UEFA Champions League 2017-18: Top 5 favourite title-contenders
The round of sixteen ties have been announced, and the real part of the Champions League begins where the big teams start to face other in intense knockout matches. The Champions League is notoriously hard to predict because the winner usually needs a bit of luck in regards to who they get drawn against or the form of the opposition as well as injuries in their own team.
Each game is two legs until the final so any team could hit a poor run of form at the wrong time because no team can be consistent across an entire season. The margin of error is slim at the top, which helps make it such an exciting competition to watch for fans and neutrals alike. Without further ado, here are the five teams best equipped to be successful in May.
#5 PSG
The Parisian outfit have impressed in the group stage and even managed to set a record for goals scored with 25. No one is questioning the power of their forward line which was boosted in the summer by the signings of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. However, there are issues around the squad which limit their chances of winning the competition.
They lack the balance that other big European super clubs have, so this is likely to be exposed when they face these teams later on in the competition. Marco Verratti has struggled this season and Adrien Rabiot is still learning even though he has impressed with his composure on the ball.
The fact that the front three are unwilling to track back compounds the issue. Emery also likes to play another creative player such as Javier Pastore or Ángel Di María alongside Verratti and Rabiot. Both of these decisions mean that the full-backs are often left isolated with the midfielders having to cover large areas of the pitch. One of the front three has to be sacrificed, and used as an impact substitute, if they want to be successful.
Another issue with the team is the lack of winning mentality when it comes to the difficult games in Europe. Some would point to the 4-0 win against PSG last season as well as the 3-0 win against Bayern this season as examples which negate that point. However, both of those results were against teams with serious issues even though they are both top teams, and both teams exacted their revenge in the return fixture.
The worrying aspect is that mentality seems to have carried across into this season even with the signing of big names who were supposed to stop this from happening. In all fairness, they just had to avoid losing by four goals or more to Bayern, so they were naturally going to lack intensity.
They were unlucky to be drawn with Real Madrid because that is the hardest tie that they could have received. This is a fixture between two heavyweights and the Parisian outfit will be determined to get past this stage because they famously crumbled last season at the same stage against Barcelona.