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04/06 13:46 CDT PSG-Liverpool and Real Madrid-Bayern Munich headline the
Champions League quarterfinals
PSG-Liverpool and Real Madrid-Bayern Munich headline the Champions League
quarterfinals
By STEVE DOUGLAS
AP Sports Writer
Football at its very best.
That was Arne Slot's memory of Liverpool's richly entertaining meeting with
Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last season.
OK, Liverpool ultimately went out, beaten at Anfield in a round-of-16 penalty
shootout by the team that would go on to win the competition for the first
time, but Slot loved the way his side played and still maintains it was "the
best game I've managed in my career."
They meet again almost 12 months on, with Liverpool --- and Slot --- in a very
different place.
The Dutch coach appears to be fighting for his job heading into the
quarterfinal doubleheader with the European champion that starts with the first
leg in Paris on Wednesday.
A 4-0 loss at Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday was Liverpool's latest
poor result of a season that initially began with so much hope after the club's
record summer splurge of $570 million on new players on the back of cruising to
the Premier League title.
With the Reds having long given up hope of retaining their league title, the
Champions League is their only remaining chance of a trophy.
On current form, that looks unlikely.
While Liverpool has lost four of its last seven games in all competitions in a
run of results that has piled the pressure on Slot, PSG is on a four-match
winning run that contains back-to-back victories over Chelsea in the Champions
League round of 16 (5-2 and 3-0).
Only one team has retained the Champions League since the turn of the century
--- Real Madrid won it for three straight years from 2016 --- but PSG looks in
good shape to do so.
Slot and Liverpool might just be happy to get out of the Parc des Princes with
a fighting chance of advancing going into the second leg at Anfield.
There are three other quarterfinals: Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich, Barcelona
vs. Atletico Madrid, and Sporting Lisbon vs. Arsenal.
Heavyweights meeting early again
It's one of the more unlikely Champions League facts: Madrid and Munich --- winners of the title a combined 21 times --- still haven't met in the final. They won't this season, either. The two heavyweights are, however, meeting in the knockout stage for the sixth time in the past 14 seasons --- and it has been a one-sided rivalry. Madrid, the record 15-time champion, has won four of five two-leg matchups with Bayern since the 2011-12 season; once in the quarterfinals and three times in the semifinals, most recently in 2024. Bayern won in the 2012 semifinals after a penalty shootout. Bayern might never have a better chance to end that miserable run, given the German champions are unbeaten in 13 games in all competitions. Star striker Harry Kane is available despite missing Saturday's win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga with a minor ankle issue sustained in England training last week. Madrid is coming off a comfortable round-of-16 win over Man City but, more recently, a 2-1 loss at Mallorca on Saturday that hurt its Spanish league title hopes.
Barcelona-Atletico again The players of Spanish rivals Barcelona and Atletico might be sick of the sight of each other by next week's second leg. That's because their Champions League doubleheader will complete a barrage of five meetings between the teams in two months, culminating in three matches in 10 days. On Saturday, Barcelona came from behind to beat Atletico 2-1 on the road to strengthen its hold on the La Liga lead. In February, they met in the Copa Del Rey with each winning big at home and Atletico advancing on aggregate. They have met twice in the Champions League knockout stages and both times at the quarterfinal stage, with Atletico going through in 2014 and 2016 on its run to the final each season. Atletico played the second leg at home on those occasions, too. The first leg of their current head-to-head is on Wednesday.
Gykeres back at Sporting Fresh from guiding Sweden into the World Cup, Arsenal striker Viktor Gykeres makes a first return to the club that turned him into a globally renowned striker. "The whole group was happy for him" after his transfer, Sporting defender Maximiliano Arajo said on Monday. "He did some very good things (for Sporting). This year at Arsenal I think he's also doing very well, he's scoring a lot of goals, and he also secured qualification for the World Cup with his national team. I wish him all the best." At Sporting, Gykeres scored 97 goals in 102 games, including 54 last season when he outscored the likes of Kylian Mbapp, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah. Quite the rise, then, for someone who previously had barely played a top-tier league game. Since joining Arsenal for $85 million, goals haven't been so easy to come by --- he has 16 in 42 matches in all competitions --- but remains first choice under coach Mikel Arteta, who values his line-leading qualities. And, after his recent heroics for Sweden when he grabbed a hat trick against Ukraine and then the crucial late goal against Poland in the winner-takes-all playoff, Gykeres should be full of confidence on his return to Lisbon for Tuesday's match. Sporting will look to make home advantage count like it did in the round of 16, completing a turnaround against Bodo/Glimt by winning the second leg 5-0 for one of the great Champions League fightbacks. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Heavyweights meeting early again
It's one of the more unlikely Champions League facts: Madrid and Munich --- winners of the title a combined 21 times --- still haven't met in the final. They won't this season, either. The two heavyweights are, however, meeting in the knockout stage for the sixth time in the past 14 seasons --- and it has been a one-sided rivalry. Madrid, the record 15-time champion, has won four of five two-leg matchups with Bayern since the 2011-12 season; once in the quarterfinals and three times in the semifinals, most recently in 2024. Bayern won in the 2012 semifinals after a penalty shootout. Bayern might never have a better chance to end that miserable run, given the German champions are unbeaten in 13 games in all competitions. Star striker Harry Kane is available despite missing Saturday's win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga with a minor ankle issue sustained in England training last week. Madrid is coming off a comfortable round-of-16 win over Man City but, more recently, a 2-1 loss at Mallorca on Saturday that hurt its Spanish league title hopes.
Barcelona-Atletico again The players of Spanish rivals Barcelona and Atletico might be sick of the sight of each other by next week's second leg. That's because their Champions League doubleheader will complete a barrage of five meetings between the teams in two months, culminating in three matches in 10 days. On Saturday, Barcelona came from behind to beat Atletico 2-1 on the road to strengthen its hold on the La Liga lead. In February, they met in the Copa Del Rey with each winning big at home and Atletico advancing on aggregate. They have met twice in the Champions League knockout stages and both times at the quarterfinal stage, with Atletico going through in 2014 and 2016 on its run to the final each season. Atletico played the second leg at home on those occasions, too. The first leg of their current head-to-head is on Wednesday.
Gykeres back at Sporting Fresh from guiding Sweden into the World Cup, Arsenal striker Viktor Gykeres makes a first return to the club that turned him into a globally renowned striker. "The whole group was happy for him" after his transfer, Sporting defender Maximiliano Arajo said on Monday. "He did some very good things (for Sporting). This year at Arsenal I think he's also doing very well, he's scoring a lot of goals, and he also secured qualification for the World Cup with his national team. I wish him all the best." At Sporting, Gykeres scored 97 goals in 102 games, including 54 last season when he outscored the likes of Kylian Mbapp, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah. Quite the rise, then, for someone who previously had barely played a top-tier league game. Since joining Arsenal for $85 million, goals haven't been so easy to come by --- he has 16 in 42 matches in all competitions --- but remains first choice under coach Mikel Arteta, who values his line-leading qualities. And, after his recent heroics for Sweden when he grabbed a hat trick against Ukraine and then the crucial late goal against Poland in the winner-takes-all playoff, Gykeres should be full of confidence on his return to Lisbon for Tuesday's match. Sporting will look to make home advantage count like it did in the round of 16, completing a turnaround against Bodo/Glimt by winning the second leg 5-0 for one of the great Champions League fightbacks. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
