Big Midweek: Real v Bayern, Arsenal, Arne Slot, Rashford, Forest | OneFootball

Bayern Munich versus Real Madrid should be a humdinger, while Arsenal attempt to regain some composure and Liverpool set about laying a glove on PSG.

Elsewhere, Marcus Rashford seeks to convince Barcelona of his worth, while Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace bid to reach Europa semi-finals.

It’s a Big Midweek alright…

Game to watch – Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

It is easy to talk down the Premier League, largely because some of the football this season has been sh*te, but Our League really suffered by comparison in the two Champions League ties last week featuring German and Spanish giants.

More on Atletico and Barca in a bit, but while Arsenal were doing a job on Sporting last Tuesday, Real Madrid’s clash with Bayern Munich was a real palette cleanser to wash down some of the domestic dross we’ve been force fed.

At the Bernabeu, Real and Bayern went for each other, neither coach seemingly obsessed with ‘control’, both going balls out to beat the other.

It is what you would expect of Real on home turf in what they view as their competition. But Bayern showed no fear – perhaps not surprising form a side with more than 100 goals this season – as they went toe-to-toe with the 15-time winners, ultimately beating Real for the first time in 14 years.

Weirdly, Vincent Kompany probably left Madrid rueing some missed opportunities to make their first-leg lead more resounding. But Real would doubtless consider themselves unfortunate not to be level. As they would have been were it not for Manuel Neuer rolling back the years.

The Bernabeu battle was a joy to watch and the second leg in Bavaria promises the same. The onus is on Real but Kompany will recognise that Bayern’s best form of attack is to rattle Real’s ragged defence again.

Even if it is half as good as we expect, it’ll almost certainly be more entertaining than…

Team to watch – Arsenal

The only reason for non-Gooners to swerve Real v Bayern for Arsenal’s clash with Sporting would be a morbid fascination with the Bottlepocalypse.

Really, this ought to be the simplest of the Champions League ties for any of the final eight to navigate. Arsenal lead 1-0 after a late Kai Havertz winner in Lisbon and the Premier League leaders would normally be expected to finish the job against the second-best team in Portugal with relative ease.

But only a fool would rely on Arsenal to complete any job without a fuss right now.

Perhaps the Champions League will bring some respite from their domestic crisis. Last week’s win at Sporting was the only game in four they didn’t lose in the three weeks when a potential quadruple was halved by Manchester City and Southampton.

Havertz’s winner was “a big moment in the season”, according to Mikel Arteta, praising his side for rediscovering their identity as he sees it. But others view the Gunners’ true colours in harsher, less resilient light and, whaddayaknow, four days later, the manager was rueing a self-inflicted “punch in the face”.

Arsenal look dazed and this tie coming immediately before Super Massive Sunday at Manchester City certainly has the potential to confuse Arteta and his side. Enough to f*** up their Champions League prospects too?

Manager to watch – Arne Slot

Arsenal’s failings and a testimonial-like win over Fulham have earned the Liverpool boss some respite from the spotlight which was firmly upon him in the wake of last week’s 2-0 defeat at PSG.

Before he took the Reds to Paris, Slot had already reached the sh*t-chucking stage in the hope of something, anything sticking and an ill-advised back three certainly didn’t fluster the European champions.

So what next?

The Fulham win was interesting only for Rio Ngumoha’s performance. The teenager turned in a man-of-the-match performance, scoring the opener, pre-assisting Mo Salah’s second, all the while carrying by far Liverpool’s biggest threat.

Ngumoha’s display demanded that he be picked for a second leg in which Liverpool must at least lay a glove on PSG having somehow survived to fight another day.

Could Luis Enrique’s side come to regret their failure to land a knockout blow on Liverpool? Perhaps one of those Anfield nights is not entirely out of the question, even if there appears very little genuine optimism of such among the players and fans.

An easy way for Slot to prompt the Kop to do their bit is to give them the forward line they want, which means a first Champions League start for Ngumoha to follow his first Anfield goal.

Player to watch – Marcus Rashford

Rashford was a central figure in last week’s enthralling clash between Barcelona and Atletico, and he will be again if the Catalans have any hope of overturning a two-goal deficit.

Diego Simeone was a winner at the Nou Camp at the 19th attempt last Wednesday when Atletico and Barca served up a battle just as enthralling as Real and Bayern’s the night before.

The tie turned on Pau Cubarsi’s red card just before the break, a blow for Barca that was compounded by Julian Alvarez’s stunning free-kick.

Either side of that, Rashford was prominent in different roles. The Manchester United loanee started on the left, from where he had more sights at goal than anyone in the Barca attack, with Robert Lewandowski shackled and Lamine Yamal, for the most part, crowded out.

When Hansi Flick reshuffled, it was Lewandowski who made way, with Rashford going through the middle, playing in a position where he failed to establish himself despite prolonged attempts by various United managers.

Such versatility might be handy while Barca weigh up how serious they are about keeping the England striker when his loan ends at the end of the season. But the Catalans will be more convinced if Rashford can find the ruthlessness lacking last week against an Atletico side no longer as defensively-minded as they once were.

Europa game to watch  – Nottingham Forest v Porto

With Aston Villa bringing Bologna back to Villa Park with a 3-1 lead, and Crystal Palace taking a three-goal advantage to Fiorentina in the Conference League, much of the Thursday night focus will be on the City Ground, where Vitor Pereira is yet to taste victory.

The Forest boss will have to break that duck if he is to guide his current side beyond his former one and into a European semi-final for the first time in 42 years.

Porto have already been beaten by the Trent this term. In Sean Dyche’s first game, Forest defeated the Portuguese leaders 2-0.

The next visit represents the start of a huge four days for Forest, with Burnley following Porto to the City Ground at the weekend.

Evangelos Marinakis might prefer Pereira to prioritise Premier League safety, but the progress the manager has made means Forest need not sacrifice their Europa League ambitions. A first home win for Pereira on Thursday could help prompt a second on Sunday.