A Look Back At Several Clubs That Have Qualified For The Last 8 Rounds Of The 2024 Champions League

A look back at several clubs that have qualified for the last 8 rounds of the 2024 Champions League. The drawing for the last 8 rounds of the 2023-2024 Champions League has now officially been held. The draw was held at the UFA Dinion Switzerland headquarters on Friday 15 March 2024. With John Obby Michel as the draw ball taker. As a result, four fierce matches were created in the quarter-finals. The remaining defending champion Manchester City will face arch-rivals Real Madrid. Then there is Arsenal versus Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain versus Barcelona, ​​and Atletico Madrid versus Borussia Dortmund.

These four matches were not new meetings for each team, in fact some had old wounds and a mission for revenge, including Arsenal versus Bayern Munich, where the Gunners had been the target of the German giant several times in the European Champions League. After waiting several years, Arsenal finally returned to playing in the Champions League and qualified, reaching the quarter-finals. However, Michel Arteta’s troops faced a tough obstacle when they met Bayern Munich. Arsenal and Bayern Munich have met 10 times in the Champions League.

Bundesliga representatives are ahead with seven wins compared to Arsenal’s three wins. The most memorable match was in the 2016-2017 season. Arsenal were eliminated by Bayern Munich with an aggregate of 2 – 10 in the round of 16. At that time the two teams met in the round of 16 playing at the Alliance Arena. This match started out fiercely, Arian Roben’s goal in the 11th minute was answered by Arsenal through Alexis Sanchez’s goal in the 30th minute. But in the second half Arsenal were battered. Bayern Munich scored four goals through Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller and a pair of goals from Thiago Alcantara. Therefore, Bayern Munich won with a score of 5-1 in the second match which was held at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal tried to put pressure on them and managed to take the lead thanks to a goal from Theo Walcot in the 20th minute. However, in the second half Arsenal suffered a disaster after Lauren Kienli received a red card.

Having a superior number of players, Bayer Munchen did not waste this opportunity. They scored five goals through a Lewandowski penalty, goals from Aran Roben, Douglas Costa and a pair of goals from Arturo Vidal. As a result, Bayern Munich advanced to the quarter-finals with an aggregate of 10 – 2 against Arsenal.

Even so, Arsenal this season is different from Arsenal in the 2016-2017 season. Mikel Arteta has a terrible squad that has put them at the top of the Premier League standings. It is predicted that players such as Buka Yosaka, Martin Odegar, Kehevers Gabriel, Martinelli and Declan Rise will make Thomas Tuhel wary ahead of their meeting.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich has now also returned to their best performance. After being left behind by points quite far from the current level in the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich will certainly appear determined to win the European Champions League title. Moreover, their flagship bomber Hari Kin has also often met Arsenal when he was still in the Tottenham Hotspur uniform.

Meanwhile, senior Bayern Munich player who was also a witness to the 2017 massacre, Thomas Muller, recently made a video that offended his compatriot, namely Kahes, who wore the Gunners uniform.

Apart from Bayern Munich versus Arsenal in the 2016-2017 season, there was also a historic match between PSG versus Barcelona. Blau Grana made a crazy comeback in the round of 16, losing 0 – 4 in the first match, Barcelona crushed PSG 6 – 1 in the second match. Lionel Messi and his friends finally qualified for the quarter-finals with an aggregate of 7-5. However, PSG was able to avenge their defeat when the two teams met again in the last 16 of the 2020-2021 season in the Covid-19 era Champions League. Barcelona lost 1 – 4 at the Campnoue stadium due to Kilian – Mbappe’s spectacular hat trick which paid off Leonel Messi’s penalty goal in the second match in Paris. Messi scored another goal but it wasn’t enough because he only equalized the score at 1-1 to answer Kilian Mbappe’s penalty.

Apart from the competition between two teams filled with star players. An interesting fact from this season’s meeting is that Barcelona coach Reoni Saffi and Luis Enrique will soon meet again with their coaching teammates. And now he’s his enemy. Saffi and Enrique shared a dressing room as Barcelona personnel for 6 years, from 1998 to 2004. They separated when Enrique decided to hang up his boots after finishing the 2003-2004 season. 10 years later Enrique returned to Barcelona as a tactical practitioner. There Saffi was about to enter his final year as a Blarana pillar. Enrique managed to persuade him to stay one more season in 2014-2015. In his last period of service, Saffi, who acted as captain, won the Treble Winners together with Enrique, or the second in the club’s history after the Pep Guardiola era.

In total, Barcelona and PSG met 13 times in the European club championship. Saksa Catalan is narrowly ahead with five wins compared to Paris Saint-Germain’s four wins. While the rest ended in a draw. The next match that is no less fierce is the return meeting between Manchester City versus Real Madrid. The duel between two clubs from different countries reminded Los Blancos’ dramatic comeback two seasons ago in the 2021-2022 semifinals. Madrid qualified for the final after eliminating the Citizens on an aggregate of 6 – 5 but lost 3 – 4 in the first match. Madrid responded with a 3 – 1 win in the second leg. With two winning goals scored in extra time, Madrid went on to become champions that season. And in the 2022-2023 season, the two teams met again in the semifinals. Where the results are truly astonishing.

Having drawn 1-1 in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, El Real, who were no longer strengthened by their star Karim Benzema, had to lose 4-0 and failed to qualify for the final after losing 5-1 on aggregate later that season.

Manchester City finally emerged as champions after beating Inter Milan 1 – 0 in the final. Manchester City and Real Madrid have met quite often in the Champions League recently. There have been at least four meetings including three consecutive occasions in the last three seasons. Both Manchester City and Real Madrid already feel familiar with each other because of this. Even so, this season’s duel is predicted to be fierce. Apart from being a duel between top players such as Erling Hand and Jud Bellingham, the Madrid versus City duel is also a clash between the two defending champions of the Champions League and the king of the European Champions League.

And finally there is the Atletico Madrid versus Dortmund meeting which is no less interesting. The two European dark horses will clash with each other in the last 8 rounds. So far, the two teams have met four times and are equally strong with both winning two and losing two. Now after seeing the results of the 2023-2024 European Champions League quarter-final draw, the top 8 Champions League matches will be held on April 9 to 10 for the first leg and April 16 to 17 for the second leg.