Excitement is reaching fever pitch in this year’s UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, with no team yet certain of a place in the last four. Only Wolfsburg managed to gain a two-goal advantage in the first leg – but with Real Madrid as opponents and a return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu still to come, last season’s Bundesliga runners-up will need to exceed expectations all over again. FIFA.com looks ahead to this week’s matches and sets out all the key facts.
The fixtures
Tuesday 12 April
Real Madrid – Wolfsburg (0-2)
Manchester City – Paris Saint-Germain (2-2)
Wednesday 13 April
Benfica – Bayern Munich (0-1)
Atletico Madrid – Barcelona (1-2)
Match of the day
Real Madrid – Wolfsburg, Santiago Bernabeu, 20:45 (CET)
When the quarter-final draw was made, Wolfsburg were a team many of Europe’s biggest and most established clubs would happily have been drawn against. While Real Madrid are unlikely to have been too concerned when they were first paired with the club from Germany’s Motor City, their anxiety is mounting after the first leg. The side currently placed eighth in the Bundesliga subjected Los Blancos’ superstars to a 2-0 defeat they were powerless to prevent, a result the Spanish press greeted with disbelief.
While a two-goal first-leg lead would usually be considered comfortable, the prospect of an away match at the Santiago Bernabeu means Wolfsburg have no room for complacency. Real Madrid are fired up heading into Tuesday’s encounter, perhaps also spurred on by recent results in the Primera Division, where an uncharacteristic slip from Barcelona has revived their hopes of successfully challenging for the league title.
“It will be a perfect, magical night,” said Cristiano Ronaldo, while coach Zinedine Zidane shared his spirit of optimism, saying: “We know what we need to do. Although we’re two goals down, we can achieve great things at the Bernabeu. We want to make the fans proud.” Immediately after last week’s shock first-leg loss, captain Sergio Ramos declared: “The fightback begins today.” The time has come to turn these strong words into action.
In the spotlight
Elsewhere, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid contested a hard-fought first leg at the Camp Nou, with Barça ultimately emerging 2-1 winners after Fernando Torres saw red for two yellow-card offences. With six other Atletico players as well as Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez also working their way into the referee’s book, the match generated more yellow cards than any other UEFA Champions League game this season.
Atleti will sense an opportunity in the wake of the Catalan outfit's shock 1-0 Liga defeat by bogey team Real Sociedad on Saturday evening, and with coach Diego Simeone’s side requiring just a 1-0 win to take them through to the last four, Luis Enrique and his players must prepare for another tough evening.
Player to watch
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a player who does not shy away from making big statements. He was recently said to have remarked that his life contained enough excitement to make ten (!) films. A movie entitled ‘Zlatan wins the UEFA Champions League’ would certainly make fascinating viewing given his long and frustrating relationship with Europe’s biggest club competition up to now.
The Swede has reached the quarter-finals on eight occasions, losing seven times – more than any other player in the history of the competition. To improve this record, the 34-year-old will need to deliver as flawless a display as possible in Manchester and avoid missing a penalty as he did in the first leg. A real blockbuster could be on the cards if he succeeds.
Did you know?
If Wolfsburg were to navigate their way past Real Madrid, it would end Cristiano Ronaldo’s impressive run at this stage of the tournament. The Portuguese superstar has never been beaten in a UEFA Champions League quarter-final, reaching the last four with Manchester United in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and with Madrid every year from 2011 to 2015. Los Blancos will also be spurred on by the opportunity to equal Barcelona’s record of six successive semi-final appearances set between 2008 and 2013.
The stat
2 – German teams have only recorded two away wins against Benfica in 20 European encounters. Nevertheless, Bayern will take heart from the fact that they recorded the first of these victories when they won 3-1 on Portuguese soil on 5 December 1995.
What they said
"Anything can happen at the Bernabeu, including things we can’t yet imagine. We’re not absolute beginners heading to Madrid with sweaty palms. We just need to find the right answers."
Former world-class striker and Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs