LONDON: The Champions League last 16 concludes with holders Bayern Munich and Manchester City having a seemingly simple passage into the quarter-finals but Madrid pair Real and Atletico have work to do in their second legs.

Record champions Real host Atalanta on Tuesday leading 1-0 from Bergamo but having missed the chance to kill the tie against 10 men.

Atletico head to London a day later having to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Chelsea if they are to secure a place in Friday’s draw for the last eight and semi-finals.

City return to Budapest for their ‘home’ match on Tuesday having alreaady beaten Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0 in the Hungarian capital while on Wednesday Bayern will expect to ease through against Lazio leading 4-1 from Rome.

Liverpool, Porto, Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain progressed last week.

City are running away with the Premier League title but Gladbach are in a tailspin after losing all of their six games since the February 15 announcement that coach Marco Rose is joining Borussia Dortmund next season.

City are 14 points clear in the Premier League and can focus on trying to win the Champions League for the first time.

But City boss Pep Guardiola moved quickly to quash talk of a historic quadruple on Monday — after one of his own players said they were capable of a clean sweep of trophies.

No English club has ever won both domestic cup competitions, the league and European Cup in the same season but City remain in the mix for all of them. Guardiola’s side travel to Everton on Saturday in the FA Cup quarter-finals and are also due to face Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup final next month.

Defender Oleksandr Zinchenko said at the eve-of-match press conference that he could see “hungry eyes” in the City squad as they chase all four trophies.

This was immediately knocked down by Guardiola. “Four titles has never happened before and I don’t think it will happen this season with the situation,” said Guardiola, whose side became the first English men’s team to win a domestic treble in the 2018-19 season.

Gladbach coach Rose admitted that it would be “more than extraordinary” if his side were to knock City out of the Champions League.

“It would be more than extraordinary — it would be a sensation,” said Rose.

Real are seeing some of their top players get back in shape at a crucial time of the season, and coach Zinedine Zidane will have the squad closer to full strength on Tuesday when they defend their first-leg win over Atalanta.

Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo, who have missed several matches recently because of injuries, including the first game against Atalanta are all expected to be available for the second leg at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium but Zidane was at a loss to explain Eden Hazard’s fitness problems after the club confirmed the Belgian is injured again.

Hazard came off the bench against Elche in La Liga on Saturday to make his first appearance since January but Zidane said in a press conference on Monday the Belgian is out again, with what the club confirmed was a “muscle injury in the right pelvis”.

“He won’t be fit. They’re things that I can’t explain. I want to be positive and hope that it’s not too much of a problem,” Zidane told a news conference.

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini has almost a full squad available, though defender Remo Freuler is suspended following his red card in the first leg.

Bayern are all but assured of a place in the quarter-finals after a dominant performance in the first leg. A comeback is nearly impossible for Lazio in Munich and they’ve conceded seven goals in the three matches they have played since the first leg.

Chelsea welcome Atletico to Stamford Bridge — a rare Champions League home game being played in England by a Premier League team. German teams couldn’t travel to Manchester or Liverpool, but Atletico are able to go to London without having to quarantine on their return to Madrid.

Thomas Tuchel heads into the game enjoying a 12-game unbeaten start as Chelsea manager but the team are still only just clinging onto fourth place in the Premier League.

Atletico are top in La Liga but have been struggling recently, with their once-comfortable league lead dwindling in recent weeks. They have drawn two of their four matches since the first-leg loss to Chelsea in February.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2021