Champions League: Spurs conundrum and other stories

Champions League Tuesday round of 16 previews: Galatasaray vs Liverpool , Atalanta vs Bayern Munich, spurs vs Atletico Madrid, Newcastle vs Barça.

Will Tottenham focus on their relegation fight or will they go for it in the Champions League? (Photo credit: YouTube)

The Champions League has entered the business end with four exciting fixtures each on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s another opportunity for English teams to prove their worth against the rest of Europe.

Our focus today rests on the Tuesday fixtures in the Champions League. The path to the final has been clearly defined. The left side of the divide is quite tough to navigate; to be the best, you must beat the best. It’s time for serious business in the Champions League.

Galatasaray will host Liverpool in Istanbul. We’ve been here before this season, and it was all joy for the Turkish side. The group phase game happened at a time Liverpool didn’t have a grip; the Kops were losing freely earlier in the season, but it looks like this will be a stronger match-up.

The reigning Premier League champions have only the FA Cup and the UCL as their potential sources of silverware; Galatasaray leads the way in the Turkish top flight but would give everything to win the Champions League. The contest will be keenly contested in Turkey.

Atalanta is home to Bayern Munich. This is one game that will test the German side. In terms of firepower, the German log leaders hold the aces; however, there’s a spirit in Bergamo that Bayern Munich will contend against. It was the spirit that dumped Borussia Dortmund out with ease two weeks ago.

Bayern is among the top three favourites to win the Champions League this season. Atalanta knows it will take so much more than grit and luck for them to get one over Bayern Munich; the Italian side must do their job in the first leg at home, as it won’t be an easy outing for them in Germany next week.

Igor Tudor and Tottenham understand the enormous work in front of them. Spurs is fighting relegation, and it’s tough for them to compete in the Champions League fiercely and then return to the league to grind out results in the Premier League at the weekend.

Priority has to be set in for Spurs at this stage; do they want to hand the game to Atletico Madrid and focus on their relegation dogfight or give everything in Europe like they did under Ange Postecoglou? They will have it all to do against Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid. Give this one to Atletico.

Finally, on Tuesday, it’s a repeat of what we saw earlier in the season. Newcastle will host Barcelona. Are we expecting lots of goals again? It was a goal-fest in the group phase as Barcelona triumphed 5-3; Newcastle lost to Manchester City in the FA Cup at the weekend, and their league form isn’t the best either.

Barcelona are on course for the league title after Atletico Madrid dumped them out of the League Cup. Barcelona have more quality; however, the Magpies have lots of heart and fight. This one might surprise a lot of people, but goals should reign.