The attention now turns back to European competition and the serious business of the knockout stages of the Champions League gets underway on Tuesday, with defending champions Barcelona involved first up, along with surprise package APOEL FC.
Pep Guardiola’s men remain as the 6/4 outright favourites for glory in Munich at the end of the season, having won twice in the last three year’s, although there may be some objectors given the Catalans struggles domestically.
The La Liga champions look as though they will be relinquishing their domestic title as they have struggled on the road in Spain, drawing too many games, while they go into Tuesday’s clash against Bayer Leverkusen on the back of a surprise 3-2 at Osasuna.
Barcelona may well have had this game in mind though as Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas were rested for the weekend loss and look set to return to the starting XI.
Barca’s road form in Spain is in stark contrast to their results on their travels in Europe’s elite competition and it is no surprise they go to Germany as 4/9 favourites in the match betting, with the draw priced at 10/3 and Bayer available at 7/1 to upset the odds.
Guardiola’s side dominated Group H qualifying and actually enjoyed better results away from the Nou Camp, winning all three games, scoring 12 goals and conceding just two in the process.
Bayer, runners-up in 2002, have returned to the knockout phase for the first time since 2004/05 on the back of solid home form, scoring six goals and conceding two goals in three wins at the BayArena.
However, their form domestically has slumped of late, while they will also be missing key midfielder Michael Ballack for the first leg and it is difficult to see them causing a shock.
A draw is possibly the best that they can go for but with the onus on them to attack ahead of the second leg at the Nou Camp, Barca can exploit the gaps to take a crucial advantage.
The other game pits Lyon against surprise package APOEL, who shocked Europe by taking top spot in Group G, which included Zenit St Petersburg, FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk.
The French giants secured second spot in Group G behind Real Madrid but only after a dramatic final round of fixtures as a 7-1 win at Dinamo Zagreb took them through with a better goal difference.
Remi Garde’s side have been installed as 2/5 favourites in the match betting to record a first-leg advantage in France, with the draw on offer at 10/3 and APOEL priced at 17/2 to cause a shock.
The experience is very much with the home side as they have reached this stage for the last nine seasons, while APOEL have become the first Cypriot side ever to make the last 16.
However, Lyon have been knocked out at this stage in four of the last five seasons and may well find it harder than the betting suggests against a side that went unbeaten away in the group stages – albeit with three draws.
They were certainly difficult places to go to and the Cypriots can take confidence from those games, particularly as they also have conceded just three goals and kept three clean sheets in six games on the road in Europe (including the qualifying rounds).
APOEL are likely to set themselves up as being hard to break down to give themselves a chance of progressing when they return to Nicosia for the second leg on March 7, so the draw looks tempting at 10/3.
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