The UEFA Champions League quarter-finals continue on Wednesday night when Chelsea welcome Real Madrid to Stamford Bridge and Bayern Munich travel to Villarreal in their respective first legs.
Thomas Tuchel ’s side face La Liga leaders Real Madrid in a rematch of last season’s semi-final, while Bayern Munich face a tricky trip away to Spanish underdogs Villarreal, who will look to cause another upset. And former Real Madrid striker Michael Owen has given his verdict on tonight's action ahead of another huge round of fixtures.
Chelsea suffered a shock 4-1 defeat at home to Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday and know they cannot afford to produce the same type of performance here against a much more talented side if they are to have any chance of winning tonight, as the Blues look for a repeat of last season’s 2-0 victory in the same fixture.
But Los Blancos are flying at the top of La Liga this season and look on course to win their 35th league title, while they are also gunning for their 13th Champions League trophy after defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 on aggregate in the previous round. However, Owen still predicts a big win or the Blues.
He told BetVictor : “Another interesting tie, particularly with these two having met in last year’s semi-final. Chelsea won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in that tie, but it could have been four or five. Real looked slow and leggy in that tie, and I don’t see huge improvement in them.
Benzema and Vinicius have been brilliant this season and they will be a threat. I’m going for Chelsea though. 3-1.”
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Elsewhere on the night in the only tie of the round not involving an English team is Villarreal’s quarter-final with Bayern Munich, in which the Spaniard’s are huge underdogs despite dumping out Serie A giants Juventus in the previous round with a 4-1 aggregate victory.
Bayern were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw in their first leg with Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg in the previous round, before getting back to their usual best in the second leg with a thumping 7-1 victory at the Allianz Arena. But Owen is predicting the German champions to be held away from home once again here.
He told BetVictor : “Villarreal have done brilliantly to make it this far. They completely deserved the win over Juventus in the last round. Emery is renowned for his nous in European competitions, and I would never write his side off. Bayern struggled away from home in the last round against Salzburg, and I can see another draw here. I’m going for 1-1.”
Unlike the eight day gap between the first and second legs of the two quarter-final ties that took place on Tuesday, Chelsea have just six days until they travel to Madrid for their quarter-final second leg against the La Liga outfit, taking place on Tuesday, April 12.
And the same goes for Villarreal and Bayern, who play the return leg in Munich on the same date, with this being just the third match up between the two sides since the Bundesliga outfit won both of their meetings in the 2010/11 group stage.
Elsewhere, Liverpool defeated Benfica 3-1 on Tuesday night thanks to goals from Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz, while Kevin de Bruyne gave Man City a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in their first leg.
