MAN CITY, REAL MADRID LEAD UCL CONTENDERS AS KNOCKOUT ROUNDS BEGIN

Man City & Real Madrid the top two contenders for champions league winners

2024 Champions League final venue Wembley

Manchester City and Real Madrid are both in action as UEFA Champions League knockout stages begin on Tuesday and it is the last two winners who appear the strongest contenders to go all the way this season.

Pep Guardiola has been playing down City's chances of repeating their treble win of last year, when they retained the Premier League title and won the FA Cup against local rivals Man United before claiming their first ever Champions League crown against Inter Milan.

"We have 99.99 per cent possibility that we are not going to win the treble because it has never, ever, ever been done," 

Guardiola said this week when asked about the possibility of retaining all three trophies.

City seem to be finding their best form again just in the right time and they head to Denmark for last 16, first leg against FC Copenhagen on a run of 10 straight wins in all competitions.

Copenhagen are into the knockout phase of Europe's elite club competition for just the second time in their history and first since 2011.

They held City at home in last season's group stage and beat a struggling Manchester United 4-3 earlier this season at their Parken Stadium, Tuesday's game will not be straightforward for City.

Real Madrid led by Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, are in superb form in La Liga despite being plagued by injuries in defence.

Paris Saint-Germain, the club who have made a habit of failing in Europe in recent years despite the spending of their Qatari owners.

PSG have been eliminated in the last 16 in five of the last seven seasons, and it seems certain that this will be their last chance to win the Champions League with Kylian Mbappe.

PSG's form this season under Luis Enrique has been unconvincing and the prospect of them going all the way in Europe appears slim.

Understandably wary supporters of the French club may even be dreading facing Real Sociedad, who they face in Paris in the first leg on Wednesday.

The Basque side come into the tie in poor form with injury problems, but the pressure will be on PSG.

"If you want to get to the final you have to play against the best teams, That is their objective, to get to the final. Imagine what a bombshell it would be if we eliminated them."

 said Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil on his reflection on the draw.

Bayern themselves travel to face Lazio after a 3-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen leaving their decade-long grip on the Bundesliga title fragile than ever.

It will be fascinating to see how Barcelona fare against Napoli as the Catalans head into their final months under Xavi Hernandez before he departs as coach at the end of the campaign.

Given Napoli's difficulties in following up their stunning run to the Serie A title last season, Barcelona will be hopeful of advancing to a first Champions League quarter-final since 2020.

That year they beat Napoli in the last 16 before a humiliating 8-2 loss delivered by Bayern Munich.

Arsenal will be too strong for Porto, while PSV Eindhoven and Borussia Dortmund meet in a battle of two outsiders.

A classic quarter-final could be in store if all the heavyweights avoid shock defeats in the last 16.

UCL trophy with the wembley arch behind it

UCL Trophy at wembley seats