Two months later, the Champions League anthem will be heard again in some of the main European stadiums. With the group stage of the competition ending on December 13 last year, the round of 16 of the Champions League begins this Tuesday and the two opening games of this stage include two of the strongest candidates to be present. in the final of the competition — Manchester City and Real Madrid, respectively the current European champion and the club with the most continental trophies in the museum.
In Copenhagen, the home team will face a complicated task. The Danes — who reach this stage of the Champions League for only the second time in their history — face a Manchester City team that is going through an impressive period of form: winning ten consecutive games.
The scenario becomes even more complicated for Copenhagen, where the Portuguese Diogo Gonçalves plays and who arrives at this game after an inevitable winter break — the match against Galatasaray, in the last round of the Champions group stage, was indeed the final competitive game of the Nordics so far, who have held five friendly matches, totaling two wins, one draw and two defeats.
And as if all this were not enough, the Norwegian Erling Haaland and the Belgian Kevin de Bruyne have recovered from the injuries that affected them in recent months and are options for coach Pep Guardiola, as are the Portuguese Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva, by the way, and likely holders.
The Scandinavians can only believe that they can repeat the feat of 2022, when they also faced the favorites “citizens” and imposed equality. Mohamed Elyounoussi, a Norwegian striker, born in Morocco, is Copenhagen’s standout man at the moment, with five goals in the last two games before tonight’s clash.
The other match of the night pits RB Leipzig and Real Madrid face to face. The Spaniards travel to Germany warned of what Marco Rose’s team is capable of doing — in the group stage of last season’s Champions League, RB Leipzig prevailed at home 3-2.
This season, the German team has shown some inconsistency despite fifth place in the Bundesliga — they have won just two of their last seven games in the German League. Now the “You meringues” have managed to impose themselves in the Spanish League — they received and thrashed Girona in the last round, extending their advantage over the surprising second placed team to five points and their lead over their rivals Barcelona to ten.
However, the season has not been easy for Carlo Ancelotti’s team, who have seen some of their most influential players suffer injuries. The last to enter the “ward” (where, for example, Courtois, Militão and Alaba are already present) was the 20-year-old midfielder hired in the closed season from Borussia Dortmund for 103 million euros, Jude Bellingham. The English international was having an excellent season — he has four goals in five games in the Champions League, for example — but he was injured last weekend and is doubtful for today’s match.
But Marco Rose is not so sure that Real Madrid will not use the best scorer in the Spanish league in this Tuesday’s game. “I don’t believe he will be left out until he is not at the stadium tomorrow,” said the coach.