2020-2021 Champions League Playoffs

By Max Eibschutz ‘22

In the past 20 years, the UEFA Champions League has become one of the world’s biggest and best soccer tournaments. The league is comprised of Europe’s best teams, who all compete to win the Champions League Final.
Although every team’s goal is to win the tournament, the Champions League is about more than just winning. The league helps unite fans across the continent since, without it, many of Europe’s top teams would never have a chance to play each other. 

The season’s Round of 16 matchups were recently released, and there are many exciting matchups. There are some matchups where there is a clear favorite, but the Champions League has a long history of upsets, so every game is worth watching.
Unlike American sports, the Champions League playoffs use a two-game format. Each team plays a home and away game per round against another team, and whoever has more combined goals advances.
The most hyped matchup in this year’s Round of 16 is between Barcelona and Paris-Saint Germain (PSG), two of Europe’s wealthiest clubs. Barcelona is led by Lionel Messi, whom many consider to be the best soccer player in the world.
PSG is trying to return to and win the finals after losing to Bayern Munich in last year’s finals. They are led by Neymar, considered by most to be one of the five best players in the world and who actually used to play for Barcelona, and Killian Mbappe, who at just 22 years old has already built a legacy that compares to the greats.
Another interesting wrinkle of this matchup is that there are rumors that Messi wants to leave Barcelona, and one of his top potential destinations is PSG.
This game is happening at the same time as another huge game, Liverpool vs. RB Leipzig. Leipzig was one of the Cinderellas of last year’s tournament, making a very surprising run to the semifinals before losing to PSG. On the other side, Liverpool is considered to be one of the best clubs in Europe, having won the Champions League in 2019 and also winning the Premier League last season.
However, Liverpool is missing its best player, Virgil Van Dijk, who tore his ACL in October and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Van Dijk is considered to be the best defender in the world, and Liverpool will surely miss him. All of these factors make Liverpool vs. RB Leipzig one of the most intriguing matchups of the Round of 16.
Another big game is Juventus vs. FC Porto. Juventus is led by Christiano Ronaldo, who is also arguably the best player in the world. Porto is one of the best teams from Portugal, which is Ronaldo’s home country. After winning 3 Champions Leagues in a row from 2016-2018 with Real Madrid, Ronaldo is attempting to win his 4th Champions League in six years and his 6th in total. 
At the same time as the Juventus game is Borussia Dortmund vs. Sevilla. Dortmund, one of the best teams in Germany, is led by Erling Braut Holland, who is considered to be one of the top prospects in the world, and Jadon Sancho, who is one of the best players from England. They match up against Ivan Rakitic, who helped lead Croatia to the World Cup Finals in 2018, and Jesus Navas, who is a veteran Spanish player who was part of the 2010 World-Cup-winning team.
A big matchup between two of Europe’s blue-blood teams is Chelsea vs. Atletico Madrid. Frank Lampard is the manager of a Chelsea team that is currently in poor form but should not be underestimated due to the abundance of talent they have on their roster. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid has been in outstanding form and is currently leading the La Liga, Spain's domestic league.
At the same time is S.S Lazio,one of the top Italian clubs, vs. Bayern Munich. As mentioned above, Bayern is the defending champions, and are led by Robert Lewandowski, who was considered by most to be the best player in the world last season. Bayern is the big favorite in this game, but anything is possible in the Champions League.
A matchup with a clear favorite and underdog is Manchester City vs. Borussia Monchengladbach. In recent years Manchester has consistently been one of the best clubs in Europe, and they are led by Kevin De Bruyne, who is considered the best midfielder in the world. They also have Raheem Sterling, who is one of the best wingers in the world and arguably the best English player in the world. Monchengladbach, a German club, shocked the world when they advanced to the Round of 16 and have an opportunity to be this year’s Cinderella team.
At the same time as that game is Real Madrid vs. Atalanta. Real Madrid is the best Champions League team of all time, having won 13 Titles. However, since Ronaldo left the club in 2019, they have struggled, by their standards, and barely escaped the group stage. They face off against an Atalanta side who made it to the quarterfinals last year and should not be underestimated.
Even though Bayern are the favorites, the team with the most energy, confidence, and desire will win this competition. Hundreds of millions of people around the world are excited to see who wins this year's Champions League.