Bayern and Manchester City
with one foot in the quarters while the two Madrid teams will have to fight to qualify.
These are the prospects for the return of the Champions League round of 16 in which there will be a real risk of early elimination of Italian football.
After
the flop of Ronaldo's Juve
(who only partially made up for it with a trio against Cagliari) for Lazio it would take a miracle to overturn the 1-4 with the Bavarians.
A few more chances have the solid
Atalanta
, penalized in the first leg by an unjust expulsion, to overturn the 0-1 at
Real
home
.
It would be another flagship after the
Liverpool
home win
.
If Gasp accomplishes the feat, the Spanish teams could be eliminated.
Smoother, on paper, the task of the Italian League in Europe: the
Roma goes to Shakhtar house with three-goal lead,
the
Milan just a 0-0 draw at the San Siro
with a
Manchester United
incerottato.
But both Italians come from a knockout in Serie A having shown fatigue and lack of clarity after the efforts of last Thursday also due to the lack of many big names.
The most interesting matches concern the two Madrid teams.
Spanish football has already lost
Barcelona
and
Seville by the way
and is taking a lot of risk.
Zidane knows it well, he understands that the victory in Bergamo was the result of chance because Atalanta played almost the entire match unfairly in ten.
Gasp's group is respected in Europe, has reached the maturity and flexibility of a top team.
The leap in quality, however, depends on the moods of Ilicic who, after the farewell of Papu Gomez, is the most talented element, in addition to the goals of the luxury bench Muriel.
Real are third in Liga but have recovered Sergio Ramos and Hazard, and above all Benzema who saved the team by drawing with
Atletico
and overturning the match against Elche with a brace.
Even without an audience it will not be easy to play at the Bernabeu.
Simeone
's
Atletico
risk even more as
he is squandering the conspicuous advantage he had at the head of the Liga and will have to win at Chelsea to nullify Giroud's spectacular goal of the first leg.
It will be tough because with Tuchel
Chelsea
have improved a lot, enhancing the spectacular squad available.
The Londoners will not have Jorginho while the Spaniards will entrust their chances to veterans Suarez and llorente.
Downhill road for
Bayern
who continue to win smoothly and set records led by Lewandowski, who scored 268 goals in the team and 32 in the Bundesliga season, 8 from Gerd Mueller's lead.
Lazio want to come out with their heads held high and avoid the defensive flop of the first leg.
Manchester City also seems to have few problems, set to win the Premier with a sidereal advantage: the Moenchengladbach was tamed in the first leg and will now try the feat, but Guardiola has also found Aguero and dreams of winning back the Champions that escapes him from times of Messi al Barca.
Milan hopes not to have negative consequences from the ko with Napoli that has removed the prospects for the Scudetto, but after the excellent away match they want to complete the job by qualifying at the expense of a slightly tarnished Manchester United.
But the quality of the guest players does not make Pioli sleep peacefully.
Some apprehensions also for Fonseca who has to manage Roma's three goals advantage at the home of Shakhtar, his former team.
But the fatigue of the Giallorossi and the well-known amnesia in the defensive phase put the coach on notice.
A wrong approach could cause serious damage.
In the other matches, probable qualification for
Arsenal, Tottenham, Ajax, Villarreal, Granada
, balance between
Rangers and Slavia
after the draw of the first leg.