The Champions League Round of 16 is 3 quarters of the way finished now with another 4 games to go before the round is complete and we have a full picture of our Champions League quarterfinalists.
As expected, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Paris St Germain clinched their progression this week - their fate pretty much settled in their favour after the results from the first leg last month.
To be fair, the performances of all four sides was quite impressive and there should not be any dispute that all four deserved to go through. They did play the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen - two Premier League clubs leading the title race, a former European champion even if they aren't quite the side they were and a former finalist and one of the top 3 clubs in Germany.
The manner of their progression suggest that these four sides will be contenders and at least one of these sides should be in the Final in Lisbon. Of course, the luck of the draw means that their fate isn't certain until after the draw.
All four clubs have their strengths - all are nigh on impossible to beat at home and have shown to be quite tough to beat away from home, being very effective in absorbing the pressure from the home side and playing the counter attack game quite effectively.
Out of these four, I'd say Bayern Munich are the most well prepared for a sustained tilt at the title - they have the Bundesliga title nearly sown up and so can afford to devote all their resources towards becoming the first side in the Champions League era to defend their title. In a previous blog, I've already talked a lot about how this season's team is destined to be considered the greatest club side ever if luck goes their way.
However, PSG, Atletico Madrid and of course Barcelona have a lot of talent and technical nous to go all the way - and Barcelona have the experience of having been all the way twice.
Even if Barcelona haven't been quite as good as they have been in the past, they are still an irresistible force in Europe - and with the La Liga title possibly out of their sights for them, they will probably be even more dangerous now in Europe, with their resources fully behind a third European title in 5 years.
PSG and Atletico Madrid are probably the underdogs here - PSG despite their talented and expensively assembled side, don't quite have the history and confidence of going all the way although they have the potential, while Atletico Madrid might very well be stretched fighting for La Liga and the Champions League on two fronts with a squad that is still much smaller than the others.
Whatever the case, with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund set to join them and probably Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, this is set to be another vintage Champions League knockout stage.
Bring it on!
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