The Champions League returns on Tuesday to a very different European football landscape than it was before the three-month mid-season break.
During the past months, Lionel Messi won his first title in the World Cup, and Kylian Mbappe almost won his second title, then he was injured.
Meanwhile, a team that emerged ahead of the World Cup, Napoli, is advancing and aiming for their first quarter-final place in the competition’s 68-year history.
Off the field, the Super League project that effectively attempted to kill the Champions League has faced a serious legal setback, and English champions Manchester City are facing accusations of financial irregularities that might prevent the club from entering the Champions League in the future.
And while Mbappe, who scored seven goals in five different Champions League matches in the fall, was due to miss most of February with a thigh injury, the French star surprisingly returned to training on Sunday.
Tuesday’s match will bring together AC Milan and Tottenham, two of the seven teams in the round of 16 that are currently outside the Champions League qualifying spots in their domestic leagues.
Messi
When Messi won his fourth title with Barcelona in 2015 Barack Obama was still president, Britain was in the European Union and Jose Mourinho won the league title with Chelsea.
Messi has not been to the final since then and his first try for PSG ended in the last 16 once morest Madrid.
And when Messi last faced Bayern, it was an 8-2 defeat with Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the 2020 edition.
black horses
Napoli and Benfica topped their groups in November – ahead of Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively – and the draw allowed them to avoid teams like Madrid, Bayern and Man City.
Napoli travels to Eintracht Frankfurt on February 21 to play Benfica on Wednesday in Bruges. Both are ready for local titles following a strong comeback from the World Cup hiatus, but the European Champions title seems out of reach.
Benfica have not been European champions since 1962, and Napoli have never come close to being champions.
It is expected that Benfica will have enough to eliminate Brugge, who sacked coach Karl Hofkens in December following poor domestic results, despite being overtaken in the Champions League.
Brugge signed Scott Parker, who lost his previous match, a 9-0 loss to Liverpool in August with Bournemouth.
premier league?
Last November, Barcelona and Juventus failed to qualify from the Champions League groups as they and fellow Super League renegade Madrid await news of their legal challenge to UEFA at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
The court’s initial non-binding opinion in December was to disagree with the clubs’ claim that UEFA had a monopoly over European competitions.
The final verdict of 15 judges is expected within weeks.
Barcelona now lead La Liga and have a match this week with Manchester United in the Europa League knockout qualifiers.
