Champions League draw LIVE: Manchester City and Chelsea discover quarter-final fate

Why did Pep Guardiola demand more from Kevin De Bruyne recently?

It seems City manager Guardiola hasn’t been entirely happy with De Bruyne’s recent performances and has benched him for a number of games.

The Belgian midfielder’s stats are still good, but given the high standards he’s set in recent years, he might be judged by a higher standard than most other players.

It could be that the World Cup affected his game. Guardiola, who has criticized some players this season, may be hoping his words can shake him up a few crucial months ahead. He performed well against Leipzig on Tuesday and capped City’s win with a nice goal in added time.

Are other factors affecting Man City?

Yes, it’s not just because of Haaland’s arrival. City had more players at the World Cup than any other club with 16 and that could take its toll while the defense hasn’t looked stable all season.

There were injuries early in the season while the inexperienced Sergio Gomez was not an effective replacement for the eliminated Oleksandr Zinchenko.

The emergence of Rico Lewis was positive, but the problems that led to Joao Cancelo’s loan move in January created further disruption and with the likes of Nathan Ake, John Stones or even Bernardo Silva filling in as full-backs at times, that wasn’t the case at the start of the season Plan.

They have kept four clean sheets in a row but there is a feeling they could still be vulnerable.

While Haaland is clearly doing what he was brought to the club to do, his presence required an adjustment to the squad who have yet to fully settle in.

In previous seasons City played with a ‘false nine’ or moved their centre-forwards to other attacking positions. Asking Haaland too much would destroy his considerable strengths.

City therefore moderated their structure and as players are still getting used to it, it looked clunky at times. With City not finding their usual level of consistency this season, that has been highlighted whenever they have suffered a frustrating result.

Will Erling Haaland’s goals make the difference?

After City’s near misses in recent years – the 2021 final and last year’s semi-finals – it seemed to many that all they were missing was a fit and hard-hitting centre-forward.

In Erling Haaland they have clearly filled this gap.

Following his impressive five goals against RB Leipzig on Tuesday, the prolific Norway international has now scored a staggering 39 goals in 36 games for the club.

The 22-year-old is a ruthless goalscoring machine and City now appear to have all the makings. You would certainly have few excuses for another failure, but it’s not that simple.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are considered potential favorites to win this tournament alongside Bayern and Real Madrid.

After the group win from Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and FC Copenhagen, City met RB Leipzig in the round of 16.

A controversial 1-1 first-leg draw meant City had worked hard in the second leg at the Etihad and they performed in style.

Erling Haaland scored five goals on Tuesday and combined with goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne the Premier League champions went on 8-1 on aggregate.

Are they a feared team?

The 14-time Champions League winners have picked up where they left off in last year’s competition.

Group F was tighter than they thought but Los Blancos stormed through with some impressive performances including a reckless 3-0 win at Celtic after Karim Benzema left injured.

In the round of 16, Real slipped back to Liverpool at Anfield with two goals before they scored five in 46 minutes.

Karim Benzema beat Alisson in the second leg and Carlo Ancelotti’s men won 6-2 on aggregate.

It has been an almost flawless season for Bayern Munich so far.

Six wins from six in the group stage, followed by two wins against star-studded Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16. Bayern had just one gap in defense and there are echoes of the 2019/20 season when they won that competition.

For the fifth time in six seasons, England’s top flight will have at least two representatives in the quarter-finals of the competition, which the Spanish giants have won 14 times.

Six Premier League sides have featured in the last five finals – two have all been top events – and Liverpool and Chelsea have won one each, the same number Real have won in the same period after three in four years from 2014-17 and the winner is .

Despite English clubs having the financial clout, the La Liga giants have shown they are still the team to be reckoned with at European elite level and a 6-2 aggregate win over Liverpool propelled them into the bottom once again Eight.

After the Champions League draw, the Europa League finals draw will also take place.

Manchester United are the only English side still in the competition after beating Real Betis 5-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal suffered a heartbreaking exit last night. They drew 3-3 aggregate with Sporting CP but lost 3-5 on penalties at Emirates Stadium.

Sporting prevailed, meeting heavyweights Juventus, Roma and Sevilla in the quarter-finals. Bayer Leverkusen, Union Saint-Gilloise and Feyenoord complete the squad.

After being considered the weakest of Europe’s five major leagues for a number of years, Serie A has returned with a bang this season. The Italian top flight has the most clubs in the Champions League round of 16, with both Milan and Napoli making it.

Inter Milan beat Porto in the Round of 16 while AC Milan beat Tottenham 1-0 on aggregate.

Napoli, meanwhile, are lighting up both the domestic league and the European top flight. They are 18 points clear of Inter in Serie A and have scored the most goals in the Champions League this year with 25.