The Champions League quarter-finals are upon us — and with them a historic tie, a chance for revenge for one Premier League team and plenty of star players involved, from Kylian Mbappe to Harry Kane.
Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres will return to his old club Sporting CP after becoming Sweden’s World Cup qualifying hero, while La Liga sides Barcelona and Atletico Madrid face each other in the first tie this season between two teams from the same country.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal will fancy their chances of going all the way to the final in Budapest on May 30, while Real Madrid face Bayern Munich in the most-played fixture in European Cup history.
Here are five things to look out for in this week’s quarter-final first legs.
A European ‘Clasico’
No, not Barcelona vs Real Madrid — but Bayern Munich and Real Madrid know each other better than any two sides in the competition, having faced each other 28 times in the European Cup/Champions League. Madrid have won 13 times to Bayern’s 11, with four draws.
This tie has previously seen referees assaulted by fans (1975-76), players sent off for assaulting each other (1987), as well as some thrilling contests.
“The clashes we’ve had with Bayern have always been very nice games,” legendary former Real Madrid midfielder and three-time Champions League-winning coach Zinedine Zidane told The Athletic in 2024. “They are the games we always want to play, because Bayern are also competitive — very, very strong.”
Bayern have not beaten Madrid in a knockout tie since 2011-12. Madrid have won in the four knockout meetings since, including the semi-finals, on the way to their most recent, record-extending 15th title in 2024.
But this year, Bayern have looked the better team domestically, having scored 97 goals in 27 games, and are well on their way to winning the Bundesliga under coach Vincent Kompany. They beat Italian team Atalanta 10-2 on aggregate in the round of 16, and this could be the tie where Bayern break Madrid’s recent hold on the fixture.
Madrid are second to Barcelona in La Liga and had to come through the Champions League play-off round, beating Benfica, but showed their pedigree in beating Manchester City 5-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.
Gyokeres back in his happy place
Gyokeres signed for Arsenal from quarter-final opponents Sporting last summer in a deal worth €63.5million (£54.8m, $74.2m).
The 27-year-old will return to Lisbon this week, where he experienced his career breakout — scoring 68 league goals in 66 games after moving to Portugal from English Championship side Coventry City. But he has not had it all his own way since.
Viktor Gyokeres became Sweden’s World Cup qualifying hero in the play-offs (Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
Signed to be Arsenal’s talisman, Gyokeres has not always been guaranteed a place in Mikel Arteta’s starting XI, rotating with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus. He has found the back of the net four times in eight appearances in the Champions League, but 11 goals in 29 Premier League games is not necessarily what fans expected from the striker who was prolific in Portugal (albeit the Premier League is a more difficult competition). He also scored in the surprise FA Cup defeat to Southampton on Saturday.
However, after helping Sweden to World Cup qualification with a hat-trick in the play-off semi-final against Ukraine and scoring the 88th-minute winner against Poland in the final, Gyokeres is back on a high. Arsenal will hope he can keep that going as they chase a first Champions League title — with an inviting path to the final (more on that later).
Slot and Liverpool out for revenge
Liverpool were expected to mount a convincing Premier League title defence this year after spending more than £400million ($529m) on Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and more over the summer.
But the season has not gone to plan for Arne Slot’s team, who are fifth in the table after a tumultuous campaign and were beaten 4-0 in the FA Cup by Manchester City on Saturday. Coming up against Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter finals, the holders who beat them on penalties in last year’s round of 16, gives them the opportunity to salvage something from this season.
PSG have made light work of English teams in recent years, beating Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Arsenal en route to last year’s final and thrashing Chelsea in this year’s round of 16 with an aggregate 8-2 scoreline across two legs.
Beating Luis Enrique’s side would be a real achievement for Liverpool in an otherwise torrid campaign.
Arne Slot will hope his Liverpool side can get revenge on Paris Saint-Germain for last season (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
An all-La Liga match-up
Atletico and Barcelona are the only two teams from the same country to meet in the quarter-finals.
They played in La Liga this past weekend, in a match that ended 2-1 to Barca, who sit top of La Liga on 76 points, with Atletico in fourth, 19 points behind them.
Hansi Flick’s Barcelona are well known for their strength in attack, with the 18-year-old Lamine Yamal, veteran striker Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and tempo-setting midfielder Pedri all impressive going forward.
But Atletico have had their number in recent games. They beat Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final, which Flick’s side failed to overturn with a 3-0 win in the second leg at the Camp Nou.
Diego Simeone’s team have plenty of attacking threat in the form of January signing and Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman and Argentina striker Julian Alvarez — who Barca would like to sign themselves this summer.
Barcelona will be looking to Lamine Yamal for inspiration (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
A draw of two halves
After the round of 16, one side of the bracket is shaping up to be much less predictable than the other.
The winners of PSG and Liverpool will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Bayern are one of the tournament’s favourites based on domestic form, Real Madrid are the record winners, and PSG are the holders who appear to be in their groove after some initial struggles in the competition. That is undoubtedly the most difficult side of the draw.
On the other side, most would expect Arsenal to overcome Sporting and meet Barcelona over Atletico in the semi-final. Arsenal have never won the competition before — they were beaten by Barca in the 2006 final in Paris — but could rightly be considered favourites to progress to Budapest from this side of the bracket, based on their league form and strong defensive record.
Either way, it will make for a fascinating conclusion to Europe’s premier club tournament.
How to watch
In the United Kingdom, the Champions League is available on TNT Sports, which has recently moved to HBO Max from Discovery+.
There are also weekly games on Amazon Prime on Tuesdays. On April 7, Prime will show the first leg of Sporting vs Arsenal, and on Tuesday, April 14, it will broadcast the second leg of Liverpool vs PSG.
For viewers in the United States, games are available on Paramount+ and DAZN, with TUDN showing Spanish-language broadcasts.