The Champions League remaining–sixteen second legs take area this week; Benfica vs membership Brugge, Chelsea vs Dortmund on Tuesday; Bayern Munich vs PSG and Tottenham vs AC Milan on Wednesday; comply with all of the Champions League matches on Sky sports activities‘ virtual structures
Chelsea head train Graham Potter and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe
as the Champions League ultimate–sixteen spherical embarks on its crucial 2d-leg matches, Sky sports‘ soccer writers select out the key talking factors from the standout ties.
Potter’s largest Chelsea match to this point?
Graham Potter vowed to “inspect the whole thing” to try and halt an alarming run of shape that had visible Chelsea win simply as soon as in 2023 previous to the cagey 1-zero victory over Leeds on Saturday.
Wesley Fofana’s effective header turned into the first time his side had scored at home for the reason that January 15, and best a second intention everywhere across seven games in all competitions.
After three straight easy sheets in January and February, Potter will wish he has observed a temporary option to cowl for Thiago Silva following his knee ligament injury, however the end result papered over the cracks of the performance.
It was unconvincing but preventing the rot became all that mattered. It has offered Potter time while there may be but to be a clear sign that gamers signed in January at a value of £315m are gelling right into a cohesive unit.
nonetheless 11 factors off fourth within the optimum League, Chelsea’s best desire of qualifying for subsequent season’s Champions League might seem through triumphing the opposition. it’s miles make or spoil for Potter.
The owners‘ attitudes to the manager‘s long–term future, until now unwavering in their guide, have started to shift.
Chelsea should enhance on their poor record of restoration whilst falling at the back of. this is when they should show individual.
Potter’s side have lost their remaining nine matches in which they have conceded first, and self assurance visibly drained from the crew once they went a goal down early within the 2d 1/2 of the two–zero defeat by way of Tottenham towards the end of remaining month.
Chelsea ought to now show they have got commenced to show a corner, that there is no trouble with mentality, however any sense of momentum may be derailed if Borussia Dortmund dump them out of Europe.
Ben Grounds
Can report-breaker Mbappe get what he wishes from PSG?
it’s been a terrific week for Kylian Mbappe, who broke the Paris Saint-Germain goalscoring record together with his 201st intention for the club on Saturday evening.
it’s miles a prime landmark for the 24-year–antique ahead – however now the attention turns again to the Champions League, the simplest trophy to have kept away from the Frenchman in his profession.
PSG move into Wednesday night‘s remaining–sixteen 2nd leg at Bayern Munich trailing 1-0 from the primary come upon in Paris. The French champions will want a chief performance to development and will possibly flip to their talismanic No 7 for suggestion.
however should PSG exit of the opposition at this early stage, it’d open up a wave of hypothesis approximately Mbappe’s destiny in Paris. Can PSG supply Mbappe the trophy he surely desires?
The participant himself is adamant that Champions League fortunes will now not dictate his destiny, but Mbappe would be 25 by the time the subsequent knockout levels come around. He will be coming into his prime and might need to be on the exceptional feasible club to attain more than one european honours to fit his stature.
Sam Blitz
Bynoe-Gittens following Sancho and Bellingham examples
Jude Bellingham is not the only Englishman who might be keen to electrify whilst Borussia Dortmund face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday nighttime. In reality, his London-born crew-mate Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is probably even greater prompted.
The winger, a year younger than Bellingham at 18, isn’t always but a family name in England however he’s definitely recognized to Chelsea – and not simply due to his cameo in remaining month’s first leg. As a boy, he frolicked of their academy earlier than opting to sign up for reading.
From there, his profession has followed a comparable direction to that of Jadon Sancho. England name–america adolescents level; a flow from the outskirts of London – in Sancho’s case it become Watford – to Manchester town; then a jump into the unknown with Borussia Dortmund.
The flow to Germany came within the summer time of 2020, a choice made, like Sancho, with a primary–team pathway in mind. latest proof suggests it has paid off. Having shone at U19 degree, Bynoe-Gittens is now a fully-fledged member of Dortmund’s senior squad.
A shoulder injury stalled his development within the first half of the season however there had been 3 desires and an assist in just 417 minutes of Bundesliga action so far and a deeper study the numbers underlines his effectiveness. He ranks pinnacle in the division for pictures on track consistent with 90 mins and 2nd for desires from open play.
Dortmund see him as their subsequent big issue and comparisons with Sancho, who joined Manchester United for £73m a 12 months after his arrival, are unavoidable, but Bynoe-Gittens is his personal guy. He can be out to show it on his return to London.
Nick Wright
Will Spurs kickstart their season once more?
Tottenham have now not won a ecu knockout recreation in any UEFA competition due to the fact that they reached the Champions League final in 2019.
That isn’t always the best hoodoo Spurs are facing as they prepare to host AC Milan on Wednesday night time. it has been a decade due to the fact Antonio Conte final made the Champions League area-finals as a manager, with ultimate–sixteen and group–degree exits in each of his final four campaigns at Europe’s top table.
They perhaps will now not get a higher hazard to attain the sector-finals of the Champions League than this yr – as they arrive up against a aspect in a comparable state of affairs to themselves: out of the name race and in the midst of inconsistent outcomes.
Trailing Milan 1-zero from the primary leg, Conte and Spurs need a remaining–8 spot on this yr‘s competition to kickstart some existence into their season and show this side have advanced from remaining season.
An exit and Spurs will be competing for fourth area again, as they have been on the quit of the last marketing campaign – is that this sufficient for Conte, Harry Kane and others to live devoted to this challenge for every other season?
Spurs have missed their shooting boots of their closing two video games – however have controlled big derby wins in their most latest domestic matches towards West Ham and Chelsea. those suits are some thing to replicate on Wednesday.
Sam Blitz
Has Parker Scott to go with another poor end result?
much less than a year ago, Scott Parker turned into on Cloud nine after guiding Bournemouth back to the superior League at the first time of asking.
Ten months is a long time in soccer. The 42–yr–old is already staring down the barrel of a 2nd sacking considering the fact that that merchandising.
“He ought to now finish that he isn’t always the proper man within the proper area,” said Belgium’s Het Laatste Nieuws after his membership Brugge aspect have been humbled by means of relegation-bothered Oostende on Friday night.
A 9–zero defeat at Liverpool in August became sufficient to spook an overzealous Cherries hierarchy simplest 4 video games into the top-rated League season, and now Parker’s success is up again. eleven matches after he took over at membership Brugge on New yr‘s Eve, he reveals himself again up the creek without a paddle.
There isn’t always tons room for errors the various canals of Brugge, where the Blauw-Zwart have won or completed 2d in all the final eight seasons. They have been already 12 points off leaders Genk whilst Parker arrived, and after handiest two wins in 10 on account that that hole has widened to 19.
That Oostende loss has not pretty proved the very last straw, however a negative displaying in opposition to Benfica on Tuesday should. The tie is already as true as over after club Brugge’s 2-0 defeat inside the domestic leg, but with query marks raised this week whether or not the dressing room are nevertheless at the back of their manager, the way of the performance in Lisbon is critical for the Englishman overseas to shop his future.
Ron Walker
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