Champions League Play-off: Leg 1 Preview | OneFootball

The good news: your side is still alive. The bad news: you must play two additional games.

This is the reality facing the sixteen teams that finished between 9th and 24th after the Champions League group phase. Stack ranked and then randomly assigned an opponent, the first of two legs will kick off on Tuesday in the stadium of the lower finishing team.

Four fixtures will be contested, and then they’ll play a reverse second leg next week. Since abolishing the away goal rule, I’m not necessarily convinced playing at home in the second week is THAT much of an advantage, but it is what it is. Below are the first four games.

Galatasaray vs. Juventus

This is the early match, brought to you from the hellzone that is RAMS Park in Istanbul. This stadium is a notoriously rough place to play, with home fans that can best be described as “psycho” creating a hostile atmosphere.

Juventus finished 13th with 3W 4D 1L and a +4 GD. Top scoring honors are shared between Dusan Vlahovic and American Weston McKennie (right), with three apiece.

Seven other players have found the net, which will keep Galatasaray’s defenders busy having to mark any one of a large handful of potential goalscorers. Defensively, their ten conceded goals is tied for second best of the playoff teams.

Galatasaray have the fewest goal scorers of any team, with four. This statistic comes with an asterisk, however, as Victor Osimhen (below) has six of the team’s nine, with Yunus Akgün the other two. The remaining two goal scorers all put the ball in their own net, a damning statistic you do not want to see if you’re a fan. Take Juventus’ record and switch draws with losses, then give them a -2 GD. That’s where they are. If not for that extremely generous penalty for hand ball against Liverpool back in matchweek 2, they would not even be here.

AS Monaco vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Competitions like the Champions League are thrilling precisely because they pit teams from different leagues against each other. That’s what makes a draw like this so disappointing. Yes, it’s true that Monaco have three wins and two draws in the last ten head-to-head matchups, so it’s by no means a foregone conclusion that PSG will advance. 

But let’s be realistic… in the team’s recent history, PSG has overwhelmingly won within any given pair of games played. PSG have 4W 2D 2D with a +10 GD; Monaco have 2W 4D 2L and a -6 GD. Eleven PSG players have scored, six of them with two or more goals (Vitinha leads them all with five).

Monaco’s best goal scorers are Folarin Balogun (3) and Jordan Teze (2).

Unless Monaco fanboy Thierry Henry skips the broadcast studio to lace up some boots for his old club, Paris Saint-Germain should run away with this one.

Benfica vs. Real Madrid

This is another fixture that drives me nuts. Not for the same reason as the previous match, but because no two teams should have to face one another three straight games in a row.

It’s not an understatement that the decision day meeting between these two was one of the best Champions Leagues fixtures of all time. Period. That should have been enough. But no… the gods of the draw paired them for two more games.

I appreciate there are probably many folks who feel differently than I do. Who relish seeing a José Mourinho mummer’s show on the sideline, twice.

But let’s be frank. Benfica’s stunning, last gasp victory over Madrid was a decision day fluke. Los Blancos won’t let that lightning strike twice, let alone THREE times. So this draw is akin to handing Madrid the advancement.

Of course, they still have to earn it. But come on… with the ridiculous talent and depth Madrid have, this shouldn’t be an issue. And if they issue a complete beat down over Benfica on the road (which is highly likely given they have to make amends for the last visit), the return leg will be a real snoozer.

Borussia Dortmund vs. Atalanta

This is a savoury fixture, a veritable full-course meal for the soccer fan to feast on. 

Atalanta are tied for the second best defensive record (with fellow Serie A side Juventus), despite dropping four to PSG in matchweek 1 and three to Athletic Club in matchweek 7. They finished 15th with 4W 1D 3L. Up front, the trio of Lazar Samardzic, Charles De Ketelaere, and Gianluca Scamacca each have a brace; four others have a single goal. With a goal differential of 0, this means that I Nerrazzurri are undoubtedly beatable but also potentially dangerous.

Borussia score lots.  They notched 19 in the group phase, second only behind PSG and Real Madrid. They also concede lots. With 17 shipped, the second worst behind FK Qarabag, they managed to stay on the positive side of goal differential on a 3W 3D 2L record and 17th place finish.

If three is the magic number, then Borussia are oozing sorcery. Three players (Felix Nmecha, Serhou Guirassy and Julian Brandt) have scored three goals each.

Another three each have a brace. Don’t pity the Atalanta defenders on deciding which of these they’ll mark. If Atalanta park the bus, it’s only a matter of time before Dortmund will exploit a weakness. Few of the Champions League matchups in these playoffs are as balanced and open as this one. Relish it.