The first week of the Round of 16 is over and the second week begins Tuesday afternoon. There will be four games in the next two days between eight of the best teams in all of Europe. Each of the games being played this week are the first legs of two and the second legs will be played later on in March.
All games will start at approximately 2:45 EST either on Tuesday or Wednesday with one game each day being featured on Fox Soccer Channel live.
This week's games include Bayern Munich at Arsenal and Malaga at FC Porto on Tuesday with Barcelona at AC Milan and Schalke 04 at Galatasaray on Wednesday.
Last Week's Results:
Juventus defeated Celtic 3-0
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Valencia 2-1
Real Madrid drew Manchester United 1-1
Shakhtar Donetsk drew Borussia Dortmund 2-2
Tuesday's Games:
Bayern Munich @ Arsenal
Arsenal are welcoming Bayern Munich to the Emirates Stadium in this Tuesday matchup. The Gunners haven't been having as good a season as the team had expected and losing Robin van Persie to rival Manchester United definitely did not help out the team. Bayern have been on an absolute roll this season and have been almost untouchable in the Bundesliga. They currently have a 15 point lead over second place Borussia Dortmund and should now be able to put all of their focus on winning the Champions League.
While I do believe that Arsenal has a chance at winning this game I just think the Gunners are going to be out-gunned in this one. Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott will probably help Arsenal get a goal or two, but I just don't think two goals will be enough to beat Bayern. I'm expecting Bayern to score multiple goals because they just might have the most firepower in this entire tournament right now. With forwards Mario Mandzukic, Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez each of those guys will get their chances, but I'm thinking the midfield will be the key for them. Franck Ribery, Toni Kroos, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Arjen Robben will be too much for Arsenal to deal with.
My prediction: Bayern Munich win 3-2
Malaga @ FC Porto
Neither of these teams really have a shot at winning the Champions league this year so whichever team manages to get to the next round should be happy with that result. Malaga are currently fourth in Spain's La Liga and FC Porto currently are tied at the top of the Portuguese Liga.
Malaga have been a team on the rise the last couple of years in Spain, but Porto has been THE team when it comes to soccer in their country. There isn't a large discrepancy between the teams talent levels, but I think the homefield advantage Porto will be having should be enough to aid them to victory. My players to watch in this game are Joao Moutinho of Porto and Isco of Malaga.
My prediction: Porto win 2-1
Wednesday's Games:
Barcelona @ AC Milan "Game of the Week"
That guy in the picture above happens to be the best player in the world right now. As someone that isn't a fan of his or his team it is very hard for me to say this. He's the LeBron James of soccer right now and as much as people might argue that Cristiano Ronaldo is better, I just can't pick anyone over Messi at this point.
Now AC Milan is my favorite team in Italy and with the recent addition of "Super" Mario Balotelli they will have a chance in this game. Do I think they can beat this team??? Probably not. Barcelona have to be the favorite to win every time they step on the pitch. With Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas behind Messi it's gotten to a point where you can almost expect Messi to score at least once every game with one of those three guys behind him setting him up.
What this game is going to come down to is whether or not the scoring duo of Mario Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy will be able to score in this game. It's not a matter of whether or not Barca will score because they will, it's just a matter of will Milan be able to match them goal for goal in this one. I'm predicting that the home team will be able to get on the board and match them with two goals but if Barca scores any more than that I think they will win this game.
My prediction: Draw 2-2
Schalke 04 @ Galatasaray
In what will likely be the least watched game of the week one of the three German teams left, Schalke 04 will be traveling to Turkey to play Galatasaray. There are two key players in this game that I would really like to see play and they both play together for their native Netherlands during international play. Those two are Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Galatasaray's recently purchased midfielder Wesley Sneijder. Huntelaar has been a goal machine since coming to Germany to play for Schalke and I wouldn't be shocked if he put up a couple goals on the Turkish giants in this one.
I think a key to this game will be experience. Schalke played in a much harder league in the Bundesliga and due to Sneijder only recently joining Galatasaray I'm not sure how much of an impact he might actually have in this game. I was originally going to say this game was going to end in a draw, but the more I think about it Schalke will have the better team on the pitch and should walk out the winners on the road.
My prediction: Schalke win 2-1
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