The Champions League is back this week with the first legs of the four quarterfinal ties taking place across Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
Three Italian clubs remain in the competition alongside two from the Premier League, plus one each from Spain, Portugal and Germany.
In this article, we are going to preview all of the four ties by giving you some key information on each of the teamd playing, as well as some of the odds available on each to qualify and win the Champions League outright.
Lastly, we’ll also be giving you tip for this week’s game.
As usual, we will be using bet365 Sport as our betting site to provide the odds.
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So let’s get cracking with these previews with a look at the games starting with the two on Tuesday night.
Both these teams are former winners of this tournament although Benfica’s successes came in the early 1960s, while two of Inter’s victories came many years ago with one coming around 13 years ago.
It’s fair to say that both these teams are somewhat lower down the radar as eventual winners, but both will feel that these two games represent a fantastic opportunity to reach the semifinals of the tournament.
Inter probably have the edge in terms of the most well-known players, but I feel Benfica have been by far the better team of the two this season, both in Europe and domestically too.
As such, I am backing the home side to take a narrow lead into the second leg at the San Siro which will be played next Wednesday night.
| Benfica | Info | Inter Milan |
| Luis Feilipe Vieira | Owner/President | Steven Zhang |
| Roger Schmidt | Manager | Simone Inzaghi |
| 2 | Champions League Wins | 3 |
| 5 | Champions League Runners Up | 2 |
| M.Haifa (H) W 2-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 1 | Bayern M (H) L 0-2 |
| Juventus (A) W 2-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 2 | Vi.Plzen (A) W 2-0 |
| PSG (H) D 1-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 3 | Barcelona (H) W 1-0 |
| PSG (A) D 1-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 4 | Barcelona (A) D 3-3 |
| Juventus (H) W 4-3 | 2023 Group Stage Match 5 | V.Plzen (H) W4-0 |
| M.Haifa (A) W 6-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 6 | Bayern M (A) L 0-2 |
| Cl.Brugge (A) W 2-0 | Round of 16 1st Leg | FC Porto (H) W 1-0 |
| Cl.Brugge (H) W 5-1 | Round of 16 2nd Leg | FC Porto (A) D 0-0 |
| P3, W0, D2, L1 | Head To Head Record | P3, W1, D2, L0 |
| 4/5 | Odds To Qualify | 19/20 |
| 14/1 | Odds To Win Champs League | 14/1 |
| 4-2-3-1 | Likely Formation | 3-5-2 |
Top Tip – Take Benfica to win at 11/10 with bet365.
The two sides judged as the favourites to win this competition meet in the quarterfinals and what a cracking two games this should be between two attack-minded and inventive teams.
City have hit a rich vein of form and with Erling Haaland scoring goals for fun, including five in the last round against Red Bull Leipzig, Bayern will have to be at their best defensively to nullify City’s attacking threat.
That said, City have looked a little susceptible on the break at times and no team is better equipped to take advantage of that with Bayern with their pacy and intelligent wide players added to a genuine goal threat from central attack and midfield.
These should be two games that produce stunning football and plenty of goals and whoever goes through, should stand a great chance of winning this trophy.
| Manchester City | Info | Bayern Munich |
| Khaldoon Al Mubarak | Owner/President | Herbert Hainer |
| Pep Guardiola | Manager | Thomas Tuchel |
| 0 | Champions League Wins | 6 |
| 1 | Champions League Runners Up | 5 |
| Sevilla (A) W 4-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 1 | Inter (A) W 2-0 |
| Dortmund (H) W 2-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 2 | Barcelona (H) W 2-0 |
| Copenhgn (H) W 5-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 3 | Vi.Plzen (H) W 5-0 |
| Copenhgn (A) D 0-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 4 | Vi.Plzen (A) W 4-2 |
| Dortmund (A) D 0-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 5 | Barcelona (A) W 3-0 |
| Sevilla (H) W 3-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 6 | Inter (H) W 2-0 |
| RB Leipz (A) D 1-1 | Round of 16 1st Leg | PSG (A) W 1-0 |
| RB Leipz (H) W 7-0 | Round of 16 2nd Leg | PSG (H) W 2-0 |
| P6, W3, D0, L3 | Head To Head Record | P6, W3, D0, L3 |
| 1/2 | Odds To Qualify | 6/4 |
| 9/4 fav | Odds To Win Champs League | 7/2 |
| 4-3-3 | Likely Formation | 4-1-4-1 |
Top Tip – Back Manchester City to win and both teams to score here at 11/5 with bet365.
One of the strangest things about these Serie A rivals is that you have to go back five years to discover the home team winning a game between the two.
In the eight games since then, we have seen the away team land the win on six occasions, while the other two games have finished as a draw.
That seems to fit the narrative of a Napoli win and in truth, that is what should happen. The Neapolitans have been superb this season in Serie A and in Europe, but earlier in April, they were soundly beaten 4-0 at home by, you guessed it, Milan.
That surprise win over the league leaders will give Milan a huge boost going into this game but in truth, they haven’t been anywhere near as impressive as Napoli this season and as such, I still feel the side from Southern Italy will be the one to celebrate the win here.
| AC Milan | Info | Napoli |
| Paolo Scaroni | Owner/President | Aurelio De Laurentiis |
| Stefano Pioli | Manager | Luciano Spalletti |
| 7 | Champions League Wins | 0 |
| 4 | Champions League Runners Up | 0 |
| RB Salz. (A) D 1-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 1 | Liverpool (H) W 4-1 |
| D.Zagreb (H) W 3-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 2 | Rangers (A) W 3-0 |
| Chelsea (A) L 0-3 | 2023 Group Stage Match 3 | Ajax (A) W 6-1 |
| Chelsea (H) L 0-2 | 2023 Group Stage Match 4 | Ajax (H) W 4-2 |
| D.Zagreb (A) W 4-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 5 | Rangers (H) W 3-0 |
| RB Salz. (H) W 4-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 6 | Liverpool (A) L 0-2 |
| Tottenham (H) W 1-0 | Round of 16 1st Leg | E.Frankftr (A) W 2-0 |
| Tottenham (A) D 0-0 | Round of 16 2nd Leg | E.Frankfrt (H) W 3-0 |
| P51, W17, D19, L15 | Head To Head Record | P51, W15, D19, L17 |
| 11/8 | Odds To Qualify | 8/15 |
| 20/1 | Odds To Win Champs League | 4/1 |
| 4-2-3-1 | Likely Formation | 4-3-3 |
Top Tip – Take Napoli to land the win here at 31/20 with bet365.
Real Madrid start this quarter final with a relatively settled squad and as holders of the tournament. A weakened team lost at the weekend to Villarreal as manager Carlo Ancelotti clearly seemed to prioritise this game in midweek where his experienced players should return in a more settled formation.
In contrast it has been all change at Chelsea since Todd Boehly’s takeover with the club now onto its third manager and a massive spending spree of £500m+ over the last two transfer windows.
Caretaker manager Frank Lampard will pit his wits against his former manager at Chelsea in what should be a real test of Chelsea’s mettle, especially after the manager was critical of the lack of effort and determination in their 1-0 loss at Wolves at the weekend.
Having beaten Chelsea on their way to the final last year, Real should not be too fazed here and despite that defeat to Villarreal, I’d expect them to land the win here but I think it will be tight enough to make the second leg a tricky one in London next week.
| Real Madrid | Info | Chelsea |
| Florentino Perez | Owner/President | Todd Boehly |
| Carlo Ancelotti | Manager | Frank Lampard |
| 14 | Champions League Wins | 2 |
| 3 | Champions League Runners Up | 1 |
| Celtic (A) W 3-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 1 | D,Zagreb (A) |
| RB Leipzig (H) W 2-0 | 2023 Group Stage Match 2 | RB Salz. (H) D 1-1 |
| S.Donetsk (H) W 2-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 3 | Milan (H) W 3-0 |
| S.Donetsk (A) D 1-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 4 | Milan (A) W 2-0 |
| RB Leipzig (A) L 2-3 | 2023 Group Stage Match 5 | RB Salz. (A) W 2-1 |
| Celtic (H) W 5-1 | 2023 Group Stage Match 6 | D.Zagreb (H) W 2-1 |
| Liverpool (A) W 5-2 | Round of 16 1st Leg | Dortmund (A) L 0-1 |
| Liverpool (H) W 1-0 | Round of 16 2nd Leg | Dortmund (H) W 2-0 |
| P7, W1, D2, L4 | Head To Head Record | P7, W4, D2, L1 |
| 2/5 | Odds To Qualify | 7/4 |
| 13/2 | Odds To Win Champs League | 14/1 |
| 4-3-3 | Likely Formation | 4-3-3 |
Top Tip – back Real Madrid to win and both teams to score at 11/4 with bet365.
Check out our preview and tips for the Europa League and Europa Conference League quarterfinal 1st leg ties which we will publish on the site later this week.
*Kick off times are 8pm. All odds shown were correct with bet365 Sport at the time of writing, but may have changed since the article was published.
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