UEFA Champions League 2018/19 – Searching for a new king

After the teams in this tournament had to stand by and watch Real Madrid win 3 consecutive seasons. Broadly speaking, for 5 consecutive seasons since 2013/14, the C1 Cup has actually been a game for Spanish teams. When Real Madrid won 4 times and 1 time for Barcelona.

The 2018/19 season saw Real Madrid decline and the team officially became the former champion after a disastrous defeat to Ajax Amsterdam in the round of 16. All of Europe – except Madrid – happily awaited a new champion.

After the draw in Nyon, Switzerland, the four Quarter-Finals have been decided. There are not many surprises when the Premier League with four representatives will have an internal match between Tottenham Hospur and Manchester City, the remaining three matches are: Manchester United vs Barcelona, ​​Liverpool vs Porto and Ajax Amsterdam vs Juventus.

Of these 4 matches, the most anticipated match is clearly between Manchester United and Barcelona. Surely all Red Devils fans still cannot forget the image of Sir Alex Ferguson sitting helplessly with trembling hands on the bench when Man Utd lost to Barca in the 2 finals in 2009 (0-2) and 2011 (1-3). And in the 8 times they met in the C1 arena, Man Utd only won 1 match (2008), lost 3 and the 2 teams drew 4 times. Another thing worth mentioning is that Messi is the player who scored the most goals against English teams in the C1 arena with 22 goals. Therefore, many MU fans are completely worried when meeting Barca in the Quarterfinals.

MU is in the process of rebuilding the team and there is still a lot of work to do. Just a few months ago, they did not dare to believe that they would go this far in the C1 arena, but after the "miraculous" comeback against PSG in the round of 16, confidence has returned strongly to this team and as Manucians often say to each other "When you get here, who do you have to fear anymore?". And when playing at their best, MU will be truly scary.

The 2018/19 UCL quarter-final matches. Photo: uefa.com

Prediction: Barcelona to semi-finals

The second match between Tottenham and Man City is an internal match of the Premier League, however, these are two teams with little experience in the C1 Cup, both teams have never won this tournament and often do not go far in previous seasons. In terms of strength, Man City is superior in both force and form. Currently, they are leading the Premier League, 13 points ahead of Tottenham in 3rd place. In particular, Man City coach Pep Guardiola is very experienced in the UCL arena when he led Barca to win the C1 Cup twice (2009, 2011) and brought Bayern Munich to the semi-finals of this tournament 3 times (2014, 2015, 2016).

Prediction: Manchester City to semi-finals

The third match between Liverpool and Porto. Perhaps many fans of The Kop are very happy with this draw result because compared to the remaining opponents, Porto seems to be much softer. Although it is a name that often appears in the knockout rounds of the C1 Cup, in terms of strength and current form, Porto is ranked quite far below Liverpool, the team that is having a quite sublime season when still competing fiercely with Man City in the domestic league, and is the current runner-up of UCL 2017/18. Last year, Liverpool eliminated Porto in the round of 16 with a score of 5-0 after 2 matches.

Prediction: Liverpool to semi-finals

Match 4: Ajax Amsterdam vs Juventus. An old force of European football has revived, Ajax used to be a big team on the continent with a training ground that produced countless football superstars, including Johan Cruyff, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gulit... Then the development of modern football along with the financial strength of major tournaments saw Ajax "sucked" of all talent and become a place to "produce" players for big teams in Europe. This team has won the C1 Cup 4 times (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995). Notably, in 1973 Ajax defeated Juve in the final. But the last time Amsterdam reached the Quarterfinals was in the 1996/97 season - more than 20 years the name Ajax was forgotten in the most prestigious arena of the continent and who knows, maybe this year they will rekindle their glory to remind all of Europe to remember the glorious Ajax Amsterdam.

On the other side of the battle line is an old Juventus, this team has been to the C1 Cup Final 9 times but sadly has only won the cup twice. They became the team that lost the most in the final of this tournament. In the domestic league, Juventus has dominated for nearly a decade and they really crave to have another prestigious UCL CUP, the last time this team won the championship was in 1996 - against Ajax on penalties. And this year, many fans of the "Old Lady" believe their team will win the cup because they have Ronaldo. The king of the C1 arena. The best player of the tournament in the last 5 seasons. The top scorer in 4 seasons Real Madrid won the championship.

Prediction: Juventus to the Semi-finals

The quarter-final matches will take place in a home and away format.

First leg: April 10-11

Return leg: April 17-18

Chi Bao