Predicitification is back!! Last week we brought you the first half of our UEFA Champions League predictions, based on the official WCR Top 25. We also brought you our Round of 32
Europa League predictions, which were still based on our rankings, though a little
more loosely. Well, this week,
we’re back with the second half of our Champions League predictions, for those matchups
that begin on Tuesday. Once again,
we’ll bring them to you in the descending order of how you voted.
Real Madrid
(Esp) (88.2%) vs CSKA Moscow
(Rus)
This is the matchup out of all eight that received the most
votes for one side. On paper, this
looks like an easy pick. I have a
feeling that in real life, it may be an even easier pick.
Real Madrid appears to be invincible against anybody but
Barcelona. It has even built a
ten-point lead in Spain’s Primera División over its archrival. It’s this record that has propelled it
to the top of the World Club Rankings.
It’s actually a shame that CSKA Moscow fell into such a
tough draw because I think it is a much better club than it’s likely to look
against Real Madrid. Believe it or
not, of the eight clubs playing this week in the Champions League, CSKA is the
third-highest ranked. It is
currently second in the very improved Russian Premier League. One problem that CSKA faces is that it
hasn’t played a meaningful match in months. It’s possible that this fact will mean that it has had
plenty of time to prepare for Real Madrid. Unfortunately, it could also mean that it’s had plenty of
time to become rusty. In any
event, there’s only so much one can prepare for Real Madrid.
Our Prediction:
#1 Real Madrid over #16 CSKA Moscow
Bayern Munich
(Ger) (87.9%) vs Basel
(Sui)
The vote for this one was the closest of all to Real
Madrid’s, with roughly seven out of eight people picking Bayern Munich.
I’m guessing that many of those who picked Bayern haven’t
seen them play recently as they’ve dropped from first to third in an intriguing
Bundesliga table. If that’s the
team that it brings to Switzerland, it could be in trouble. On the other hand, if the club that
shows up is the club that dominated in the group stage, Bayern will be fine.
You can’t count Basel short and I think this series may be
closer than the votes might lead one to believe. Other than Real Madrid, Basel is the only club playing this
week that is actually leading its league.
You may not give too much credit to the Swiss Super League, but keep in
mind that Basel is also the club that broke the heart of Manchester United to
even get this far.
This one promises to be close, but we’re going with Bayern.
Our Prediction:
#12 Bayern Munich over #23 Basel
Inter Milan
(Ita) (71.2%) vs #37 Marseille
(Fra)
We’ve gone back and forth on this one. More than any other matchup in the
eighth-finals, this is the one in which our pick for the victor depends
entirely on the timing of the prediction.
Since we are using the latest rankings we are going with the underdog.
We’re not surprised that most people are picking Inter Milan
to win this matchup. A few weeks
ago, we may have as well. Granted,
Inter won it’s group in the last round, but that was a group where the toughest
competition was CSKA Moscow and Lille and it still finished +1 in goal
differential. That play was tremendous,
however, compared to what it’s doing in Serie A, where it has lost its last
three matches to drop into seventh place at the moment.
It’s not that Marseille is playing a hell of a lot better at
the moment. It has only two points
in its last two Ligue Un matches and is in fourth place in that weaker
league. It also finished second in
what was one of the two toughest Champions League groups, going up against
Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Olympiakos. Right now, I’d take a weak Marseille over an even weaker
Internazionale.
Our Prediction:
#37 Marseille over #59 Inter Milan
Chelsea (Eng)
(56.2%) over Napoli (Ita)
I was actually surprised that this was the closest pick of
the round, especially because my voters tend to be Anglophiles.
It’s true that Chelsea hasn’t looked great recently. But, it did win its Champions League
group and is currently tied for fourth place in the English Premier League,
which despite its relatively poor performance in this year’s Champions League,
is still the deepest domestic league in the world.
I’m guessing that voters were impressed by seeing Napoli
knock Manchester City out of the Champions League. I’ll grant that it was an impressive performance, but we’re
talking about a club that is in sixth place in the Italian Serie A. Sixth place, people! Still, Napoli is playing better than
Chelsea in the past few weeks, so this could turn out close.
Our Prediction:
#19 Chelsea over #38 Napoli
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