A final before the term existed
By Guillaume Mahot
The drawing lots of the Champions’ League round of 16 season 2019/2020, which occurred on Monday, will propose us an appealing Real Madrid – Manchester City, a confrontation between high-skilled coaches Zinédine Zidane and Pep Guardiola and ultimately a game that already looks like the upcoming final of the competition. One big fish will collapse very early in the current edition of the greatest European tournament.
Real Madrid, whose squad got the draw last Wednesday against their best enemies of Barcelona (0-0) in Camp Nou in a game that was highlighted by the demonstrations of separatists who threw balls on the pitch and showed their support to the people imprisoned for the sake of the Catalan cause, must think that winning the Champions’ League again is not going to be that simple. After four trophies grabbed in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Merengues got kicked out last season by the youngsters from Ajax in 1/8th finals, and now the Citizens and their guide Guardiola are standing in their way.
For the teammates of Algerian right winger Riyad Mahrez, who remain far behind Liverpool in Premier League (49 points for the Reds, ranking first, and 35 points only for Manchester City, ranking third), the Champions’ League can quickly become the main priority if things do not turn in the right way in the English league, which seems to be the case right now. Eliminating Real Madrid would be a big signal sent to other contenders, and also the opportunity to be feared in a tournament City dreams of winning (like others one may say). The fact is, Man City never took it in the whole history of the competition. The neighbors of United did it several times. Tough.
Complete drawing lots of the Champions’ League round of 16 season 2019/2020 (first leg games on February 18 and 19, 25 and 26, second leg games on March 10 and 11, 17 and 18):
Atlético Madrid – Liverpool
Dortmund – PSG
Atalanta – Valencia
Tottenham – RB Leipzig
Chelsea – Bayern Munich
Napoli – Barcelona
Lyon – Juventus Turin
Real Madrid – Manchester City
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