With Arsenal, Manchester City, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen all having suffered home defeats in the first leg, Al Hain-Cole examines their chances of turning it around this week
With all four of the pre-match favourites having established first-leg leads, it will take something dramatic for the Champions League quarter-finals not to feature Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
From Mesut Ozil’s missed penalty to Wojciech Szczesny’s red card, everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Arsenal in their 2-0 home defeat against Bayern , leaving them with a mountain to climb when they head to Germany on Tuesday.
However, having won 2-0 at the home of the European champions only last season, the Gunners will not be giving up hope just yet, despite bet365’s hefty 25/1 (26.00) odds on them progressing against a team that beat Wolfsburg 6-1 away at the weekend.
Meanwhile, AC Milan’s 1-0 home defeat means they are now 7/1 (8.00) outsiders to turn it around against an Atletico Madrid team that have lost just once all season at the Vicente Calderon, winning all three group stage matches in front of their own fans.
Manchester City’s domestic leg followed a similar story to Arsenal’s, having a man sent off before losing 2-0 against Barcelona, meaning they are now available at 14/1 (15.00) to bounce back from Sunday’s shock FA Cup exit by sealing a place in the last eight.
Boosted by the return of Sergio Aguero from injury, Manuel Pellegrini’s men will also have taken some confidence from the Blaugrana‘s 1-0 defeat against Real Valladolid on Sunday – their second loss in the last three league games.
After losing 4-0 on home turf against a star-studded PSG team, it would take a miracle for Bayer Leverkusen to leave Paris with their Champions League dreams still alive on Wednesday, as the 200/1 (201.00) odds would attest.
Nevertheless, the history of the European Cup is littered with a number of memorable comebacks. Could this week’s action provide more unforgettable turnarounds?
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Al Hain-Cole is an experienced tipster and avid follower of European football. He specialises in accumulators and if you would like to read more from Al you can follow him on Twitter here.