We will become spectators of wonderful matches in The Champions League and The Europa League in 2017. It’s really interesting that there were lots of the favourites, who couldn’t win their groups, and that’s why they were quite lucky to avoid the strongest opponents in the next stage of the competition.

The 11-time winners of The Champions League – Real Madrid will play against Napoli in the Round of 16. Los Blancos recorded a 2-2 draw against Borussia Dortmund, which costed them the 1st place in the group. However, Real Madrid avoided teams like Bayern Munich, PSG, and as you know they couldn’t be drawn against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. So, we can say Los Blancos were quite lucky when finishing in the second position of their group!

To continue with, Arsenal will again face Bayern Munich! What a nightmare for The Gunners… The last time these two teams met in The Champions League was a year ago, when they were drawn in the group stage of the competition. Both teams won at home, but Bayern did it by 5-1! The German team has won 5 of 10 games. There have also been 2 draws and 3 victories for The Gunners.

The 2-2 draw against Ludogorets, costed Paris Saint-Germain the first place in their group, which eventually decided their future in the tournament. The Parisians will play Barcelona, which is maybe the toughest opponent in the competition. The Catalans eliminated Paris Saint-Germain in 2015 5-1 on aggregate. On the other hand, the French team achieved a very prestigious victory against Barcelona in 2014 – 3-2! The match will be very interesting, for sure!

In the other matches: Porto will play Juventus; Bayer Leverkusen vs. Atletico Madrid; Manchester City vs. Monaco; Benfica vs. Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla vs. Leicester City.

The Champions League:

• Manchester City vs. Monaco
• Real Madrid vs. Napoli
• Benfica vs. Borussia Dortmund
• Bayern Munich vs. Arsenal
• Porto vs. Juventus
• Bayer Leverkusen vs. Atletico Madrid
• PSG vs. Barcelona
• Sevilla vs. Leicester City

There are also interesting battles in the Europa League, where Manchester United will play against Saint-Etienne, while Tottenham have been drawn against the Belgian team Gent. Here are all the matches of the second best clubs tournament in Europe:

Athletic Bilbao vs. APOEL Nicosia; Legia Warsaw vs. Ajax; Anderlecht vs. Zenit; Astra vs. Genk; Man United vs. St. Etienne; Villarreal vs. Roma; Ludogorets vs. Copenhagen; Celta vs. Shakhtar Donetsk; Olympiakos vs. Osmalispor; Gent vs. Tottenham; Rostov vs. Sparta Prague; Krasnodar vs. Fenerbahce; Monchengladbach vs. Fiorentina; AZ vs. Lyon; Hapoel Beer Sheva vs. Besiktas; PAOK vs. Schalke 04.

OGC Nice have made a sensational start of their season! The Eagles are topping the table of the French Ligue 1 after 16 rounds. Moreover, Lucien Favre’s players have won 12 of these 16 matches (the best in the league). With only 1 defeat, Nice have collected 39 points – 3 more than Monaco and 4 in front of the biggest favourites for winning the title – Paris Saint-Germain.

The Eagles smashed Toulouse 3-0 last night. That was their 7th home victory in 9 games! Alassane Plea opened the score in the 23rd minute. Just 3 minutes later, Belhanda doubled the score. Both goals were after Dante’s assists! Jean Michael Seri scored the third goal of the night in the 65th minute, securing the 3 points for his team. Plea has now become Nice’s top goal-scorer in the league this campaign with 9 goals!

Even though Mario Balotelli hasn’t appeared on the pitch since 6th November, The Eagles seem even stronger without their biggest star! Nice have only conceded 2 goals in their last 5 league matches!

To continue with, The Eagles have recorded victories against the strongest teams in the division. They smashed Monaco 4-0 two months ago! Furthermore, they beat Lyon 2-0 and Saint-Etienne 1-0.

It looks like OGC Nice will have no problems to qualify for The Champions League, but can they fight for the title? The Eagles have kept a clean sheet on 8 occasions this campaign. However, their most important match will be after a week – against the champions Paris Saint-Germain and if Nice win it, they will have serious chances of lifting the trophy!

In conclusion, the season is extremely interesting – not only in the French Ligue 1. We can also see Leipzig fighting for the title in Germany, and Feyenoord topping the table in Holland! All these teams have chances to repeat Leicester City’s fairy tail.

The semi-finals in The English League Cup are determined now! Manchester United were lucky to see themselves against Hull City, while Liverpool are facing Southampton.

Let’s see how these 4 teams reached this stage of the competition. The Red Devils had no problems against West Ham United. Manchester United smashed The Hammers 4-1 at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho showed he has the real intention of winning the League Cup, after he picked his first-choice players against West Ham United. The Portuguese manager can be very glad of the performance, as Anthony Martial scored twice. Henrikh Mkhitaryan put on display the best he can on the pitch! However, the most surprising thing was the appearance of Bastian Schweinsteiger, who came on from the bench in the 86th minute.

The Tigers had a difficult task in the quarterfinals against Newcastle United. Both teams had to play an extra time to determine the winner. Hull City left with 10 men in the last minute of the regular time, after Mbokani was sent off. Then, Newcastle logically took the lead in the 98th minute, but seconds later, Robert Snodgrass equalized and sent the match into penalties. The hero for Hull City was the goalkeeper Jakupovic, who allowed Newcastle score only once from the spot!

Liverpool eliminated Leeds United, to reach the semi-finals of The League Cup. The Reds recorded a 2-0 victory at Anfield, but they managed to score their goals in the last quarter hour of the match. Divock Origi and the youngster Benjamin Woodburn found the net for The Merseysiders.

The most impressive victory in the quarterfinals was for Southampton. The Saints beat Arsenal 2-0 at The Emirates Stadium! Jordy Clasie opened the score in the 13th minute. After the break Ryan Bertrand found the net, sending The Saints into the next stage of the competition. Even though Arsene Wenger picked his reserve players, we mustn’t underestimate Southampton’s good performance.