Naz Majeed

No one is totally sure when the UEFA Champions League will resume, or even how it will resume. With some Round of 16 ties done and dusted (goodbye, Liverpool), while others are still well in the balance, what we do know is that every team that has not been eliminated outright will want a chance to progress. Here we look at what the stats suggest is their best chance at doing so.

Bayern Munich v Chelsea, Bayern Munich lead 3-0 on aggregate

For Chelsea, the primary objective is clear: Score at least three goals. How straightforward that is is a wholly different matter, but regardless of where they find their goals, their overall task will become that much harder if they fail to stop Bayern’s Thiago Alcantara.

Alongside the first-choice goalkeeper being strangely error-prone this season, Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones have also contributed to City ranked 8th in the Premier League this season for the number of individual mistakes leading to chances for the opposition. This figure puts them even worse off than Newcastle, often seen as the side that makes the most errors. The goal they conceded (before rallying to win) against Real came from a series of errors as well, and even the best coach in the world will not be able to take his side to the trophy if his tactical brilliance is undermined by individual errors. There is no easy way to fix this, but the most immediate solution is to instruct his side not to over-elaborate, and to simply keep it simple. If this is actually in Pep Guardiola’s DNA remains to be seen.

As for Real Madrid, Eden Hazard’s lack of form or fitness has meant that the burden of goalscoring has once again fallen to Karim Benzema, and the often-underrated Frenchman has done well in carrying a Real Madrid side that has a few players looking past their sell-by date, as well as a few who lack the experience needed to consistency deliver.

But Benzema has consistently delivered, and while Real fans may be drooling over the potential of the prospect of Vinicius and Rodrygo, their best bet in overturning Pep and City may lie in their French forward.