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By the time Wednesday evening rolls around, the field of quarterfinalists for this season’s Champions League will be set. You can catch all the action Tuesday and Wednesday on Paramount+. AC Milan, Benfica, Chelsea and Bayern Munich clinched their spots last week with half of the field already set.
Before the action gets underway, here’s one key piece of information to know about each team that will help determine who’s going to head through or go home.
1. Manchester City vs. RB Leipzig
FC Porto: Evanilson xG + xGA per 90, 0.97Evanilson might not make it back from a muscular injury to start for Porto, and that’s a huge problem. Whether he’s a starter or super-sub, he’s got the kind of numbers that scream “breakout star” thanks to his massive 0.78 xG per 90 minutes. Because he’s a center forward, it’s a little bit odd that he accounts for 0.19 expected goals assisted over that same rate. Nevertheless, Porto will have a hard time replacing his production even with the ever-capable Mehdi Taremi on hand.
Inter: 3.87 xG vs. Spezia Inter suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Spezia on Friday — the kind of result against an inferior opponent that might raise all sorts of alarms under normal circumstances. Then again, take a look at this shot map.
Twenty3
That’s 28 shots on 3.87 xG for those of you keeping score at home. That’s a season-high xG output and the second-highest shot total all season. So, I think they’re probably OK. Sometimes the ball, hilariously, just won’t go in the net.