Champions League 2012-13 quarterfinal pairs:
PSG-Barcelona
Bayern-Juventus
Malaga-Borussia
Real-Galatasaray
After the warm farewell with half of the teams left in
the Champions League, the focus is moving on 8 teams remaining as Champions
League 2012-13 winner candidates. We have only five leagues left after the last
teams from English, Scottish, Ukrainian and Portuguese leagues were defeated in
the round of 16.
The
major match of the week:
The Ruhr or Revierderby between Schalke 04 and
Borussia Dortmund was the central match of the European top leagues last
weekend. Both of the teams were still Champions League participants by then,
with Schalke finding itself in an improving form. The main absences in the
teams were the banned Jones of Schalke and Reus of Borussia, who was sitting on
the bench. The visitors welcomed Matts Hummels back into the starting line-up.
It was a fantastic match with
two extramotivated teams
on the pitch. Jens Keller’s team was more successful in the first half, as two
fantastic right-wing crosses by Atsuto Uchida found the right men in the box.
The goals were scored by Draxler and Huntelaar. It is important to mention that
both of the teams were mainly organizing their attacks through the wings, so it
was common to see the fullbacks defend and attack within a minute.
The defending champions were creating lots of chances,
but the score remained 2-0 after the first half. This was not exactly what Jurgen
Klopp was looking for, so he took Grosskreutz and Hummels out to replace them
by Reus and Sahin. This would mean more focus on attacks organized from the
center. Although Schalke’s fullbacks got more space to attack, it was Borussia
that scored the next goal. The Polish duo Blaszczykowski-Lewandowski arranged
it, to make the score 2-1. That was all the Dortmund team could do. Schalke
couldn’t do more either, mainly because of Huntelaar’s injury. The Dutchman was
substituted by Pukki, who had difficulties in winning battles against Borussia
defenders.
Highlights
of the week:
- Messi is going on with
the record! He has scored 17 league matches in row! The Argenitine played
around 30 minutes in that match. The Spanish League standings show Real moving
to the second place. 11 games left and 13 points difference: is everything
really lost? The third Spanish team left in Champions League is Malaga. The
team has just left the top 4. They need to do better if they want to repeat
their nice Champions League campaign next season. All three teams will play at
home this weekend and have all the chances to register victories,
- German Bundesliga
leaders Bayern had problems at the home match against Fortuna, but found the
way to not only save the match, but also win it. The difference between the
second-place Borussia is 20 points. 2 matchdays more and Bayern may officially
claim the league title with whole 7 matchdays left to go. They have only lost
to Bayer this season and they meet the Leverkusen side again this weekend.
Borussia will play against Freiburg on Saturday,
- The Turkish champions
have an advantage of 4 points over their rivals Fenerbahce. There are 5 matches
left for the league to end: the highest league position of Galatasaray’s next 5
opponents is 7. This means that only a miracle can take another league title
away from the Istanbul team,
- Giaccherini’s last
minute goal earned another three points for Juventus. As the closest opponent
Napoli lost its match, Juventus has become even more confident about the
Scudetto. The tournament is still far from its finish line, but it is hard to
believe that The Old Lady will waste the 9-point advantage in 10 remaining matches.
They play against Bologna away at home this Saturday,
- PSG won its 17th
match in the league this season. Ibrahimovic’s brace was enough for Ancelotti’s
team to beat Nancy. The next opponent is the fourth-placed St. Etienne. The
difference between PSG and the second-placed Lyon is 4 points,
- With several crisis-hit
teams leaving the Champions League, the average position of a Champions League
quarterfinalist is significantly higher than 1/8 finals’ participant’s: this indicator
shows only 1.75, which talks about the strength of the teams remaining in the
tournament. The leaders of the Spanish, German, Italian, French and Turkish
leagues are still with us. Spain and Germany have their second-placed teams alive
in the Champions League. The worst position is Malaga’s 5th.
The
upcoming weekend:
As mentioned above, Bayer is going to host Bayern.
This encounter, together with the PSG-St. Etienne match, is going to have the
attention of football fans following the remaining participants of the Champions
League.
| Club | Last Matches | Next match | Position in the domestic league |
| FC Barcelona (Spain) | 09.03 Deportivo (H) 2-0 12.03 Milan (H) 4-0 | 17.03 Rayo Vallecano (H) | 1 |
| Real Madrid (Spain) | 10.03 Celta (A) 2-1 | 16.02 R. Mallorca (H) | 2 |
| Malaga (Spain) | 09.03 Real Vallad. (A) 1-1 13.03 Porto (H) 2-0 | 17.03 Espanyol (H) | 5 |
| Bayern (Germany) | 09.03 Fortuna D. (H) 3-2 13.03 Arsenal (H) 0-2 | 16.03 Bayer (A) | 1 |
| Borussia D. (Germany) | 09.03 Schalke 04 (A) 1-2 | 16.03 Freiburg (H) | 2 |
| Galatasaray (Turkey) | 08.03 Genclerbir. (H) 0-1 12.03 Schalke 04 (A) 3-2 | 16.03 Kayserispor (A) | 1 |
| Juventus (Italy) | 10.03 Catania (H) 1-0 | 16.03 Bologna (A) | 1 |
| PSG (France) | 09.03 Nancy (H) 2-1 | 17.03 St. Etienne (A) | 1 |
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