Champions League Quarter-Finals!

Here is a look at the coming week's Champions League action! As it is the Quarter-Finals, anything can happen with the likes of Benfica and APOEL Nicosia still in the competition. So what about the line-ups? Well, on Tuesday we get a taste of the Portuguese and English representatives left in the tournament: Benfica v.s. Chelsea! While Chelsea are coming off of upsetting Napoli's 3-1 lead, the Blues are also coming off of a 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur domestically. As such, they will have to be very good against Benfica with the Lisbon side unbeaten at home in European competition. Also on Tuesday, the Cinderella story of this year's tournament, APOEL Nicosia face Spanish giants Real Madrid in a test of how legitimate the Cypriot's giant-slayer status is. At home in Cyprus, APOEL have only felt the sting of defeat once during this European campaign while winning the majority of other times. With that in mind, Real Madrid are coming off of a 5-1 demolition of Real Sociedad domestically which doesn't bode well for APOEL. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, France's representative Marseille will face the firepower of the last German representative Bayern Munich. Despite the fact that Marseille have struggled domestically, they have proved themselves time and again on the European stage as they marched to this point. With the scalp of Inter Milan the latest addition to their collection of victories this season, who is to say whether or not they will give Bayern Munich a similar treatment? Keep in mind though that the French side will be without two influential players in the coming leg: Steve Mandanda - goalkeeper - and Souleymane Diawara in defense. That is potentially devastating under any circumstances but the fact that Mario Gomez has been on such great form definitely exasperates things. Franck Ribery probably wouldn't mind putting a couple of goals into the back of the net of his old club either! Last but certainly not least we have the match-up of the powerhouses: AC Milan v.s. Barcelona. The fact that they already sparred in the Group Stage where Barcelona arguably got the better of the Italians (5-4 on aggregate) may offer some read into the game but neither side will let it end at that. Zlatan Ibrahimovic will surely be hoping for some retribution against the club that off-loaded him. However, AC will be lacking the skills of the following players: Mark Van Bommel, Antonio Cassano, Gennaro Gattuso, and potentially Alexandre Pato and Thiago Silva. Last analysis: AC Milan will have to fight very hard not to get knocked-out. Enjoy the games and look for the recaps!