in the last ten matches, the Amsterdam team has won six times, lost twice, and played to a draw on as many occasions. Throughout these matches, 'Ajax' scored an incredible 34 goals and conceded 18.
Madrid's 'Real' team comes to Amsterdam in great spirits - this will be the third match in the past seven days for the 'White' team, and so far, they have been successful.
Last Wednesday, Santiago Solari's students played to a 1:1 draw with 'Barcelona', and over the weekend, they also won the Madrid derby at the opponent's fortress - 3:1. In total, in their last ten matches, the royal club celebrated victory eight times, lost once in the King's Cup, and played to a draw against Barcelona.
During this time, Madrid 'Real' scored 25 goals and only conceded nine. Striker Karim Benzema, who has been in excellent form lately, has scored six goals in the last six matches.
In the group stage, 'Ajax' did not experience any failures - three draws and as many victories. On the other hand, 'Real' unexpectedly lost twice to Moscow's CSKA team, but still advanced to the quarterfinals from the first position.
The teams are expected to take to the field with their strongest lineups. Recently, 'Ajax' wonderkid Frenkie de Jong had been dealing with physical problems, but the team's coach confirmed that the Dutchman is back in full health.
Madrid's 'Real' team will be without Isco, Marcos Llorente, and Jesus Vallejo due to injuries, but it is expected that S. Solari would have played even without these players even if they were healthy, so the 'White' team will also not suffer major losses in their camp.
Predicted starting lineups:
'Ajax': (4-3-3) Andre Onana; Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, Daley Blind, Nicolas Tagliafico; Donny van de Beek, Frenkie de Jong, Lasse Schone; Hakim Ziyech, Kasper Dolberg, Dusan Tadic.
'Real Madrid': (4-3-3) Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Reguilon; Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos; Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior.
'Tottenham' - 'Borussia'
Complete equality is noticeable in this pair - it is hard to see any advantage for either team. Both London's 'Tottenham' and Dortmund's 'Borussia' probably expected to avoid each other, but football fans are eagerly awaiting this clash.
The 'Spurs' successfully recovered from losing two crucial players in January and have performed quite well - they won their last three matches in the English Premier League. Before that, 'Tottenham' suffered two painful defeats in the FA and English League Cups, exiting the competition for trophies.
Overall, in their last ten matches, the North London club won seven games and had to admit defeat to opponents three times. 'Spurs' have not lacked in goal-scoring recently - in the last eight matches, they only managed to score more than three goals in one. Calculated over the last ten matches, the 'Spurs' scored 18 goals and conceded eight.
On the other hand, Dortmund's 'Borussia', situated at the top of the Bundesliga table, comes to London with a different situation - they have not won their last three matches. They suffered a loss in the German Cup once, and two matches ended in a draw in the country's league.
BVB, not counting two friendly matches played during the winter break, has won six games and faced two defeats in their last ten matches, playing to a draw twice.
The Dortmund team could boast impressive numbers in attack - they scored as many as six goals in their last two matches. In total, in the last ten games, BVB scored 22 goals and allowed opponents to score 13.
The two teams had different performances in the group stage - 'Tottenham', which made it to the 'death' group, secured their place in the quarterfinals only in the last round, while 'Borussia' had already secured their spot by finishing in first place.
Both teams will not be able to start the quarterfinal with their strongest lineups - 'Tottenham' has been without Harry Kane and Dele Alli for a while. In this match, the 'Spurs' will also be without Ben Davies, and there are doubts surrounding Danny Rose's participation.
'Borussia' also arrives in London with an injury-hit lineup - Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer will be absent for the team, and Julian Weigl and Lukasz Piszczek have also dropped out of the squad.
Predicted starting lineups:
'Tottenham': (4-4-2) Hugo Lloris; Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez, Jan Vertonghen; Moussa Sissoko, Eric Dier, Harry Winks; Christian Eriksen; Heung-min Son, Fernando Llorente.
'Borussia': (4-2-3-1) Roman Burki; Achraf Hakimi, Abdou Diallo, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Raphael Guerreiro; Thomas Delaney, Axel Witsel; Jadon Sancho, Maximilian Philipp, Jacob-Bruun Larsen; Mario Gotze.
