Champions League: Atletico v Liverpool & Dortmund v PSG

Julien Laurens

French football expert on BBC Radio 5 live

I think this is the tie of the last 16. I can easily see a 4-3 Dortmund in the first leg and 5-3 PSG in the second leg.

They are probably the best two attacking teams in Europe right now. But they are also not the best at defending.

It could be a low-scoring game in Madrid tonight with both sides boasting miserly defences. Instead, it may well be over in Dortmund where the goals will be flowing.

Tonight’s game between Borussia Dortmund and PSG could see Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus line up against Neymar, Mauro Icardi and Kylian Mbappe.

Who do you reckon has the best forward line? Thumbs up for Dortmund, thumbs down for PSG…

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Don’t expect a high-scoring affair in Madrid tonight.

Liverpool have conceded just once in the last 990 minutes of football while Atletico have conceded just 17 goals in 24 La Liga matches this season.

Cue 4-4 now I’ve said this.

Two changes for Liverpool as Sadio Mane and Fabinho come back in, replacing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita..

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane, Salah Firmino. Subs: Adrian, Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Origi, Matip

Julien Laurens

French football expert on BBC Radio 5 live

It was always going to take time for Diego Simeone to make what he had last time with these players.

Maybe he is finished and maybe he is too old school to succeed now. I would love to have seen this game three years ago. No, no way this Atletico side can trouble Liverpool.

With just one win from their past seven games, a humiliating cup exit, a lengthy injury list and a batch of new players who are struggling to assimilate, it’s fair to suggest that Atletico Madrid are not exactly firing on all cylinders as they prepare for their Champions League meeting with Liverpool.

Why has this season, which started with such optimism, gone so wrong for Diego Simeone’s team?

Andy West takes a look here.

Liverpool may have reached the Champions League final twice in the last two years and are the defending champions in this tournament but they are not the favourites to win it again, according to Jurgen Klopp.

Instead, the Liverpool boss has suggested both Juventus and Paris St-Germain are and insisted his side will have to work hard to defend their title.

“We don’t feel like the winners of last year’s tournament, we feel like contenders for this year’s, and we want to show that,” he said.

“We want to be there in Istanbul [for the final] if possible, and for that we know we have to work our socks off, historically and for us in general. That is exactly what we will do tomorrow and in the return leg.”

The Champions League is BACK.

After a couple of weeks of staggered Premier League games to accommodate the winter break there’s now more football than you can shake a stick at with last night’s game between Chelsea and Manchester United kicking off four consecutive days of Premier League or European action.

The return of the Champions League is an undoubted highlight, though, and there’s two very decent games to kick off the round of 16:

• Liverpool v Atlerico Madrid (20:00 GMT)
• Borussia Dortmund v PSG (20:00 GMT)

The Wanda Metropolitano stadium. Home of Atletico Madrid and scene of Liverpool’s finest hour (well, 90 minutes).

It was, of course, at this ground on the first day of June last year that the Reds beat Tottenham to claim a sixth European Cup win.

Tonight, Liverpool return to the stadium for the first time since that day, but will it be a happy trip down memory lane or a night of frustration for Jurgen Klopp’s men?