The mad rush to the midpoint of the Champions League league phase continues apace. In the space of four weeks we will have gotten through three rounds of the competition, hitting the halfway mark and making up time after that elongated international break. It is a pivotal moment then in the Champions League's early exchanges -- it's up to you to decide just how important the race for the top eight is in the overall direction of the competition -- and this week certainly brings the big guns.
Indeed, it is not hard to argue that Tuesday and Wednesday pit the four favorites for this competition against each other. On Wednesday it is the turn of the last two teams eliminated by champions Paris Saint-Germain to face off as Arsenal travel to Bayern Munich. Before that, however, it's the turn of the holders against the team that might be the best placed to steal their continental crown.
This is going to be a barn burner, right? First things first, we really need these two to face off when the stakes are high. In each of the last two seasons it has seemed European football has been locked on a collision course for a Barcelona-Paris Saint-Germain dust-up in the Champions League final.
A meeting between two injury-addled versions of these teams was not going to satiate our desires. What so many wanted was a chance for the Parisians to bury the ghost of La Remontada, an opportunity for the Spanish champions to avenge themselves on an opponent that keeps snatching up their star players. This would be a footballing feast for the ages because deep down, no one wants to see the best attack vs. the best defense.
They want the best attack vs. the second-best defense. It wouldn't hurt if at least one of those elite frontlines came with a rearguard that verges on Keystone Cops-ian (here's looking at you, Hansi Flick's high line). PSG have kept up their end of the bargain, Barcelona less so.
Red cards cost them in last season's quarterfinal against Atletico Madrid; a historic goalkeeping display from Inter's Yan Sommer did it the year before. There wasn't much improvement needed to get them to the big games, but boy, have they improved. Shaving 10% off their expected goals allowed per game in LaLiga is not to be sniffed at, and Rodri ranking in the 95th percentile for interceptions per 90 across Europe's top five leagues (min. 500 minutes played) is all the more impressive given that Barcelona always have the ball.
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