UEFA Champions League update

Champions League update for Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs

The Champions League returned as the Last 16 knockout stage produced some surprising results to date in the second leg ties. For the first time ever, England had five titan "Big Six" clubs in the Last 16 knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League, with Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham qualifying from their respective groups. To date winning on aggregate, Man City and Liverpool have gone through to the Quarter-finals, while Spurs were knocked out. Manchester United play their second-leg tie next week against Sevilla; while Chelsea battle Spanish La Liga club Barcelona Fc. Chelsea were the last English team to win the Champions League in 2011-12. Liverpool Fc won against Porto, and Spanish reigning champions Real Madrid defeated French Ligue 1 club PSG to go through. In the other Champions League second leg tie on Wednesday, German Bundesliga club Juventus knocked out England Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Next week Man United host Sevilla, and Chelsea travel to play giant Spanish La Liga club, Barcelona Fc.

After their aggregate win against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16, Real Madrid are favored to lift a third-consecutive Champions League title in the final in Kiev on May 26. Manchester City are favorites to go through to the final clash to perhaps battle Real Madrid. Los Blancos has high hopes of winning Europe's prestigious silverware again, but some recent poor performances in both the Spanish La Liga and the Copa del Rey are red flags to the reigning Spanish Champion's season. Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane's side nevertheless look in form to defend their crown after a comfortable win over powerful French Ligue 1 side Paris Saint Germain. The Los Blancos squad have an impressive frontline due to superstar striker Cristiano Ronaldo who is currently the top goal-scorer in the 2017-18 Champions League as well as an unmatchable all-around goalscorer. Edinson Cavani, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were formidable for PSG who reportedly were the favorites going into the game. The European Cup is the tournament which Real prize above all else, and they are highly motivated to retain their crown. Ronaldo is top of the competition's scoring charts with nine goals in the group stage. PSG who has never progressed past the semi-final stage were battling against the two-time consecutive champions who have 12 titles in their trophy cabinet to date. In the past four knockout rounds, Cristiano Ronaldo has single-handedly dispatched PSG (three goals), Juventus (two goals), Atletico Madrid (three goals), and Bayern Munich (five goals). If manager Zinedine Zidane's men play with the same intensity as they did against Paris Saint Germain in Parc des Princes and can support Ronaldo with what he needs to score goals, Los Blancos have a great chance to become named "Kings of Europe" again this year. Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has 12 goals in this season's tournament, followed by Liverpool's Roberto Firmino with 7 goals. Tottenham Hotspurs Harry Kane and PSG's Edison Cavani who have 7 goals apiece are out of the running.

Ronaldo is increasingly the favorite to end this campaign as the Champions League's top goalscorer after the exit of his two arch rivals. Ronaldo had scored twice in Real's 3-1, first-leg win against Paris Saint Germain at the Bernabeu, and his goal tally went up to 12 for the tournament after he headed Real Madrid's opening goal in Paris on Tuesday night. Real went on to win 2-1 and progress to the quarter-finals with a 5-2 aggregate victory over the French Ligue 1 giants, with Ronaldo 5 goals ahead of Liverpool's Roberto Firmino, Tottenham's Harry Kane, and Edinson Cavani. Tottenham and PSG were knocked out of the tournament in the Last-16 stage leaving Firmino as Ronaldo's last remaining challenger within 5 goals of Ronaldo going into the second round of last-16 second legs to be played next week.

Champions League top scorers

Here is a list of the 2017-18 top goal scorers as of March 8, 2018.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid,12
Roberto Firmino, Liverpool, 7
Harry Kane (out), Tottenham Hotspur, 7
Edinson Cavani (out), PSG, 7
Sadio Mane, Liverpool, 6
Neymar (out), PSG, 6
Wissam Ben Yedder, Sevilla, 6
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, 6
Vincent Aboukabar (out), Porto, 5
Philippe Coutinho, Barcelona, 5
Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich, 5
Gonzalo Higuain, Juventus, 5
Raheem Sterling, Man City, 4
Sergio Aguero, Man City, 4
Cenk Tosun, Besiktas, 4
Anderson Talisca, Besiktas, 4
Romelu Lukaku, Man United, 4
Gonzalo Higuain, Juventus, 4

Champions League Last 16 Results

Last 16 first legs results

13 February
Juventus 2-2 Tottenham
Basel 0-4 Manchester City

14 February
Porto 0-5 Liverpool
Real Madrid 3-1 Paris

20 February
Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona
Bayern 5-0 Beşiktaş

21 February
Sevilla 0-0 Manchester United
Shakhtar 2-1 Roma

Last 16 second legs results, tickets

6 March
Liverpool 0-0 Porto (agg: 5-0)
Paris 1-2 Real Madrid (agg: 2-5)

7 March
Tottenham 1-2 Juventus (agg: 3-4)
Manchester City 1-2 Basel (agg: 5-2)

13 March
Manchester United v Sevilla
Roma v Shakhtar

14 March
Barcelona v Chelsea
Beşiktaş v Bayern

In their first leg tie against Barcelona, reigning England Premier League champions Chelsea were impressive. Brazilian winger Willian especially stood out as fit and on target. It appeared that his one second-half goal would be enough to win the tie, as his side held Barca back and defended well. But Barcelona superstar striker Lionel Messi came through with the equalizer, and it's advantage Barca going into the second leg in Spain. Barcelona have a fresh injury report ahead of their Champions League clash with Chelsea next week due to the fact that Denis Suarez will miss the game with an adductor muscle strain to his left leg picked up during the Catalan Super Cup game against Espanyol. Barcelona have confirmed that the midfielder will be out of action for around 15-20 days, and will not appear at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night. With Andres Iniesta having also suffered a hamstring injury there was the potential of Suarez making the starting XI. Valverde will likely bring in Andre Gomes to the midfield, with Paulinho, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic remaining in the middle.

In the latest Chelsea news, reportedly Paris Saint Germain will meet with Antonio Conte's agent next week. Chelsea manager Conte is under contract until the summer of 2019 but is expected to leave Chelsea this summer, having publicly criticised the board over their transfer policy when he accused them of lacking ambition. Chelsea who are defending their Premier League title this season have fallen down to fifth place on the Premier League Table. PSG have noted his situation along with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. After PSG were knocked out of the Champions League, Paris Saint Germain's pursuit of the Chelsea boss picked up. Conte could be the No1 choice to replace Unai Emery, whose two-year reign at PSG is set to end this summer after another failure in Europe. Conte's agent, Federico Pastorello, will be in Paris on Tuesday prior to Chelsea v Barcelona in the last-16 of the Champions League with the tie level at 1-1. Notably, PSG broke the world-record fee last summer when they paid Barcelona £200million for Neymar. Conte claims he intends to see out his contract but has also said he will get plenty of job offers if Chelsea fire him.

Champions League tickets

Buy UEFA Champions League tickets for the remaining Round of 16 second leg ties, the upcoming quarter-finals, and the Champions League Final in Kiev now securely online from 1st4FootballTickets.com!

Manchester United v Fc Sevilla Tickets, Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
AS Roma v Fc Shakhtar Donetsk Tickets, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy
Fc Barcelona v Chelsea Tickets, Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

UEFA Champions League Final 2018 Tickets, Olimpiysky Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine