Liverpool and Man City bid to continue English clubs’ Champions League dominance

Liverpool FC and Manchester City bid to continue English clubs' Champions League dominance

Liverpool and Manchester City will this week bid to make it four English teams in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in ten years.

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United already progressed last week, after defeating Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.

Pep Guardiola’s City host Schalke 04 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, before Jurgen Klopp’s Reds face Bayern Munich in Germany’s capital the following day.

Elsewhere, Juventus and Atletico Madrid face each other in Turin, and Lyon will make the trip to Catalonia to play Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.

Here’s StoryHub Derby’s preview of all four matches:

Manchester City v Schalke 04 (Tuesday 12 March, 20:00 at the Etihad Stadium)

Guardiola’s City host the visiting Germans with a 3-2 lead from the first leg, after late goals  from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling overturned a 2-1 deficit.

City defender Nicolas Otamendi is suspended after being sent off in the first leg, but he is likely to be replaced by John Stones, who looks set to return from injury.

Schalke will be without Alessandro Schopf, Omar Mascarell and Daniel Caligiuri, who have been ruled out through injury.

Juventus v Atletico Madrid (Tuesday 12 March, 20:00 at the Allianz Stadium)

Diego Simeone’s Atletico travel to Turin with a healthy two-goal advantage, after goals from Jose Gimenez and Diego Godin.

Cristiano Ronaldo was an unused substitute in Juventus’ last outing, a 4-1 win against Udinese on Friday, to ready him for the task ahead.

If his side is to overturn the two-goal deficit, they will have to do it without injured trio Sami Khedria, Juan Cuadrado and Douglas Costa.

Atletico Madrid beat Juventus 2-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano three weeks ago.

Bayern Munich v Liverpool (Wednesday 13 March 2019, 20:00 at the Allianz Arena)

The two sides played out a tight 0-0 draw at Anfield, which leaves Liverpool needing to improve on their record of only one goal in nine Champions League matches in Germany.

They are boosted by the return of Virgil Van Dijk to the centre of the defence; he was suspended for the first leg.

Bayern will be without right-back Joshua Kimmich, who is suspended after a yellow card he picked up in the first leg, and the injured Arjen Robben.

Barcelona v Lyon (Wednesday 13th March, 20:00 at the Camp Nou)

The first leg at the Lyon Olympic Stadium remained goalless, leaving Bruno Genesio’s Lyon with the difficult task of needing to earn at least a score draw in Spain.

Ernesto Valeverde is looking to win Barcelona’s first European Crown since 2015, which has been helped by Real Madrid’s elimination to Ajax last week.

Lyon will be without striker Amine Gouiri, who has been out through injury.

Ten years ago, Messi scored an incredible solo goal against Lyon, before Guardiola’s Barca went on to secure a famous treble of major trophies.

If last week’s Champions League fixtures are anything to go by, we are in for two nights of exciting, controversial football.