Champions League Quarterfinals Day 2: What You Need To Know
By Ty Duffy
Today is the second set of Champions League Quarterfinals at 2:45pm ET. PSG plays Barcelona on Fox Sports 1. If you can find it, Bayern Munich faces FC Porto on Fox Sports 2. Here is a brief news/narrative run down.
Teammates: All four coaches today were teammates on Barcelona’s 96-97 team. Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) and Luis Enrique (Barcelona) were longtime midfield stalwarts and club captains. Laurent Blanc (PSG) played for a season during his itinerant career as a defender. Julen Lopetegui (Porto) was a backup goalkeeper from 1994 to 1997. The team finished 2nd in La Liga, losing to Real Madrid by two points. It won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and the Copa Del Rey.
Bayern Injuries: Pep prefers a small squad. His small squad has a number of injuries. The laid up lists includes, but is not limited to, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez. Bayern had just four subs on the bench for last weekend’s win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Zlatan: Zlatan Ibrahimovic suspended for the first leg against his former club, after a questionable red card against Chelsea. He’s also appealing a four-match suspension in Ligue 1 for criticizing the league and its refs. His agent says he’s not leaving. His contract suggests he’s not leaving until it expires after next season. MLS fans will note Zlatan only said he wanted to stop playing at “top level” after his PSG contract ends. According to one report, he applied for a U.S. residency visa.
The David Luiz: God wanted Sideshow Bob to play, apparently. There were concerns he would miss out with a hamstring injury. PSG will still be without the aforementioned Zlatan, Marco Verratti (suspension) and Thiago Motta (thigh injury requiring a minor miracle). He has a tendency to be notable in key matches, though not always positively.
Rematches: Barcelona and PSG met in the quarterfinals in 2013. That meeting, quite exciting, ended 3-3 on aggregate, with Barcelona advancing on away goals. Bayern Munich vs. Porto is a rematch of the 1987 European Cup final. Porto scored twice in the final 15 minutes to dispatch the Germans 2-1 in Vienna.
Emre Can: The German midfielder is not playing. The Reds were eliminated in the group stage. But, he and “his bros” are about to drop the hottest album of 2015.