Eight left standing – previewing the 2024/25 Champions League quarterfinals

by Isildur

April 04, 2025

Featuring European heavyweights and surprise underdogs in equal measure, the first CL season with the new group stage format has been a pleasant surprise so far – and here’s what you can expect from the round of eight.

Eight teams and four banger matchups – that’s what the Champions League quarterfinals are all about!

Arsenal vs. Real Madrid

The Gunners are about to face the toughest possible test in the Champions League quarterfinals, at least as far as pedigree is concerned. Ever since claiming La Decima, Real Madrid have become the dominant force of the competition, and while this Mbappé-infused iteration of the side is quite unbalanced in the attacking position department – and ravaged by injuries –, we’ve recently seen how even a diminished starting eleven can make mincemeat of teams that are not at the top of their game, like Manchester City, or maintain the mental fortitude to squeak past against closer-matched rivals, as in the series against their hometown rivals.

With a 12-point gap to contend with in the Premier League, Arteta’s men will no doubt treat this match as the top priority in their season. Meanwhile, Madrid have a bit more to juggle, considering how even things are at the top of La Liga with 28 games played. While it would be a mistake to underestimate the Gunners – their 1-7 win in the second leg against PSV shows they’re perfectly capable of a demolition of their own – they are the clear underdogs heading into this clash, and playing the first leg at the Emirates will also be another small added hurdle to climb, even with the away goals rule no longer in effect.

Prediction: Real Madrid

Bayern München vs. Inter Milan

Much was made of Bayern’s relinquishment of domestic dominance last year, losing the Bundesliga title after a decade of straight wins, but the Bavarians seem quite ready to return to the summit of German football in 2025, leading the league by three points with a game in hand over the current champions, Bayer Leverkusen. Vincent Kompany’s airlift into the Münchener hot seat from the depths of Burnley raised quite a lot of eyebrows last year, but the team has been strong, if rudimentary, in the tactical department, with Harry Kane maintaining his sterling form in all competitions. The only question is the form, which has been far from sterling.

The Bundesliga’s all well and good, but what about the international affairs? Inter Milan lead the Serie A after 29 rounds, beginning to break away somewhat from the chasing pack of Napoli and Atalanta after scoring an impressive 2-0 win against the latter. While Inzaghi’s coaching efforts are appropriately lauded, it is well worth mentioning that last year’s Inter side looked much superior, with its vaunted 19-point gap over the competition at the end of last year’s league season, and no wins in seven attempts against perennial bigwigs Milan, Juventus, and Napoli this year. With an average starting age just over 29 years and a tight-knit squad, reserves might be running low for the squad for a multi-pronged assault – and Inzaghi is insistent on targeting all four competitions, Club World Cup included, that the team is still very much involved with. The German giants may prove too much to overcome, even considering the second leg being played at the San Siro.

Prediction: Bayern München

Paris-Saint Germain vs. Aston Villa

It has been nothing short of a fairytale run for Unai Emery’s men, and Aston Villa’s presence in the Champions League quarterfinals – which they very much sealed on merit – served as a good riposte for the many worries fans around the world had about the revamped group stage format of the competition. Still, you can’t help but feel that PSG will mark the end of the line.

This isn’t the PSG of yesteryear, chock full of international heavyweight mercenaries who could never be bothered to track back or simply lacked the physique to do so: under Luis Enrique’s tutelage and the twilight of the whole ‘Galácticos on the Seine’ project, this iteration of the French league leaders looks like by far the most, well, team-like in a very long time, and their victory over Arne Slot’s Liverpool in the round of 16 showed that they had the know-how and the wherewithal to take out Europe’s in-form team in a high-stakes affair.

Even just in the context of English football, Villa feels like a downgrade of a challenge – and at this stage of the competition, they won’t be underestimated in the way they might have been in the early group stage rounds, where they secured legendary victories over Bayern and RB Leipzig. Nineteen points clear of second-placed Marseille in the league, don’t expect PSG to rest any of their big guns ahead of these fixtures. If the first leg goes as you’d think it would based on baseline strength, playing in Villa Park for the return occasion will be little more than cold comfort for the English club.

Prediction: PSG

Barcelona vs. Dortmund

The only way to conjure up intrigue here is to evoke the magic of the cup. Borussia Dortmund’s current travails are a far cry from their perennial challenger status in the Bundesliga, and their Wembley date with Bayern in the 2013 Champions League final is now no more than a memory – as is their long-running runner-up status in German football. It’s not just Leverkusen breaking their curse, either: die Borussen finished fifth last year and are down all the way to eleventh this time around, and while they did make it to the top eight of the Champions League, there’s no super-impressive international win to point to this season, beating Lille in the round of sixteen to book their spot in the quarterfinals. In fact, they have already met Barcelona in the group stage, losing 3-2. Back home, it’s four defeats in six in the Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, Barcelona is going strong, with Hansi Flick taking to La Liga like a Deutscher to water. Leading the Spanish league and winning the Supercopa, with a squad imbued with many Spanish young talent, they’ve shaken off the memes and travails of the past few seasons to reemerge as a true contender again in the world of football, so much so that they are the odds favorites to win the Champions League at the time of writing. If there’s to be a hitch in the grand plan, surely it won’t be Dortmund-shaped, right?

Prediction: Barcelona