What to watch for in the UEFA Champions League knockouts

The serious business is about to start in the UEFA Champions League, as title holders PSG, last year’s finalists Inter and record champions Real Madrid will all be in action in the first knockout round. Here is what to look out for in all eight ties:

Galatasaray vs. Juventus

Galatasaray and Juventus’ league phase campaigns were almost mirror opposites. The Turkish champions picked up all three of their wins in the first four games before losing three of the last four, while Juve got off to a winless start before winning three straight. Luciano Spalletti’s side are currently enduring a tough run of results as they have just one win in five, so this should be a close contest.

The hosts’ attacking hopes will obviously hinge on one Victor Osimhen, who has been terrorising defences in Türkiye for the last 18 months. While some may take his Süper Lig record lightly, what’s really impressive is how he has managed to maintain a high level of goal-scoring threat and output in the Champions League.

The key to the tie, though, will likely be in Gala’s defensive work. Okan Buruk usually likes to get his side to press high, but they obviously have to tone things down against Europe’s best sides. However, they didn’t manage to find the right balance in the league phase games and ended up conceding quite a lot of presentable chances.

Of course, the atmosphere in Istanbul (where even the mighty Liverpool were defeated) will play a big part in the first leg, so this early kick-off is definitely worth tuning into.

Benfica vs. Real Madrid

Benfica vs Real Madrid produced the highest drama on the final league phase matchday as goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s last-minute header booked the Portuguese side’s knockout berth and kept Real Madrid out of the top eight. Naturally, they ended up getting drawn to play each other again.

The man usually responsible for scoring the goals at the Estádio da Luz is Vangelis Pavlidis, who already has 20 in the league this season (including nine penalties, it should be said). He got seven in the Champions League last term but only has a couple this time around, and certainly isn’t getting into good goal-scoring positions nearly as often.

So, Benfica may well have to turn to one of their youngsters like Georgiy Sudakov or Andreas Schjelderup for their goal(s). More importantly, though, José Mourinho’s side will need to focus on keeping Real Madrid’s attacking superstars quiet. That might not be as tough a task as it seems; Álvaro Arbeloa’s side haven’t looked convincing at all against disciplined low blocks.

Could a couple of Mourinho masterclasses convince Florentino Pérez to bring him back? You never know.

Borussia Dortmund vs. Atalanta

If you want to witness a real mid-off, Dortmund-Atalanta is the game for you.

To be fair, the two teams have been in good form lately. The Germans have won six straight league games and haven’t lost to anyone except Bayern in the Bundesliga this season, while Atalanta have seven wins and two draws in domestic fixtures since the turn of the year. However, they both lost their last two UCL games to illustrious opponents such as Union Saint-Gilloise and Tottenham Hotspur.

In any case, a battle between two effective enough attacks and subpar defences should make for an entertaining contest from a neutral’s point of view. Dortmund also have four centre-backs out injured for good measure.

There should be a few interesting players to watch, too. Éderson remains excellent in midfield for Atalanta, while 17-year-old wide centre-back Honest Ahanor will be keen to bounce back if given the opportunity after being hooked in the first half on the weekend. Daniel Svensson’s deliveries and Maximilian Beier’s box threat could be a winning combination for Dortmund.

Monaco vs. Paris Saint-Germain

This time last week, I wrote about how Paris Saint-Germain were primed to explode in the second half of the season. Naturally, then, they ended a run of 11 wins and one draw in the league with a 3-1 loss to Rennes on the weekend (although the xG read very differently).

As it happens, their previous Ligue 1 loss was 1-0 away at Monaco in the early days of Sébastien Pocognoli’s tenure. So, the principality outfit can take an optimistic approach into this match if they so desire, but all the best trying to keep this attack quiet:

While a blowout like PSG’s 10-0 aggregate win over Brest around this time last year is quite unlikely, I just can’t see the defending champions losing this over two legs.

Qarabağ FK vs. Newcastle United

Speaking of one-sided ties, you will surely be moved to send your thoughts and prayers to Qarabağ after looking at this radar:

If we’re looking for positives, the Azerbaijani champions do already have a result against English opposition: a 2-2 draw with Chelsea. However, I don’t expect Newcastle to be quite as susceptible to counterattacks, and either way, 180 minutes is a long time.

Bodø/Glimt vs. Inter Milan

Bodø/Glimt have been the surprise story of 2026 so far as they registered their very first Champions League proper win over Manchester City and followed it up by picking up three points away against Atlético Madrid to just sneak into the playoff round. A two-legged tie against Inter is an even more daunting challenge, but the Norwegians may well cause some disruption again — especially on the artificial turf in the Arctic circle.

Kjetil Knutsen’s side have to move a long way away from their typical possession-based approach in domestic games to play the underdog in the Champions League. Their defence has unsurprisingly been quite leaky (only Kairat gave up more xG in the league phase), but they managed to preserve some of their attacking principles to produce respectable output.

Of course, Inter’s all-round threat should be enough to blow Glimt away at San Siro in particular, but the first leg has the potential to get a little interesting.

Club Brugge vs. Atlético Madrid

Club Brugge have made it to the Champions League knockouts in consecutive seasons for the very first time in the competition’s history. The Belgian giants have put together an exciting team on the pitch, but it has not been all smooth sailing over the last year. They dismissed Nicky Hayen in December, replacing him with Ivan Leko.

The new coach hasn’t changed a great deal in the team’s set-up so far, so he is expected to continue fielding an XI largely comprised of under-23s. Consequently, there will be players to watch all over the pitch from Ecuadorian centre-back Joel Ordóñez to Manchester City academy graduate winger Carlos Forbs, but midfielder Aleksandar Stanković is the one I want to keep a close eye on.

The Serbian international joined Club from Inter last summer and immediately seized the starting spot vacated by Milan-bound Ardon Jashari. He is quite a different profile of player as he doesn’t offer much by way of passing but has held his own defensively in Europe besides showing some promising glimpses going forward both with and without the ball.

His midfielder partner Raphael Onyedika could be on the move next (I suggested him as a potential target for Tottenham Hotspur before January), so Stanković will need to show himself to be capable of stepping up in big games. Atléti certainly aren’t taking this one lightly as they rotated quite a bit on the weekend (and comprehensively lost to Rayo Vallecano), so the pressure will be on the them to deliver.

Olympiacos vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Olympiacos also have a couple of interesting midfielders in Santiago Hezze and Christos Mouzakitis. Both played key roles in major continental successes for the club, with the former featuring in the 2023/24 UEFA Conference League winning side while the latter starred in the club’s simultaneous UEFA Youth League triumph.

The elder Hezze has had to step up in the Champions League so far this term as the Greek teenager has seemingly been overwhelmed defensively, though he has shown small glimpses of his standout on-ball qualities.

Bayer Leverkusen’s inside forwards include tricky dribblers like Ernest Poku and AFCON 2025 standout Ibrahim Maza, so they will surely serve up a tough examination for Olympiacos’ midfield duo.

The Greek side won 2-0 at home when the two teams met in the league phase despite looking quite outplayed, so an interesting tie should be in the offing.

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