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The UEFA Champions League quarter-finals will get underway in midweek and we have a handful of delectable fixtures to watch out for.
While some of the mighty have fallen along the way, a few others have managed to make their dominance felt in the Champions League this season. The interesting thing to note, however, about this Champions League quarter-final stage is that almost every team has a sense of vulnerability about them.
It looks pretty open right now and there are ties that are extremely difficult to call. Manchester City and Chelsea are the only two English sides remaining in the Champions League as of now. Napoli, Inter Milan and AC Milan make for three representatives from Serie A.
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Real Madrid are the only Spanish side that have made it to the last 8, and Benfica are the only ones from Portugal. Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich take up the only remaining spot.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the predictions for each of the four Champions League quarter-final ties.
#4 Benfica vs Inter Milan
Inter Milan have not been at their best this season and are a far-cry from the side that played an exciting possession-based game last term. Simone Inzaghi has adopted a pragmatic approach in the ongoing campaign and it reflected in the way the Nerazzurri clung on to a 1-0 advantage against Porto in the Round of 16.
They don't score a lot of goals but are also difficult to score against. Meanwhile, Benfica have lost just three games in all competitions so far this season. Roger Schmidt's side play a high-intensity, free-flowing brand of football and they could prove to be too hot to handle for an insipid Inter Milan side.
Despite losing Enzo Fernandez halfway through the season to Chelsea, Benfica haven't lost any momentum and have plenty of in-form players as well. Although Inzaghi will devise a plan to silence the Portuguese side and keep them at bay, they are unlikely to succeed at it.
Prediction: Benfica to win 3-1 on agg.
#3 Manchester City vs Bayern Munich
This has the makings of a UEFA Champions League final. Two of Europe's strongest sides, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, will clash in the quarter-finals and it's expected to be a spectacular tie.
Manchester City have won all of their Champions League matches so far and Erling Haaland is in electric form. They absolutely thumped RB Leipzig (8-1 on agg.) in the Round of 16. However, we haven't seen peak-City this season and they have struggled occasionally in the Premier League.
Similarly, Bayern Munich have been unconvincing in the Bundesliga, leading to the departure of Julian Nagelsmann from the helm. But Thomas Tuchel could prove to be the decisive factor in this tie.
The German coach is excellent at sketching out plans for specific games and the Bavarians have the quality to take the game to City. The fact that the second leg will be played at Allianz Arena, Bayern's home ground, tilts the tie in their favor.
Prediction: Bayern Munich to win 4-3 on agg.
#2 AC Milan vs Napoli
It would have been easy to back Napoli to register a win over Serie A rivals AC Milan in this quarter-final tie until just a couple of weeks ago. But AC Milan welcomed Serie A leaders Napoli back into league action following the most recent international break with a resounding 4-0 win at the Diego Maradona Stadium.
That was a huge result for Milan but it would be stupid to write Napoli off in the quarter-final tie. They have a 19-point lead at the top of the Serie A table and players like Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim Min-jae have been in great form.
AC Milan have Champions League pedigree and it counts for something in Europe. If they can keep the buzzing Napoli forwards at bay, Milan will have a chance. But doing that for over 180 minutes is going to be an extremely arduous task.
Prediction: Napoli to win 3-1 on agg.
#1 Real Madrid vs Chelsea
It is a rematch of last year's Champions League quarter-final tie. Real Madrid used their Champions League juju to pull off an incredible win last time out and this time around, the tie looks even more favorable to them.
They've just thrashed Barcelona 4-0 at the Camp Nou and Karim Benzema is in world-beating form, bagging successive hat-tricks in his last two appearances.
Vinicius Junior, Luka Modric, Antonio Rudiger and Federico Valverde are all in good form and Los Blancos are also the most experienced when it comes to these crunch scenarios in the Champions League.
Chelsea are not the team they were last season. After a poor run of results, Graham Potter has been sacked. Former player and manager Frank Lampard has been appointed as the interim manager of the side. The squad lacks cohesion and Real Madrid are too strong for them right now.
Prediction: Real Madrid to win 4-1 on agg.
