The second-round pairings for the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League are set following Monday’s spherical of 16 attract Nyon, Switzerland. All eight knockout stage matchups are listed beneath, with fast takeaways from every one.
Back within the Champions League for the primary time in six seasons, the Gunners seem like real title contenders. With all respect due a Porto aspect that completed tied on factors with Barcelona, Arsenal ought to cruise into the quarterfinals.
(*16*) vs. Napoli
Advancing to the final 16 is an enchancment for Barcelona after being eradicated within the first spherical in every of the final two seasons. But Xavi’s staff does not have a straightforward path to its first quarterfinal look since 2020, with Italian Scudetto holder Napoli greater than succesful of knocking out the five-time European titlists.
Manchester City vs. Copenhagen
Defending champions Man City could not have requested for a greater draw, with the Danes maybe the weakest of the 16 remaining groups. But FC Copenhagen has already overwhelmed the Sky Blues’ crosstown rival Manchester United on this event whereas additionally holding Bayern scoreless in a tie in Munich final month.
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Sociedad
Kylian Mbappé & Co. are hell-bent on hoisting membership soccer’s most coveted trophy for the primary time. But after ending because the runner-up in 2020 and making it again to the semis the subsequent 12 months, PSG failed to succeed in even the quarters the final two years. Is the present staff, sans Neymar and Lionel Messi, any higher?
Inter Milan vs. Atlético Madrid
Inter narrowly misplaced the 2022-23 last to Man City, and the Serie A leaders have a robust sufficient squad to make one other deep run this spring. Still, Monday’s draw did not do the Nerazzurri any favors. Atléi is a formidable foe — whereas Diego Simeone’s staff is not having the most effective La Liga marketing campaign, they completed above Lazio, Feyenoord and Celtic to win Group E.
PSV Eindhoven vs. Borussia Dortmund
The 4 U.S. men’s national team gamers nonetheless alive and kicking on this season’s Champions League play for these two groups. Gio Reyna’s Dortmund would usually be the favourite, however this PSV aspect — which options Reyna’s fellow Americans Sergino Dest, Ricardo Pepi and Malik Tillman — impressed within the group stage and is an ideal 16-0 within the Netherlands’ Eredivisie.
Bayern Munich vs. Lazio
After being soundly overwhelmed by the eventual champs Bayern in final season’s final eight, Bayern need to win all of it for the primary time since 2020. With Harry Kane breaking scoring information in Germany nearly each week, Lazio will probably be hard-pressed to forestall them from returning to the quarters no less than.
It’s no shock that report 14-time European champions are the bookies’ overwhelming favourite to dispatch Leipzig. What’s shocking is that each City and Bayern have higher odds of profitable this 12 months’s competitors outright. With the seemingly unstoppable Jude Bellingham main Real, guess in opposition to Los Blancos at your personal danger.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports. Before becoming a member of FOX Sports in 2021, he was a employees author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has coated United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at a number of FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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