Starting with the hosts, while Eintracht Frankfurt might have sprung a real upset last season as they secured a bronze medal finish among Germany's elite, the Eagles have shown a string of glaring issues this time around. Parting ways with Dino Toppmoller earlier in the month and still yet to appoint a permanent new boss, they have failed to win any of their previous seven appearances across all competitions and have already watched their Champions League dreams go up in smoke.
From the prestige of Europe's elite stadiums to the gritty history of the FA Cup, there is plenty here to keep your brain ticking over. We'll start with a look at the modern giants of London. We want to see if you can name whether these 20 players played for Arsenal, Chelsea, both or neither. This isn't just a test of the high-profile cross-city moves, but a challenge to remember those fleeting stints that might have slipped under your radar over the years.
A good coach is someone who learns something new every year, regardless of whether we win or lose. We're in a good position right now; it's all about the details. We simply want to be competitive. We want to prepare well for the matches where trophies are at stake, where it's about going through or being eliminated. In those moments, we have to have the big players fit because they're the ones who decide the games for us.
That said, Lennart Karl has been scoring at a similar rate in his young Champions League career so far, with three goals in five outings. The 17-year-old attacker is now on the verge of another milestone: should he feature on Wednesday, it will be his sixth Champions League appearance before his 18th birthday. That would draw him level with Julian Draxler in this statistic, with only Youssoufa Moukoko having made more appearances in Europe's elite competition before turning 18 (eight).
Heineken pulls the curtain on its secretive social media war room for the Champions League to reveal how it is actually a test for how it can distil global creative locally to 120 different markets. While football fans were lamenting the dire quality of English football last night (25 February) following Arsenal's shock defeat to French underdogs Monaco, Heineken marketers were busy trying to avoid a similar slip up in the digital arena.
Real Madrid will aim to leapfrog Barcelona and at least temporarily go top of LaLiga with victory at Villarreal. Los Blancos turned on the style in midweek as they thrashed Monaco 6-1 in the Champions League. They will aim to maintain that momentum in LaLiga and pile the pressure on Barcelona, who surprisingly lost to Real Sociedad in their last league encounter.
The goal is always to win every game. Every game in the Bundesliga is complicated. We didn't manage to give 100 percent on the pitch today. Augsburg, on the other hand, did. Accordingly, they deserved to win and we have to congratulate them. We have to push ourselves to the limit in every game, which we didn't do today. We are, of course, in an intense period and have players out injured,
The 34-year-old, who was a substitute in their 1-1 draw with Galatasaray on Wednesday, sustained the injury in training as Atleti prepare to host Mallorca in LaLiga on Sunday. Griezmann has scored six goals in 20 Spanish top-flight matches this season, while he has directly contributed to three goals in the Champions League this term (one goal, two assists). The club revealed in a statement that the Frenchman underwent an MRI scan but did not disclose the length of the injury.
"It won't be a normal game. I'll be seeing former teammates and familiar faces again. We know that Bayern are currently one of the best teams in the world. But we have quality too, we want to give Bayern a hard time and try to beat them at home. I'm really looking forward to this game," Wanner told Sport Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
While all the attention was on Fermin Lopez and Robert Lewandowski for their goals, Marcus Rashford also raised some eyebrows late on, notably providing a sublime assist for Lewandowski's goal in the 70th minute. The 28-year-old winger, currently on loan from Manchester United, is indeed posting the best numbers of his career in Europe's elite competition. With his latest assist in Prague, the Englishman has now been directly involved in 7 of Barcelona's 18 goals in the tournament.
"To win, you have to create chances," he said. "There are many teams that have game-changers. We're on the path we're on; we'll win games even if we don't shoot much. As a coach, I don't see any other way than to keep trying. "May Lady Luck grant us a victory. We get what we deserve because we don't convert the chances we create. The team is doing well, but it needs to improve its finishing."
"I think it's about the team and everything, but, of course, I understand the question. "What I feel the whole time is... the staff is with us, I think the players are with us, the ownership, everyone wants the same thing, and we're on the same page. "We do a lot of things in the right direction and it was a big performance and a big win."