The 23/24 UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals

By: Turk Balci, Writer Abroad

The 2023/24 season, Ultimate Champions League quarter final was drawn on March 15. The draw for this season's Champions League is highly regarded as the most competitive Champions League draw in the last half a decade. The draw for this year's Champions League is shaped like this.

The match that is considered the most boring of the draws is Atletico de Madrid versus Borussia Dortmund. These two teams are considered the two weakest teams in the draw. The matchup also does not fit very well in terms of playstyles. Diego Simeone’s Atletico de Madrid is most commonly known for their “Park the Bus” tactic of play, which is very similar to Borussia Dortmund's playstyle. Eden Terzic has installed a more defensive tactic over the original “Wing Play” that Borussia Dortmund used to adopt. Eden Terzic’s Borussia Dortmund usually plays extreme attacking football in the first 30 minutes of the game until they take the lead and then drop back into defense for the rest of the game.

Atletico de Madrid’s priority should be to get a win in the first leg in Madrid. Atletico de Madrid has shown how dangerous of a team they can be while playing at home. Such as in their most recent Champions League game against Milan Internationalize, in the famous Metropolitano in Madrid. But even as scary as Atletico de Madrid are at home, Borussia Dortmund are as well. The Signal Iduna Park is one of, if not the hardest stadium to play at if you are an away team. In the end, the match will mainly come down to if Atletico de Madrid will be able to get a big enough win in the first leg to stay ahead in Germany. In the end the game will most likely go to extra time, which will prove useful to Atletico de Madrid as they have proven they have stamina which Borussia Dortmund lack. 

The next match in the draw is FC Barcelona versus Paris Saint-Germain or PSG. FC Barcelona will be looking for redemption from the match between FC Barcelona and PSG in the 2021 Champions League Round of 16, in which PSG beat Barcelona 5-2 aggregate. PSG are hoping that this will be the end of their losing streak in the Champions League and be able to make it into the Champions League final before Kylian Mbappe’s inevitable departure to Real Madrid. PSG’s team might have gotten weaker if you are solely talking about individuals but they have become more of a team than they have been since the 2019-20 season, the last time they made it to a Champions League Final. Since Luis Enrique has been appointed the head manager of PSG, their playstyle has begun to become an adaptation of FC Barcelona’s Tiki-Taka, courtesy of the fact that Luis Enrique previously managed FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona have been going through a rough state of form for a few years now but are still able to pull out top drawer performances when necessary. FC Barcelona has been having repetitive, ongoing, injuries that have hindered lots of their performances but as of the moment, their only major injury is of Pablo Gavi. Xavi Hernandez, FC Barcelona’s head coach, has announced that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season due to bad match performances. Ever since that announcement, FC Barcelona has been up and down in performances with 7 wins and 3 draws. Xavi Hernandez has continued to use the Tiki-Taka playstyle that is accustomed to FC Barcelona, however, his results have not been ideal. As previously stated, both FC Barcelona and PSG play with a progressive passing style of play. Although they do have similar playstyles, this match will not be put in a stalemate like the Borussia Dortmund and Atletico de Madrid match will. That is because unlike the defensive strategy of “Park the Bus”, Tiki-Taka focuses on clean, forward passes in a series. The final score will greatly rely on who converts more chances.

On the other side of the bracket, there is a match that both Arsenal and Bayern Munich fans have been hoping for. The past three times that Arsenal and Bayern Munich have played, the score has ended as 5-1 Bayern Munich’s win. Arsenal have been hoping for the day that they matched up with Bayern Munich so that they could get revenge. Arsenal's team has progressed an extreme amount since the last time they played. With superstars like Saliba, Rice, and Saka, Arsenal fans are convinced that they will be able to beat Bayern Munich. Not only do they have their players to show for their skill, Arsenal are also in tremendous form at the top of the Premier League table. One of their only disadvantages is lack of recent experience in the Champions League. The last time that Arsenal qualified for Champions League was in the 2016/17 season, 7 years ago. And the last time they got to the Quarter Finals was in the 2009/10 season, 14 years ago.

Many people have been talking about how this is the weakest Bayern Munich side from the past decade, as they are being dominated by Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Thomas Tuchel, Bayern Munich’s head coach, started the season in a 4-5-1 formation that changed into a 4-2-1-3 as the season progressed. As their formation changed so did their tactics. Their original formation was focused on crossing while their new one is focused on cutting in, the latter working significantly better than the former. Thomas Tuchel has not been the most successful as the Bayern Munich head coach but the same can not be said about his summer signing, Harry Kane. Harry Kane has 38 g/a in 26 appearances in the Bundesliga. But his success doesn’t stop at the Bundesliga, as he has 9 g/a in 8 Champions League appearances. As previously stated, Arsenal has had little to no experience in the Champions League while Bayern Munich has been in Champions League every year for the past decade and even won it in the 2019/2020 season. Even with Arsenal’s recent success and rapid growth, Bayern Munich has had more experience in the Champions League and are still highly regarded as the better team.

Last but not least is Manchester City versus Real Madrid. This match is being played for the third year in a row. In the 2021/22 season semi final Real Madrid won 6-5 aggregate and then continued to win the whole tournament. In the 2022/23 season semi final Manchester City won 5-1 aggregate and then also continued to win the whole tournament. The recent history between these two teams is rich and there are many reasons to believe that this will be an ecstatic game. Many people are convinced that Manchester City will win the treble back to back this season, even with the loss of one of their star players. Kevin De Bruyne had a hamstring injury from August 12, 2023 to December 29, 2023, which put him out for about half of the season. Pep Guardiola, Manchester City's manager, was able to keep Manchester City afloat until he came back from injury. And now that De Bruyne is back, he is in red hot form with 8 g/a in 10 appearances this season. With De Bruyne’s return, Pep Guardiola has switched the team back to its original formation from a 4-2-1-3 back to a 4-3-3. Pep Guardiola has used De Bruyne to his full capabilities since returning and Manchester City are now competing for the Premier League. 

Real Madrid has not been safe from injuries either, having player after player get injured. Most of their players have recovered except for two. The first of which is Eder Militao. Militao got injured on August 13, 2023 and recovered on March 13, 2024. He has been injured for most of the season and has yet to make an appearance since recovering. The second player is Thibaut Courtois. Courtois got injured on August 10, 2023 and recovered on March 19, 2024, only to get injured again, putting him out for the rest of the season. In place of Courtois, Real Madrid signed Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan, who has been well below the standard of Courtois. Luckily for Real Madrid, their third choice goalkeeper, the young Ukrainian Andriy Lunin, has stepped up to fill at least a portion of the massive shoes of Courtois. Aside from injuries, Real Madrid’s entire side has been performing exceptionally, especially Jude Bellingham. The match against the two giants is impossible to predict.

But whether you are a common fan or Football enthusiast, you will surely find this Champions League season enthralling.