Tough to predict favourites for Champions League, Rivaldo

(Reuters) - The latter stages of this season’s Champions League to be played as a mini-tournament in Lisbon could throw up some surprises, according to former Barcelona forward Rivaldo.
 

Europe’s flagship club competition was left in limbo in March by the COVID-19 pandemic but action resumes later on Friday with the first of the delayed last-16 ties.

The quarter-finals, which will be decided over one leg rather than the usual two, will begin in Lisbon next Wednesday when Atalanta take on Paris St Germain.

Leipzig face Atletico Madrid the following day with the other two last-eight ties taking place next Friday and Saturday.

“As we know, the Champions League is a very tough competition in which we normally can’t determine who the favourites are due to each team’s high qualities,” said Rivaldo, an ambassador for British bookmaker Betfair.

“Then if we add the special conditions of this season then it becomes even tougher.

“Teams arriving at the matches with different competitiveness levels, matches without fans in the stands, single matches from quarter finals, all this contributes to preventing me from seeing who the clear favourites are.”

Real Madrid face a tough task to reach the last eight as they try to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Manchester City on Friday while Barcelona and Juventus are by no means certain to be involved in the unique format.

Barcelona are 1-1 with Napoli ahead of Saturday’s last 16, second-leg tie at the Nou Camp while Juventus host Olympique Lyonnais later on Friday trailing 0-1 from the first leg.

Even if all the big guns make it through to the quarter-finals, the one-legged nature of the ties means there will be no margin for error, says Rivaldo who won the Champions League with Milan in 2003.

“It will be a totally different environment this time,” he said. “One bad day could send them out of the competition. There will be no second leg to correct potential setbacks.”