Champions League preview: Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain vs Barcelona

Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund

Maybe it’s optimistic to hope for a gung-ho showing from Atletico as they face Dortmund in this first leg quarter-final.

The last time Diego Simeone’s side made it to the quarter-finals, in 2022, just a single goal was scored over the two legs; Man City won 1-0.

These opponents don’t quite have City’s quality, of course. Ahead of this match, Dortmund were defeated by Stuttgart in the Bundesliga this weekend. But they have only lost one Champions League fixture so far this season, as have Atletico.

Given the hosts’ historic willingness to sit back and wait patiently for opportunities to open up, this match might be the yin to Real Madrid and Man City’s yang – a hifalutin way of saying it could be a little low on thrills.

You could opt to back under 1.5 goals at 23/10, but of course that doesn’t leave you much margin for error. Otherwise, maybe backing Antoine Griezmann to score for the hosts will pay off.

The Frenchman has scored six goals in the current CL campaign, netting in each of his home games to date. Griezmann is 18/5 to be the first goalscorer.

Paris Saint-Germain vs Barcelona

Back in 2015, Luis Enrique led Barcelona to their most recent Champions League championship.

Now the coach has his sights set on knocking Barca out of the competition, as his Paris Saint-Germain side welcome the Spanish side to the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

Are PSG up to the task? The side aren’t in the most outstanding form, currently. With Kylian Mbappe regularly being substituted – this past weekend he started on the bench – PSG have drawn four of their last six games in Ligue 1.

The side haven’t always convinced in the CL this season either – Paris only won two of their group stage games, surprisingly. But at least Mbappe has been more reliable. The striker scored twice away against Real Sociedad last time out, propelling his team to the quarter-finals.

Will Mbappe be the star once again for this first leg clash with the Spanish side? The 25-year-old tends to loom large in PSG’s more important matches.

And despite getting slightly less playing time in recent weeks, Mbappe has still been scoring regularly. Last month he scored a hat-trick away to Montpellier, and the forward has a total of 24 goals in the league so far in this campaign.

Barca are unbeaten in their last nine La Liga games, winning seven of them. But Xavi’s side have been less impressive in the Champions League, winning just one of their away games in the competition so far this season.

It’s not exactly a leftfield selection, but PSG to win and Mbappe to score in a double at 6/4 could be worth a look.

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