UEFA Champions League: Bayern most at risk as Real, City, PSG take leads into return games
Bayern, however, has lost three Bundesliga games since January and three of its last five in all competitions including a 1-0 defeat at Lazio in the first leg.
Bayern’s Thomas Mueller during a training session
LONDON: The four European soccer powers that lead UEFA’s club rankings return to the Champions League round of 16 in midweek with Bayern Munich looking out of form and at risk of a stunning elimination.
Real Madrid, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain all take a lead into second-leg games and all are unbeaten in 2024 in its domestic leagues.
Bayern, however, has lost three Bundesliga games since January and three of its last five in all competitions including a 1-0 defeat at Lazio in the first leg.
Bayern has reached the Champions League quarter-finals in each of the last four years and went on to win the 2020 final against a PSG team then coached by Thomas Tuchel. But the current slump has seen Bayern already announce Tuchel will leave at the end of the season after just over a year in charge.
Bayern’s home game against Lazio shapes as the game most in the balance this week. Also Tuesday, PSG takes a 2-0 lead to Spain against another slumping team, Real Sociedad.
PSG is dealing with the fallout of Kylian Mbappe’s upcoming exit at the end of the season but still has a four-month unbeaten run while Real Sociedad has lost two more Spanish league games since the first leg in Paris.
The two standout teams in the Champions League this season — and the past two title winners — play at home on Wednesday.
Madrid has a 1-0 lead over Leipzig from the first leg that was the record 14-time European champion’s seventh straight win in the competition this season. Man City also made it seven in a row beating Copenhagen 3-1 in Denmark three weeks ago.